About Us

Launched in 2017, the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship is a global leader in the field of law and social entrepreneurship. The Grunin Center is advancing a global movement that creates new ways for law and lawyers to drive positive change in the world.

The mission of the Grunin Center is to enhance the community of lawyers and legal institutions purposefully engaged in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development, and to accelerate their effective participation in these fields.

To fulfill this mission, the Grunin Center is uniquely positioned to bridge the gaps between legal practitioners, scholars, educators, and law students, as the Center:

Educates students and lawyers about legal issues in the fields of social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development;

Leads path-breaking conversations (in person, in social media, and on the page) and provides thought leadership about how legal innovations and new approaches to law, policy, and legal education can advance the fields of social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development;

Invests in the success of students who are interested in applying their legal skills to the fields of social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development by, among other things, supporting extra-curricular activities, providing research and fellowship opportunities, and awarding scholarships and internships related to these fields; and

Celebrates the contributions of legal practitioners, scholars, and students to the fields of social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development by drawing attention to their contributions and distilling and sharing learnings from those contributions with others working in these fields.

Our Origin

In 2016 and 2017, NYU School of Law worked closely with Ashoka –a pioneer in the field of social entrepreneurship– to launch and support the goals of the Grunin Center. Ashoka was a member of the inaugural Grunin Center Advisory Board and helped provide strategic direction to the newly founded Grunin Center. Building on this innovative partnership, the Grunin Center launched its first initiatives aimed at helping prepare a new generation of talented, committed, and globally oriented lawyers to apply their skills to create positive impact in the world. The Grunin Center is grateful to Ashoka for the important role it played in its launch.

As its initiatives expanded and matured, the Grunin Center broadened its network of collaborators to include a number of field-building organizations, universities and research centers. Through these collaborations, the Grunin Center is building a robust legal community of practice and deploying initiatives that advance the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing in the US and beyond.