Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University has established the Mendel Center for Public Justice through a $10 million alumni gift. The center will serve as the law school’s hub for public service.
Made possible by a gift from Emily Mendel ’77 and Stephen Mendel ’77, the center will provide students with financial support, mentorship, career advising, experiential learning and public interest programming.
These resources will connect students with hands-on opportunities through fellowship and experiential programs, pro bono initiatives and partnerships with legal services organizations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations across Long Island, New York City and the nation.
Jenny Roberts, dean of Hofstra Law, said public service is central to how the school educates lawyers.
“Through the Mendel Center, students will work alongside practitioners and community partners to understand unmet legal needs and develop the skills to address them,” Roberts said. “Emily and Stephen’s extraordinary generosity will help us prepare generations of lawyers who see service as an essential part of their professional responsibility.”
The Mendel Center will be led by Executive Director Jennifer Gundlach, the Emily and Stephen Mendel Distinguished Professor of Law and Clinical Professor of Law. Gundlach will oversee the center’s programs and work with students, faculty, alumni and community partners to expand public service opportunities throughout the law school.
Both nontraditional students in law school, the Mendels experienced firsthand the financial pressures that can shape a law graduate’s career choices. Although their Hofstra Law experience instilled in them a belief that lawyers have a responsibility to make the world a better place, their student debt and financial obligations made public sector careers difficult to pursue after graduation.
“Our experience taught us the value of a Hofstra Law education and the ways in which financial pressures can limit the paths available to new lawyers,” the Mendels said. “We are proud to help make the Mendel Center possible so that students committed to public justice have the freedom and resources to pursue that calling and build careers that help bend the arc toward justice.”
