Hofstra University's Maurice A. Deane School of Law is based in Hempstead, New York, with full-time and part-time JD programs. Its strengths include health law, family law, public justice, and clinical training.
This guide walks you through how to get into Hofstra Law.
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1. Hofstra Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Hofstra Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: Median: 158
- GPA: Median: 3.68
Hofstra Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 160 | Median: 157 | 25th: 154
- GPA: 75th: 3.83 | Median: 3.65 | 25th: 3.35
The fall 2026 profile reports 271 entrants and medians only. Both medians increased from fall 2025, when 263 students entered. The 2025 figures combine 256 full-time and seven part-time students.
Aim to be at or above at least one median to be competitive. Above both puts you in a stronger position. Below both medians, this is a prayer, not a reach.
For context on how medians affect your strategy, see How to Build a Smart Law School List.
2. Hofstra Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
The school's instructions:
“Personal Statement. The Personal Statement provides an opportunity for you to present yourself, your background, your ideas, and your qualifications to the Admissions Committee. Please limit your typed statement to 2 double-spaced pages. Attach your Personal Statement to the application form. See question 23 for details.”
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
For more on presenting your background within this personal statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
For more on making your whole application work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
Addenda and Character & Fitness Resources
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Hofstra Law Resume Requirements
Include a resume that makes your education, employment, leadership, and service easy to follow. Clear dates and concrete responsibilities help the committee understand the commitments behind your record.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Hofstra Law Letters of Recommendation
Hofstra lists two letters of recommendation as optional. Choose recommenders who know your academic or professional work well enough to provide specific examples of your abilities.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Hofstra Law Interview Process
Hofstra offers guided law school tours lasting twenty to thirty minutes. Tours begin at Enrollment Management in Joan Axinn Hall and provide an opportunity to see the facilities and explore the campus.
6. Hofstra Law Deadlines and Decision Options
Testing Policy
Hofstra's JD application requires the LSAT and a CAS report. LSAT scores remain valid for five years.
Application Dates
The online application has no fee, and regular applications receive rolling review.
The annual application schedule lists:
- Applications open: September 1.
- Early Action deadline: November 15.
- Early Action decisions: By December 15.
- Regular priority deadline: April 15.
- Regular decisions: Generally six to eight weeks after the file is complete.
Early Action is nonbinding. Applicants should take the LSAT in the fall before their intended entry year to complete that route. Early Action provides an earlier answer without the commitment of binding Early Decision.
For a full breakdown of early decision strategy, see Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
Program Formats
Both full-time and part-time students complete an 87-credit JD. Consider the program format alongside work, family responsibilities, and the time available for experiential courses. A complete application submitted early gives the committee more time to consider it than one assembled at the priority deadline.
7. Hofstra Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Merit Scholarships
All admitted students receive automatic consideration. Additional Merit Scholarships range from $5,000 to full tuition. Beginning with fall 2026 entrants, retaining the full award requires finishing the academic year in the top 80% of the cumulative class ranking. An award lost below that threshold can be reinstated after the next academic year if the student meets the requirement.
Legal Scholars Award
This award can cover full tuition and renews in full with good academic standing, including a minimum 2.2 GPA. Its renewal standard differs from the class-rank condition attached to Additional Merit Scholarships. Identify the actual award in your admission package before comparing offers.
Mendel Public Justice Scholarship
This program provides one or more tuition scholarships to first-year students committed to future public-interest practice. The Mendel Center also connects students with public-service mentorship, programming, and financial support.
Cost of Attendance
For new borrowers entering in 2026-2027, tuition and fees total $76,730 full-time or $57,483 part-time. The corresponding annual budgets for students living on their own are $106,998 and $86,757, including the listed living expenses and loan-fee allowance. Scholarship renewal terms matter as much as the first-year discount.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Hofstra Law Joint Degree Programs
Hofstra offers four joint-degree combinations:
- JD/MBA: A four-year program combining legal education with graduate business study.
- JD/MA in Bioethics: Connects law with ethical questions involving medicine, health care, and scientific practice.
- JD/MPH: Combines the JD with public-health study for students interested in the relationship between legal institutions and population health.
- JD/Master of Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics: Joins legal study with the analysis of language in legal settings.
9. Hofstra Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Hofstra Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 86.3%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 20.5%
- Federal clerkships: 0.8%
- Public service (including government): 24.0%
New York was the largest employment destination, followed by New Jersey and Georgia. Large-firm practice is a meaningful pathway, but it represents a minority of outcomes. Government and public-interest positions also account for a substantial share. Evaluate Hofstra against your intended market, the practice settings you would seriously consider, and the cost of attendance after scholarships.
10. Hofstra Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Health Law and Bioethics: The Gitenstein Institute for Health Law and Policy connects health law with interdisciplinary study. Janet Dolgin's work bridges legal scholarship and anthropology, while the JD/MA in Bioethics and JD/MPH offer different ways to deepen that interest.
Family and Children's Law: The Robert and Priscilla Livingston Center for Children, Families and the Law provides an institutional focus for family-law work. The Youth Advocacy Clinic connects that interest to representation involving children's safety, family relationships, and immigration status.
Public Justice: The Mendel Center for Public Justice connects scholarships, mentorship, and professional development with service. The Pro Bono Scholars Program gives participating students a full final semester of supervised representation for clients who cannot afford legal assistance.
Criminal Practice: The Defender Clinic places students in Nassau County District Court, while the Clinical Prosecution Practicum provides supervised work in a district attorney's office. These are distinct opportunities to learn investigation, advocacy, and professional responsibility from different practice roles.
Business and Community Development: The Community and Economic Development Clinic works with nonprofits, cooperatives, and social enterprises. Students address organizational documents, contracts, and regulatory questions, providing a transactional complement to the litigation work found in several other clinics.
11. Hofstra Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Clinics
The clinic program requires three completed full-time semesters and uses an application and faculty-interview process. Enrollment is limited, with most clinics accepting up to eight students.
- Asylum Clinic: Students investigate claims, prepare affidavits and country-condition evidence, and represent clients in asylum proceedings before immigration authorities and courts.
- Community and Economic Development Clinic: Students advise nonprofits and community enterprises on entity formation, bylaws, tax exemption, contracts, and employment or regulatory compliance.
- Defender Clinic: Students represent clients charged with lower-level offenses in Nassau County District Court, handling investigation, bail, motions, negotiation, hearings, and trial preparation.
- Deportation Defense Clinic: Students screen potential claims, prepare motions and immigration filings, and work on removal defense and related appellate matters.
- Law Reform Advocacy Clinic: A small student team works on federal litigation, including research, briefs, negotiations, and appellate advocacy in a habeas case.
- Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic: Students pursue veterans' benefits and discharge upgrades, assembling service and medical evidence and preparing claims or appeals.
- Youth Advocacy Clinic: Students represent immigrant children and young people in family and immigration matters through counseling, factual investigation, applications, motions, and hearings.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
Externships include civil, criminal, judicial, and Northwell in-house counsel programs, with a companion seminar. Recent hosts include Nassau County Legal Aid, the New York City Law Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
The Pro Bono Scholars Program permits participating students to take the New York bar exam in February of their final year before beginning their last-semester service. Other opportunities include the Courtroom Advocates Project, Unemployment Action Center, and Volunteers for Income Tax Assistance.
12. Hofstra Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Janet Dolgin: Jack and Freda Dicker Distinguished Professor of Health Care Law and director of the Gitenstein Institute. Her scholarship combines law and anthropology, and she co-directs Hofstra's Bioethics Center.
- Stefan H. Krieger: Richard J. Cardali Distinguished Professor of Trial Advocacy. He directs the Center for Applied Legal Reasoning and teaches the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic.
- Theo Liebmann: Clinical Professor of Law and executive director of the Monroe H. Freedman Institute. His work covers children, immigration, and legal ethics; he received the ABA's 2024 Mark Hardin Award.
- Lauris P. Wren: Clinical Professor of Law and director of Clinical Programs. She teaches the Asylum Clinic and directs Hofstra's LGBTQIA+ Fellowship Program.
Journals
- Hofstra Law Review: The general-interest flagship, publishing scholarship across legal fields.
- Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal: Focuses on workplace law and employment relations.
- Journal of International Business and Law: A student-run publication examining business and legal questions in an international setting.
- ACTEC Law Journal: Publishes trusts, estates, and tax scholarship and practical analysis, with Hofstra student editors.
- Family Court Review: A peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary family-law journal that also provides student editorial opportunities.
13. Hofstra Law Culture and Student Life
Hofstra Law sits within the University's 244-acre campus, with graduate housing shared by law, medical, and other graduate students. The Public Justice Foundation supports public-interest work, while groups such as the Family Law Society, Health Law Society, and Immigration Law Society connect students around substantive interests.
Hempstead places students within Long Island's legal community, with New York City approximately twenty-five miles west. The externship network extends from Nassau County agencies to city legal-services organizations and federal offices. That combination makes local and regional professional relationships an important part of the school's practical value.
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Related Reading
→ How to Build a Smart Law School List
→ Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
→ How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships
→ 6 Proven Steps to Get Off a Law School Waitlist
→ How to Get Into Law School Below Both Medians
→ What Holistic Law School Admissions Really Means
→ Blog Directory
Note: While I try to keep this guide up to date, always verify deadlines, requirements, and policies at the Hofstra Law website before applying.
Think you spotted an outdated requirement or something that doesn't look right? Email moshe@sharperstatements.com with the school and a link to the current information.
