New York Law School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
135645885
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
212.431.2100
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Graduate, Professional Schools (Separate Entities)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$86,528,345
Expenses
$96,827,282
Assets
$312,775,195
Liabilities
$139,144,990

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANTHONY W CROWELL (DEAN AND PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANTHONY W CROWELL (DEAN AND PRESIDENT): $643,934 total reported compensation
  • WILLIAM P LAPIANA (ASSOCIATE DEAN): $328,453 total reported compensation
  • GERALD KORNGOLD (FACULTY): $326,743 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

New York Law School has been shaping legal education to meet the needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s lawyers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Higher education instruction: to offer a vibrant, diverse, and forward-thinking center of legal studies where students develop the knowledge, skills, and professional values to serve their clients and have successful careers advancing justice, building the economy, and serving the various needs of modern society. 1072 students enrolled in the jd and llm programs. 312 graduated during the 2024/2025 program year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 83% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 59% for direct work, and 41% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.2%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.23; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 99.2% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 29 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $84.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $644K · 39 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $293K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.