NEW YORK, April 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brooklyn Law School (“the Law School”) today announced the appointment of David D. Meyer as its 10th dean since its founding in 1901. Meyer will become Joseph Crea Dean and President effective July 1, 2023.
The seventh longest-serving dean in the country, Meyer became Dean of Tulane Law School in 2010. Meyer is returning to Brooklyn Law School, where he was a visiting professor in 2008. Before his deanship at Tulane, Meyer was a member of the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Law, where he also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In 2002, he was a visiting professor of law at George Washington University Law School. Prior to entering academia, he served as a legal adviser at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague and practiced law in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
“In Dean David Meyer we have selected a dynamic leader who will move Brooklyn Law School forward as one of the preeminent independent law schools in the United States,” said Frank Aquila ’83, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. “Dean Meyer is an accomplished lawyer, legal scholar, and professor who, as one of the longest-serving law school deans in the nation, has the breadth and depth of experience needed to be our next Dean and President. From our first conversation it was evident that Dean Meyer shared the Law School’s commitment to inclusive education for students who might not otherwise have access to legal education.”
Among Meyer’s accomplishments at Tulane was a major expansion of experiential education for law students, including the creation of skills-focused boot camps for students in transactional practice, intellectual property, business literacy, and criminal and civil pre-trial litigation, as well as the launch of three new law clinics focused on immigration, First Amendment rights, and criminal justice. “Much of my work at Tulane was focused on trying to build out opportunities for students through engaging with alumni and other leading figures in the worlds of business, government, public interest, private law practice, and more,” said Meyer. Meyer also led the law school’s efforts in a university-wide capital campaign that raised $50 million of support for the school and tripled its endowment.
Important to note is Meyer’s commitment to diversity and his pivotal role in hiring Tulane Law’s first Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Additionally, his support and participation has positioned Tulane’s Annual Corporate Law Institute as one of the premier M&A, corporate and securities law conferences in the country.
“I am deeply honored to join Brooklyn Law School as its next Dean and President. For well more than a century, Brooklyn Law School has built a reputation combining scholarly excellence and ambition with a compelling mission of access and public service. As Brooklyn Law School approaches its 125th anniversary in 2026, that distinctive mission has never been more important,” said Meyer. “I look forward to joining with faculty, staff, students, and alumni in ushering in a new era of ambition and innovation, leveraging its location in the heart of the world’s most creative, vital, and entrepreneurial city to prepare new generations of lawyers for leadership in a rapidly changing world.”
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, Aquila expressed his immense appreciation to the Dean Search Committee members. “Their efforts left no stone unturned in a national search that yielded many superb candidates. Special thanks go to Eileen Nugent ’78, who tirelessly chaired the most inclusive and exhaustive dean search in the Law School’s history.”
Current Dean and President Michael T. Cahill will remain in his role until Meyer begins his post in July 2023. Cahill has served as Dean and President since July 2019. Prior to his deanship at Brooklyn Law School, Cahill served as co-Dean and Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School. Before joining Rutgers, he was a member of the faculty at Brooklyn Law School for 13 years. He also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2010 to 2013 and as Vice Dean from 2013 to 2015. A prominent criminal law scholar, Cahill will remain on the faculty.
Aquila thanked Cahill for his long service to Brooklyn Law School in so many important roles. “While Michael has many accomplishments, which will be honored in the months to come, his selfless leadership through the pandemic will forever be remembered and appreciated. We are delighted that Michael will soon be returning to his most beloved role as Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School.”
Meyer, a leading scholar of constitutional law and family law, has written extensively on topics at the intersection of the two fields. He previously served as U.S. national reporter on family law at several congresses of the International Academy of Comparative Law and, from 2016 to 2020, as an associate reporter on the American Law Institute’s Children and the Law Restatement project.
He was a law clerk for Judge Harry T. Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Byron R. White on the U.S. Supreme Court. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Meyer graduated with a B.A. with Highest Honors in History and a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, where he also served as editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review.
Meyer will be joined by his wife, Amy Gajda, Class of 1937 Professor of Law at Tulane University School of Law. Gajda, a journalist turned lawyer and internationally recognized privacy and media law scholar, will join Brooklyn Law School faculty as the Jeffrey D. Forchelli Professor of Law. Gajda’s most recent book, Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy, was published by Viking in 2022 to significant critical acclaim and follows her prior books, The First Amendment Bubble and The Trials of Academe. As a first-generation college student, Gajda is a particularly proud winner of both the Felix Frankfurter Award for Distinguished Teaching, Tulane Law School’s highest teaching honor, and the Tulane President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, Tulane University’s highest teaching honor.
Brooklyn Law School will host a livestream event on Monday, April 24, at 1 p.m. EST where Aquila will formally introduce Meyer to the community. You can access the livestream through the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/pHDOdz3ompo?feature=share
About Brooklyn Law School
Founded in 1901, Brooklyn Law School offers a vibrant intellectual community emphasizing teaching excellence, leading-edge scholarship, and an innovative academic program designed to prepare students for public service, business, and private practice, nationwide and across the globe. It is an independent institution, unaffiliated with any university or college, and the only law school in Brooklyn. The Law School offers J.D. options that include a traditional 3-year program and an extended part-time 4-year program. Visit Brooklyn Law School at www.brooklaw.edu
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