Daily Life on Campus

Pursue Your Passion

Our student organizations are an important part of the Law School community and the engine behind many exciting programs. They offer an opportunity for students to explore their academic work beyond the classroom, through events that bring them together with others of similar (or different) cultural backgrounds or philosophical beliefs. These student organizations are also an effective way for you to participate in activities that will broaden your knowledge of specific areas of the law, become involved in pro bono work, and connect with the Law School's alumni and other members of the legal community.

There are more than 40 student organizations within the Law School, representing a variety of practice areas and cultural groups. Members develop substantive and informative student programs throughout the school year, as well as organize school-wide social events. Early in the academic year, the Student Bar Association conducts its annual Organization Fair when representatives from the association's various organizations are available to meet with students interested in joining.

Visit the links on this page to learn more about the Law School's student organizations.

  • Brooklyn Law Immigration Society (BLIS)
    Contact: Roman Zelichenko
    The Brooklyn Law Immigration Society (BLIS) shall provide a forum for discussing, learning about, and seeking opportunities in immigration and nationality law for students interested in this field.  BLIS will achieve this through our educational speakers series as well as peer-to-peer social networks, networking information sessions and updates on relevant local conventions and current legal developments.
  • Brooklyn Law Students for the Public Interest (BLSPI)
    Contacts: Jess Rickards  and Erin Ogburn, Co-Chairs
    General email: info@blspi.org
    Brooklyn Law Students for the Public Interest (BLSPI) is a student-run, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization at Brooklyn Law School that encourages and enables student participation in public interest and public service legal work.

    BLSPI provides both legal and non-legal opportunities for engagement at BLS.  We are committed to finding opportunities for students to explore public interest legal careers, which we facilitate through a mentorship program for incoming students and by bringing in lawyers and alumni to speak and interact with students about their practice through our programming.  We also provide much-needed funding through fellowships for summer internships for first- and second-year students, as well as bar course grants for graduating students pursuing public interest legal careers.  

    Additionally, BLSPI offers a common tie between the many on-campus pro bono organizations and the Brooklyn community.  We organize a number of charity drives throughout the year, often working with other student groups, including: blood drives, canned food drives, clothing drives, Halloween candy drives for children living in domestic violence shelters, and voter registration drives. BLSPI will also organize a number of days of service this coming year.
  • Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office Student Action Group (CLARO/SAG)
    Contacts:  Cassidy Merriam and Kevin Cooper, Co-Chairs; Jeff Lowell, Treasury; Alexis Estrada, Secretary.
    General email: CLARO@brooklaw.edu
    CLARO/SAG is a student organization dedicated to educating the Brooklyn Law School community about the legal issues surrounding the burgeoning field of consumer debt. CLARO/SAG offers the opportunity to learn about consumer debt issues and New York civil practice while helping unrepresented litigants and interacting with practicing attorneys and fellow Law School students.
  • Immigration Court Observation Project
    Contacts: Becky McBride, President; Svetlana Turova, VP; Gilian Kozinski, Treasury; Liat Zudkewich, Secretary.
    The Immigration Court Observation Project (ICOP) is committed to providing an objective evaluation of the due process afforded to immigrants during deportation adjudication hearings at New York City immigration courts.  ICOP performs this service through diligent observation of proceedings and accurate reporting, with the specific purpose of identifying any structural problems endemic to the adjudication system.
  • Homeless Appellants' Rights Project (HARP)
    Contacts: Nura Skaden and Beile Lindner, Co-chairs; Lee Wellington, Treasury; Tomoeh Murakami-Tse, Secretary.
    This group's role is to raise awareness about homeless rights issues in New York City, and is affiliated with the Homeless Appellant Rights Project pro bono project (HARP), which is operated in conjunction with Project FAIR and the Legal Aid Society's Homeless Rights Project. HARP volunteers provide critical advice to homeless families appealing the City's denial of their applications for shelter.
  • Law Students for Veterans’ Rights
    Contact:  Daniel Floros and Patrick Mulqueen, Co-chairs 
    Law Students for Veterans' Rights represents veterans and active service members through the Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP) at the Urban Justice Center and via the law firm of Cutler & Parlatore, PLLC.  LSVR members working with VAP assist veterans with eviction prevention, VA claims and denial of benefits such as SSI/SSD, Medicaid and food stamps.  We provide FAIR hearing advocacy trainings, and members have the opportunity to represent their own clients at FAIR hearings throughout NYC.  1L members have the opportunity, twice each semester, to assist attorneys from several major firms at the City Bar Justice Center's Veterans' Legal Intake.  We also engage the student body through panel discussions on a variety of legal issues relevant to our mission and screenings of military-law themed films, such as "A Few Good Men" and "Rules of Engagement."
  • Legal Association for Women (LAW)
    Contact: Summer McKee and Claire (Andrea) Rogers, Co-chairs
    LAW is an organization committed to mobilizing law students in action concerning issues that affect women and the law. Some of its programs and projects include: the fight against domestic and international violence against women, access to reproductive choice and family planning, pay and career equity, women-friendly workplaces, and judicial nominations.
  • National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
    Contacts: Chloe Liederman, Sarah DeVita, Martha de Jesus, and Mary Bruch, Co-Chairs
    The BLS chapter of the NLG is a group of progressive law students that seeks to provide support for the struggles for racial justice, civil rights, and workers' rights. The group hosts events and organizes projects on these issues, including Student Day Against the Death Penalty, Anti-War Week, and Immigration Court Watch. The BLS chapter also coordinates with the National Chapter, New York City Chapter, and other student chapters.
  • Suspension Representation Project (SRP)
    Contacts: Danielle Levine and Martin Schubert, Co-chairs
    The Suspension Representation Project (formerly the Student Education Advocacy Project) is an advocacy group dedicated to ensuring the educational rights of New York City public school students. SRP gives law students the opportunity to represent K-12 students at their Superintendent's Suspension hearing. Students facing a Superintendent's Suspension are often unrepresented at their hearings and lack the information they need to challenge the charges brought against them. Our goal is to work with students and their families to develop a case to keep them in school.
  • Unemployment Action Center (UAC)
    Contacts: Evan Hasbrook, Chair; Shabri Sharma, Treasury.
    Website: http://www.uac-ny.org/about_us.php (main organization website)
    The Unemployment Action Center is a non-profit, student-run organization devoted to the representation of unemployment insurance claimants in New York City. Members gain valuable hands-on legal experience by advising and representing clients before administrative judges at the New York Department of Labor.
SBA President Colin Hedrick Talk About the BLS Experience

Listen to SBA President Colin Hedrick Talk About the BLS Experience.

Have questions? We have answers.

Colin Hedrick
President
Student Bar Association
Brooklyn Law School
SBA Office, 250 Joralemon
Brooklyn, NY 11201