Fashion Law Institute

What Fashion Law Institute does

The Fashion Law Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization founded in 2010 and headquartered at Fordham Law School in New York City. It operates as the world's first academic center dedicated to law and the business of fashion, founded by Professor Susan Scafidi, who created the first U.S. law school course in fashion law in 2006. The institute was launched with support from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and designer Diane von Furstenberg, and it partners with Fordham Law School to deliver degree and non-degree programming.

The institute's product portfolio comprises seven first-of-their-kind fashion law courses (Fashion Law, Fashion Law & Finance, Fashion Ethics/Sustainability & Development, Fashion Modeling Law, Fashion Retail Law, Fashion Law Practicum, and Fashion Law Drafting), the LLM and MSL degree programs in Fashion Law at Fordham, the annual Fashion Law Bootcamp Summer Intensive (priced at $2,450 per participant and delivered in New York and Silicon Valley), continuing legal education events and an annual symposium offering CLE credits, and the Fashion Law Pop-Up Clinic, a pro bono service matching emerging designers with volunteer attorneys. Underlying delivery is human-led expert instruction supported by a WordPress-based website, WPForms for intake and registration, Google Analytics and Jetpack for analytics, and Stripe and PayPal for payments.

Revenue is generated through Bootcamp registration fees ($2,450 per participant), tiered CLE event fees ($25-$450 depending on attendee category), tuition routed through Fordham Law for degree students, fieldwork placement services, and tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations. Pricing is tiered by attendee type, with free admission offered to in-house counsel, Fordham law students, and credentialed media, and discounts for alumni, volunteers, and Fordham alumni. Customers include J.D. and LL.M. students, practicing attorneys seeking CLE credits, emerging fashion designers, design students, and fashion industry professionals, with an advisory board drawn from senior legal roles at Kering, LVMH, Gucci, Chanel, and PVH.

Name

Fashion Law Institute

Legal name

Fashion Law Institute

Website

https://fashionlawinstitute.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Fashion Law Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 at Fordham Law School, operating as the world's first academic center dedicated to fashion law. It serves law students, attorneys, emerging designers, and fashion professionals through degree programs, bootcamps, CLE events, and pro bono clinics.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Education and Professional Training

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAIAI

Paralegal & Legal Studies Programs (Law School–Affiliated)

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Law Schools

Keywords

• Legal education services
• Fashion industry law
• Continuing legal education
• Pro bono legal clinic
• Professional development programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Educational Programs: Revenue from Fashion Law Bootcamp registration fees ($2,450 per participant) and semester-long course fees for degree students through Fordham Law School
2. CLE Events: Continuing Legal Education event registration fees ranging from $25 to $450 depending on attendee type (attorneys, alumni, students, fashion professionals)
3. Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations supporting fashion law education and pro bono legal services
4. Fieldwork Placements: Pro bono legal services provided through student fieldwork placements at fashion houses and law firms

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Fashion Law Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers education, training, and pro bono legal services at the intersection of law and the fashion industry. Its core offerings include the Fashion Law Bootcamp ($2,450), tiered Continuing Legal Education (CLE) events ($25–$450), semester-long courses, LLM/MSL degree pathways hosted at Fordham Law School, and a Pop-Up Clinic providing free legal assistance to emerging fashion designers.

Product overview

The Fashion Law Institute offers a comprehensive educational portfolio focused on fashion law, consisting of the Fashion Law Bootcamp (intensive summer program), semester-long courses through Fordham Law School, LLM and MSL degree programs in Fashion Law, the Fashion Law Pop-Up Clinic (pro bono legal services), and CLE programs including annual symposiums and panel events. The Institute serves attorneys, fashion industry professionals, design students, and the general public through various formats including in-person courses, bootcamps, and public seminars.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fashion Law Bootcamp: Summer intensive program providing education in fashion law, open to lawyers, fashion professionals, law students, and design students.

Products and services

• Fashion Law Bootcamp

Quantifiable outcome

• First academic institution to offer LLM and MSL degrees in Fashion Law
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AMSL AvvocatiminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2021Italian law firm collaborating with the Fashion Law Institute on pro bono clinic services for the Diet Prada defense case against Dolce & Gabbana.
• Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010The CFDA and its president Diane von Furstenberg provided generous support and advice in founding the Fashion Law Institute as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. CFDA continues to support the institute's mission to provide legal assistance to designers.
• Fordham Law SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe institute is headquartered at Fordham Law School and its courses are offered as part of the Fordham Law curriculum for J.D. and LL.M. students.
• Diane von FurstenbergcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIconic designer and CFDA president who provided founding support and continues as a key advocate for the institute.
• Advisory Board MemberscoreOthersDistinguished members of the fashion industry and bar including Ewa Abrams (President, Kering), Paula Barnes (Legal Counsel, Gucci), Louise Firestone (former SVP/GC, LVMH), Grace Fu (KAYAK, OpenTable; former EVP HR/GC, Barneys), Jeffrey Hellman (SVP/AGCA, PVH), Maryann Lawrence (Managing Counsel, Chanel), and others from major fashion brands and law firms.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Practising Law Institute (PLI): PLI is a major CLE provider offering live and on-demand legal education across practice areas, including IP and fashion-adjacent topics. It is the most direct comparable to the Fashion Law Institute's CLE and executive-education revenue streams, competing for the same attorney-attendee budget.
• Stanford Law School — CodeX Center for Legal Informatics: CodeX is a Stanford-affiliated center that builds niche legal education and research programs, similar in structure to the Fashion Law Institute. It is a direct structural peer in the law-school-affiliated specialty education model, though in a different substantive domain.
• Berkeley Center for Law and Technology: BCLT is a Berkeley Law-affiliated center focused on technology law education and research. It is structurally analogous to the Fashion Law Institute: a law-school-embedded specialty center that monetizes through CLE, events, and industry partnerships.

Others

• Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT): FIT is a SUNY-affiliated college focused on fashion and design education. It is an adjacent player that educates the emerging-designer pipeline feeding the institute's pro bono clinic and is co-located in New York City.
• Parsons School of Design (The New School): Parsons is a leading fashion design school and a thematic peer in fashion-industry education. While not a legal education competitor, it shares the same student and designer customer base that the institute's Pop-Up Clinic and bootcamps target.
• Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA): CFDA is the institute's founding strategic partner and the leading U.S. fashion industry trade body. It is an adjacent ecosystem player — not a direct competitor — that shapes the same fashion-industry audience and occasionally co-delivers programming.

Broad incumbents

• American Bar Association (ABA) Continuing Legal Education: The ABA is the largest U.S. legal professional organization and a broad incumbent in CLE and legal education. It competes for general attorney CLE spend and offers practice-area programming that overlaps with the institute's events.
• Fordham Law School: Fordham Law is the institute's host institution and a broader incumbent in legal education. It is the platform on which the Fashion Law Institute's LLM and MSL degrees are delivered and is the most relevant comparison point for the institute's degree-program economics.
• NYU School of Law: NYU Law is a major U.S. law school with overlapping IP and entertainment/fashion-adjacent course offerings. It represents the most credible large-institution competitor that could expand or replicate the fashion law curriculum if it chose to.

Emerging players

• Brooklyn Law School: Brooklyn Law is an emerging competitor in IP/fashion-adjacent legal education, with growing specialty programming in Brooklyn's creative economy. It is a partial overlap that could erode the institute's NYC-only enrollment advantage over time.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/fashionlawinstitute
• Xx.com/fashionlawinst
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fashionlawinstitute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fashion Law Institute