Student Handbook

Cornell Law School Third Party Communications Policy

Cornell Law School’s mission remains that articulated by Cornell President Andrew Dickson White upon the founding of the law school in 1887: “Our aim is to keep its instruction strong, its standard high, and so to produce … a fair number of well-trained, large-minded, morally based lawyers in the best sense.” 

Further, as outlined in Cornell Law School’s programmatic learning outcomes 3 and 4, students are being trained to be both effective advocates for themselves and others, as well as to pose creative solutions to complex problems. Cornell Law students are adult learners being equipped to serve the legal profession at the highest levels. To that end, Cornell Law School communicates directly with our students about their educational records and experiences. While the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act allows educational institutions to share certain information about a student’s educational record with the student’s written permission, our law school takes this responsibility even further. In order to fulfill our mission of training and developing “lawyers in the best sense,” Cornell Law School will not communicate with any third parties, with or without a FERPA waiver to do so, absent extenuating circumstances directly affecting a student’s health, safety, and wellbeing. Of course, there may be exceptions to this third-party communications policy based on the needs of a particular student or situation and with the proper authorization. Those exceptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Dean of Students.