Student Outreach
Law Women plans events related to the academic prong of our mission, which revolves around building community within the existing student body and reaching out to new students, throughout the year.
This involves welcoming the incoming 1L students by holding a welcome reception in the fall and participating in student organization fairs. In the spring, Law Women is very involved in the admissions process, including organizing volunteers to contact admitted students and planning events during Admitted Student Days. Additionally, the Student Outreach Committee organizes student panels on topics like outlining or demystifying grades, and plans study breaks during finals. We also coordinate the Law Women Peer Mentorship Program, which matches interested 1L students with student mentors.
High School Mentoring
Law Women runs an on-going mentorship program with Hillcrest High School, where students from NYU Law volunteer as mentors for high school students, that expands each year.
We work closely with the NYC Dept. of Education and Hillcrest High School in order to monitor past years’ mentor-mentee relationships, advertise and register new mentors, coordinate mentor trainings, and organizing monthly group events. High school mentorship programming for the academic year kicks off in early October.
Development
Law Women membership doesn’t end at graduation: we have maintained longstanding relationships with the alumnae of our organization.
In addition to alumnae outreach, we work with outside organizations to raise additional funds for our programs throughout the year. Law Women involves our alumnae and donors in many of our professional development events, and coordinates a professional mentorship mixer that matches interested students with attorneys. Law Women also works with the Office of Alumni Relations each year in selecting the recipient of the Law Women Alumna of the Year Award, which is presented in the spring.
Wholeness
Law Women created its Wholeness Committee to promote and cultivate mental health and wholeness initiatives within the Law Women community. Frequently, these initiatives are open to the entire student body and involve engagement with other student groups as those opportunities arise (e.g., SBA and Mental Health Law and Justice Association).
Past wholeness initiatives have included a yoga session each semester, a Mindfulness for Lawyers workshop with Jon Krop, a Running Group, and subsidized registration for the SHAPE Women’s Half Marathon and NYCRuns Spring Fling 5K. In addition to facilitating, organizing, and increasing interest in the Running Group that meets twice per week and operates in conjunction with MHLJA, Law Women has introduced other events and programs that foster awareness of the mental health difficulties that women—and, in particular, women in the legal field—face, and can incorporate challenges such as imposter syndrome, implicit biases, and intersectional feminism.
Professional Development
Law Women plans many professional development events throughout the year, which includes exposing students to speakers within private practice, public interest, and academic careers.
Law Women hosts smaller networking luncheons on specific professional areas within the law, as well as larger panels with networking receptions, such as the “Day In the Life” series. We coordinate with potential employers (law firms, government offices, non-profit organizations, etc.), the Office of Career Services, and Alumni Affairs to book speakers and plan events.
Advocacy
Law Women advocates on campus and in the community for critical issues of gender and the law.
Throughout the year, we plan various events that focus on women’s issues, such as domestic violence, human trafficking, women’s health, and women in conflict, often in cooperation with other student groups. Some examples include:
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Participating in the annual NYU graduate student production of The Vagina Monologues
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Holding a Voter Pledge Drive and providing students with information about voter suppression in their state and comparative state voting policies
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Hosting a screening and discussion of The Hunting Ground, and providing attendees with information about campus resources for sexual assault and domestic violence
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Coordinating buses to take NYU Law students to the 2017 Women’s March on Washington