A Message from Dean McKenzie

Dear NYU Law community:

I write to share that I will step down as dean of New York University School of Law at the end of the next academic year. 

I have made this decision with confidence, and with a full year ahead to continue our work and ensure the kind of careful, orderly transition the Law School deserves.

This has been a demanding and rewarding time to lead this institution, and it has been the most meaningful work of my professional life.  When I think about what we have built and sustained together, especially through a period that tested every institution in this country, I am proud and grateful.

NYU Law is in an exceptionally strong position.  Perhaps good manners would counsel against saying that so boldly, but it is the reason I feel good about this moment.

Our faculty is the heart of this institution, and I am proud of what we have built together.  In my time as dean, we have recruited 18 full-time faculty members to deepen our already extraordinary intellectual leadership.  The quality and ambition of this faculty remain the best assurance of the Law School’s future.

We have also worked to extend the reach of a legal education into new domains.  Our partnerships across NYU include collaborations with Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and with Tandon School of Engineering.  Through programs that bring legal thinking to bear on some of the hardest problems in public life, we have affirmed a conviction that the best legal training does not stop at the Law School’s doors.

Our students are stronger than ever.  We received a record number of applications this year, and we have continued to enroll a talented, dedicated student body committed to leading the profession.  Under the leadership of past deans, this institution has worked steadily to make legal education more attainable.  Over the years, we have doubled the share of JD students receiving scholarships or financial aid, added dozens of named scholarships, and expanded our support for students pursuing public service, and I am proud to have maintained this trajectory.

I am grateful to our faculty, staff, and administrators for their creativity and dedication.  I am grateful to our students, whose energy and sense of purpose continue to inspire me.  I am grateful to our alumni and supporters, whose investments have made so much of this possible.  And I am grateful to the members of our Board of Trustees, especially Board Chair David Tanner, for their guidance and confidence throughout this deanship.

The classroom has always been my first love, and it is where I will return.  I look forward to doing the work that first drew me here.

NYU Law holds a special place in my life.  Its future is bright, and I am grateful to have played a part in building it.

Thank you for the privilege of serving as your dean.

--Troy