SUNY Buffalo Law School is the only law school in the SUNY system. The school's academic structure is based on two full-length semesters with a January bridge term, allowing second- and third-year students to take several month-long, one-credit courses between formal semesters. After completing the traditional first-year core classes and one class on legal ethics, JD students can elect to concentrate in one of 10 areas, including affordable housing and community development law and finance transactions.
One of the Law School's signature programs is its New York City program in international finance and law. In collaboration with the University at Buffalo business school, the program sends participants to N.Y.C. to spend a semester studying global markets. The school offers eight formal degree programs, such as a JD/PharmD and JD/MBA, and students can earn credit towards their JD taking classes in any of the university's graduate schools. There is no mandatory grading curve or class rankings, which creates a more collegial classroom atmosphere.
The majority of SUNY Buffalo Law graduates stay in western New York; 62 percent of the class of 2007 took jobs in the region, while the remainder concentrated in New York City and Washington, D.C. Most students at the Law School stay on campus where housing is plentiful, though the cost of living in Amherst is fairly low. Social life is centered on student organizations and school mixers, but students also frequent bars and restaurants in downtown Buffalo.
