CUNY School of Law moving to LIC

Lian Kuang graduated from CUNY School of Law in 2009 with a mission to bring cultural competency to the bar by working with what she felt was an underserved Asian community.
Two years after graduating, her mission is in full swing. Kuang is an attorney at Ronald Fatoullah and Associates where she works on elder law issues and provides advice or direct representation to more than 50 elders and their caregivers.
“It’s critical that we provide culturally competent legal services,” she said. “CUNY Law trains this kind of lawyer.”
And now the school is positioning itself to train even more public servants with an upcoming change of scenery. In an effort to better serve Queens, CUNY School of Law is gearing up to leave its current Flushing location in favor of the more transportation-friendly Long Island City.
Assemblymember Grace Meng and Councilmember Peter Koo toured the under-construction facility on Thursday, June 30. During the tour, Koo noted that the school will provide more of the kinds of lawyers society needs.
“There are too many lawyers, but not enough working in public interest,” he said. “This school is one of the best public interest law schools in the country and with this move it will serve even more people.”
Meng said that while she was sad to see the school leave Flushing, she knows that it will have an even greater presence in L.I.C.
“As a law school dedicated to public interest, CUNY Law is a great asset to our community, offering pro bono legal assistance through its clinic and supporting new lawyers who are eager to devote themselves to practice law for social justice,” she said. “The school’s move to Long Island City will allow even more people to access these critical services.”
Dean Michelle Anderson said that while Flushing was a great home for a number of years, moving to L.I.C. will help the school to better serve the community. According to Anderson, the Flushing location sometimes hindered the school – but in L.I.C. more people will have access to CUNY’s wealth of resources.
“We don’t feel like we’re leaving Flushing – we feel like we are repositioning ourselves to better serve Flushing and the rest of Queens,” she said. “The new location will enhance our ability to carry out our public interest mission.”
The new building, located at 2 Court Square, is LEED Gold certified and boasts 225,000 square feet of space for larger classrooms, an auditorium and a moot courtroom. The school will also be accessible by more than a dozen subway and bus lines, as well as the Long Island Railroad.
The Law School’s current building in Flushing will be used by Queens College after the move.