Student Organization Policy on Briefs and Reports

Student Organizations:

Student organizations that have a Faculty Advisor
A student organization of the Law School may file a brief or join an amicus curiae brief or issue or join a report if the organization and a Faculty Advisor for the organization conclude that the brief or report is of a sufficiently high quality and that filing or joining the brief or issuing or joining the report would further the interests that the student organization was established to serve.  The Faculty Advisor must review the brief or report and expressly agree to the student organization’s filing or joining of the brief or issuing or joining the report.  The brief or report must make clear that any mention of the Law School’s name is solely for purposes of identification of the student organization’s affiliation and that the views expressed in the brief or report should not be regarded as the position of the Law School.  (This policy does not mandate the use of a specific verbal formulation for this purpose.  As one example of a suitable statement, the brief or report could say: “This [brief or report] has been prepared [or joined] by a student organization affiliated with New York University School of Law, but does not purport to present the school’s institutional views, if any.”)

Student organizations that do not have a Faculty Advisor
If a Law School student organization that does not have a Faculty Advisor wishes to file a brief or join an amicus curiae brief or issue or join a report, the student organization should consult a Vice Dean (or, if a Vice Dean is not available at the relevant time, the Director of Clinical and Advocacy Programs).  If a Vice Dean (or, if unavailable, Director of Clinical and Advocacy Programs) concludes, after review of the brief or report, that the brief or report is of a sufficiently high quality and that the student organization’s filing of the brief or the joining of the amicus curiae brief or the issuing or joining of a report would further the interests that the student organization was established to serve, the student organization may proceed with the filing or joining of the brief or the issuing or joining of the report.  The brief or report must make clear that any mention of the Law School’s name is solely for purposes of identification of the student organization’s affiliation and that the views expressed in the brief or report should not be regarded as the position of the Law School.  (This policy does not mandate the use of a specific verbal formulation for this purpose.  As one example of a suitable statement, the brief or report could say: “This [brief or report] has been prepared [or joined] by a student organization affiliated with New York University School of Law, but does not purport to present the school’s institutional views, if any.”)