About the Institute
The Fashion Law Institute is the world’s first center dedicated to law and the business of fashion. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created with the generous support and advice of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and its president, Diane von Furstenberg, the Institute offers training for the fashion lawyers, business professionals, and designers of the future; provides legal services for design students and professionals; and provides thought leadership and practical assistance on issues facing the fashion industry.
Professor Susan Scafidi, who pioneered the study of fashion law, founded the Institute and serves as its academic director. She created the first Fashion Law course and is internationally recognized for her expertise and for defining the field. In addition, the Institute is supported by an advisory board including distinguished members of the fashion industry and the bar.
The Fashion Law Institute is headquartered at Fordham Law School, just across the street from Lincoln Center in New York City, and works with universities and other organizations across the country and around the world.
Alexa Chung interviews Professor Scafidi at her Fordham Law School office:
Curriculum & Faculty
In 2006, Professor Scafidi created the first law school course in fashion law, officially launching a new field of law. It took a law school administration that would risk adding this newly imagined course to its curriculum — and a place where students who’d read her pioneering blog on law and fashion design championed the course, faculty members supported it (as one said, "We have sports law. In fact, we have two sections of sports law. Why can't we have fashion law?!"), and, to seal the deal, the then-dean’s spouse had spent years working at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Today, that original signature course has grown to seven fashion law-related courses. Each is the first of its kind, taught by experts in the field. These Fashion Law Institute courses are offered as part of the Fordham Law curriculum not only for J.D. students, but for students enrolled in the world's first Master's degree programs in Fashion Law: the LLM, for attorneys, and the MSL, which enables non-lawyers to gain invaluable legal knowledge and practical expertise.
In response to inquiries from attorneys, fashion industry professionals, and students from other law schools and design schools who wanted to study fashion law, the Fashion Law Institute also developed a unique Summer Intensive program, a.k.a. Fashion Law Bootcamp — once again breaking new ground.
Fashion Modeling Law Professors Ali Grace Marquart (L) & Doreen Small
COURSES
Fashion Law
Cosmetics Regulation
Fashion Ethics, Sustainability, & Development
Fashion Law and International Trade
Fashion Law and Finance
Fashion Law and Social Justice
Fashion Law Capstone
Fashion Law Drafting
Fashion Law Practicum
Fashion Licensing
Fashion Modeling Law
Fashion Retail Law
FACULTY
Professor Susan Scafidi
Founder & Academic Director
Fashion Law Institute
at Fordham Law School
Ewa Abrams
General Counsel
Kering
Peter Arnold
Executive Director
YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund
Paula Barnes
Legal Counsel
Gucci
Claire Bing
Vice President of Regulatory and Quality
Maesa
Ashley Brown
Director
Associate Counsel at Royal Caribbean;
former General Counsel
One Management
Angela Byun
Principal
AB World
Jana Checa Chong
Senior Intellectual Property Counsel
Louis Vuitton North America, Inc.
Melissa Schoffer Farber
General Counsel
BroadwayHD
Grace Fu
General Counsel
KAYAK, OpenTable;
former Executive Vice President of Human Resources,
General Counsel & Secretary
Barneys New York
Jeffrey Hellman
Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel
PVH Corp.
Karyn D. Jefferson
Vice President, Litigation, Labor & Employment
Urban One, Inc
John Maltbie
Director of Civil Enforcement, Intellectual Property
Louis Vuitton North America, Inc.
Ali Grace Marquart
SVP, Business Development & Legal Affairs
Bravado at Universal Music Group;
former Deputy General Counsel and
Director, Business & Legal Affairs
Wilhelmina International, Ltd.
Vanessa Nadal
Attorney and Engineer;
former R&D Scientist
Innovative Skin Care Platform
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Worldwide
Don M. Obert
Customs, International Cargo & Regulatory Compliance Attorney and
Counselor at Law
The Obert Law Firm
Stanley G. Sherwood
Managing Partner
Sherwood Associates;
former International Tax Counsel,
Kering
Doreen Small
Davis Shapiro;
former Vice President and General Counsel,
Ford Models, Inc.
Jeff Trexler, Esq.
Attorney / Associate Director
Fashion Law Institute
Ashley Valdes
Principal Counsel
Warby Parker
Brien Wassner
Partner
Sidley Austin LLP
Kenya Wiley
Founder and Policy Counsel
Fashion Innovation Alliance
The Fashion Law Institute's award-winning logo was designed by the globally renowned design firm Pentagram and has been featured in leading design media, such as the Communication Arts Design Annual (a trademark of the year, 2010 edition), Print 31st Design Annual, Adweek, Just Creative, and Michael Bierut's How to.
Privacy policy
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