New York City Program in Finance & Law Moving to SP21

[Legal Skills Program]

After much reflection and discussion, in consultation with the School of Management faculty, and with the full support of the Law School administration, we have reached a consensus decision: we have decided to move the New York City Program in Finance and Law to the spring of 2021.

I truly hope you will consider applying to join us in NYC in the spring -- the deadline for applications remains open until further notice.

This is the prudent decision, and I hope introduces a bit of predictability into a difficult time. I am much more confident we can actually hold the Program in the spring than I am that we could hold it in the fall. Also, as discussed below, there are many advantages to holding the Program in the spring. Quite apart from today’s very difficult circumstances, we are making a substantive improvement. Indeed, the Program was originally designed for spring, but I am getting ahead of myself.

I want give you some sense of, first, the reasons for this decision, and, second, the very real benefits. Less than two weeks ago, I told faculty and staff that I was excited about the enthusiasm for the Program. We have a large and exciting class, and that’s especially impressive, under the circumstances. I am looking forward to teaching new Program students. So, I said, we would proceed as planned, unless and until circumstances forced us to do otherwise. But the news, as I am sure you know, has continued to get worse.

I hope and pray that things in September will look normal. Maybe New Yorkers will be dancing arm in arm in the streets. If that happens, I will look foolish, and you can thank me, along the lines of washing the car brings rain.

Sadly, however, that is not the way to bet. There are lots of projections in which the pandemic does not relent, or relents, and comes back. Or goes away, but leaves individuals and businesses in disarray, scrambling to catch up – and with little time for teaching. But the key time, for programmatic purposes, is not September. It is now, running through spring into summer.

At present, there’s a better than even chance we won’t know whether the kind of instruction that makes the Program great – close quarters interaction with serious practitioners – will even be legal again by September. By the same token, I doubt I will be able to ask a senior partner, in July, if she is willing to commit to talking to (being enclosed with) twenty students on the second Tuesday in September for three hours. Or asking a major investment bank if it is ok to bring a motley crew of students into a boardroom . . . I can go on, but you get the point. Therefore, it will be unclear whether you should give up or sign a lease, by say July 1. I’m also thinking that some of our students and speakers will have their lives disrupted between now and midsummer, and won’t be able to get their acts together to get to NYC by September, even if it is then safe to do so.

We do, however, have an option – moving the Program to the spring. As mentioned, the Program was originally designed to take place in the spring, which has pedagogical advantages. If you have not taken “Business Associations” please do so. It would also be sensible to take other business courses, giving you more background with which to engage practitioners.

Regarding future employment, moving the Program to spring means you can recruit as normal in the fall in Buffalo. Then you either have a job, or are on the spot in a much better place to look for a job.

And NYC in spring is beautiful.

The Program administrator, Cheri Tubinis (tubinis@buffalo.edu) and I (dwestbro@buffalo.edu) are happy to discuss any of this with you if you wish.

I hope you can join us in New York this spring.

Bon courage,

Professor David Westbrook