New Director of Externship Programs Appointed at Touro Law

Touro Law Dean Harry Ballan has named Professor Marjorie Silver the new Director of Externship Programs. Professor Silver will assume this new role effective October 1, 2016. 

 

In August, the American Bar Association announced new rules for field placement programs. One of those rules requires that a member of the faculty assume the directorship of externship programs. Professor Marjorie Silver, who has long been the architect of the law center's externship’s seminar, has now agreed to assume administrative supervision of the program as well. The Office of Career & Professional Development will continue to interview students interested in externships, identify appropriate placements, and arrange professional development workshops for externship students. 

 

“We are dedicated to ensuring our students receive hands-on training to prepare them for law practice. I am confident that Professor Silver’s experience and efforts will help to strengthen our already robust externship program,” stated Dean Ballan.

 

Professor Silver brings years of practice and teaching experience to her new position. After serving as a law clerk to a federal judge and spending a decade in the federal government, including serving as a Chief Regional Civil Rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Education, Region II, Professor Silver came to law school teaching. During her twenty-five years as a member of Touro's faculty, she has been active in the New York City Bar Association, serving on the Education, Civil Rights and the Professional and Judicial Ethics committees, as well as serving as chair of the Sex and Law Committee. Under the auspices of the New York City Bar’s Justice Center, she sought legal immigration status for women who were victims of physical or emotional abuse by their citizen or lawful permanent resident spouses. She has also served as an impartial hearing officer for the New York State Department of Education, adjudicating special education disputes. She serves as a peer counselor for the New York Lawyers Assistance Program. From 2007 until it ceased operations in 2012, she served as a Trustee of the New York State Lawyer Assistance Trust. She is an active member of the American Association of Law Schools Balance in Legal Education Section, which set state policy for assisting lawyers and law students dealing with substance dependence and other mental health issues, which she chaired in 2011. Professor Silver has an international reputation as a teacher, speaker and writer on emotional competence, psychological-mindedness, legal education, lawyering, and professionalism. She actively participates in and presents at workshops and conferences related to the development and improvement of externship programs nationwide. Her most recent publications include TRANSFORMING JUSTICE, LAWYERS AND THE PRACTICE OF LAW (Carolina Academic Press, forthcoming 2016); LEARNING FROM PRACTICE: A TEXT FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEGAL EDUCATION, Ch. 25, Work and Well-Being (West 2016); and THE AFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: PRACTICING LAW AS A HEALING PROFESSION (Carolina Academic Press 2007).

 

Touro Law Center guarantees an externship placement to all of its students and allows them to earn academic credit while gaining invaluable work experience. Field placements are available in areas of criminal and civil practice at law firms, courts, government offices, administrative agencies and public interest organizations. Our Externship placements provide students with the opportunity for real-world engagement where they can apply and evaluate what they are learning in the classroom and begin to develop the lawyering skills required for competent, ethical and successful law practice. Externships are an essential step in the journey from law student to legal professional. For more information about our externship program, visit www.tourolaw.edu/academics/clinics-externships.

 

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center’s 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art law school is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law, which has a student body of approximately 650 and an alumni base of more than 6,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs, several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of the Touro College system.

Touro Law’s newly implemented Portals to Practice is a cutting-edge, experiential learning program that reconceives and restructures the law school experience. Portals to Practice expands the scope and quality of legal education by focusing on the development of legal professionals, from pre-law through post-graduation. 

Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 18,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has 29 branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem and Moscow. New York Medical College; Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus; Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division; as well as Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Ill. are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/news/.

Patti Desrochers

Director of Communications

pattid@tourolaw.edu

(631) 761-7062