The new president and dean of Brooklyn Law School discusses his passion for legal education and his vision for the school in the years ahead.
Michael T. Cahill returned to Brooklyn Law School July 1 as President, Joseph Crea Dean, and
Professor of Law, rejoining the school after bidding farewell three years earlier to become co-dean at Rutgers
Law School. Happily, for both Cahill and the Law School, the farewell was far from a goodbye; Dean Cahill
now leads the Law School where he was a faculty member for 13 years (2003–16), during which time he also
served as vice dean (2013–15) and as associate dean for academic affairs (2010–13).
Before entering academia, Dean Cahill was staff director and consultant, respectively, for major criminal code
reform projects in the states of Illinois and Kentucky. He received his B.A. from Yale University and his
J.D. and M.P.P. degrees from the University of Michigan. After graduating from law school, where he was a
note editor for the Michigan Law Review, he served as a law clerk to Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Although his scholarly work focuses primarily on criminal law, Dean Cahill also has written about health
law and policy and taught Health Law as well as Property. He has coauthored three books with noted
criminal-law scholar Professor Paul Robinson of University of Pennsylvania Law School, and published
numerous articles in top law reviews.
Cahill became co-dean at Rutgers, in residence at its Camden location, just a year after Rutgers–Camden
merged with its sister law school at Rutgers–Newark. Under his leadership, the unified Rutgers Law
School made significant strides in improving student quality and diversity, enhancing alumni engagement,
stabilizing revenue, and cementing a shared identity. Dean Cahill recently sat down with Brooklyn Law Notes to share his passion and vision for Brooklyn Law School in the years ahead.
What brought you back to Brooklyn
Law School?
Many things, but I would emphasize two
big ones: the people, and the energy.
I have longstanding relationships with
faculty, administrators, and alumni,
including my former students. In addition
to respecting these people as colleagues,
I value many as friends, so I was eager to
work with and be around them again.
And this Law School has a vitality
that’s unusual. Not only does it draw
energy from its urban setting, but many
faculty and students live nearby, so
they are a presence in the building, and
there are daily opportunities to engage
meaningfully with them.
What led you from your work
primarily in criminal law reform
to academia?
Even as I entered law school, I thought
that teaching would be exciting,
interesting, engaging, and fulfilling work,
and being a professor was my dream job.
I tried to look for opportunities after law
school that would eventually lead to a
career in academia, but getting to this
point was ultimately a combination of
planning and luck.
What are your priorities for your first
year as dean?
First, I’m taking some time to get
reacquainted with the people and the
institution. I don’t want to take for
granted my existing relationships with
faculty, administrators, and alumni. I’d
like to reengage with everyone, meet
alumni I don’t know, and get to know
better the faculty who’ve arrived since I
was here previously.
Second, I’ve undertaken an
administrative restructuring. Before
I came on board, for example, there
were around 15 people who reported
directly to the dean, which I feel is too
many to be efficient; we’re streamlining
reporting lines around shared areas
of concern, and that number will soon
be down to eight. I want to solidify
the new structure, and once strong
organizational and managerial practices
are in place, we’ll be in a position to
tackle longer-term projects.
What are your top two long-term
priorities for the Law School?
My first priority is to explore different
kinds of programs we can add to diversify
our educational portfolio. As at most law
schools, one degree program, the J.D.,
drives nearly all of our curriculum (and
revenue). But unlike most law schools,
we’re not part of a larger university that
also offers a variety of other educational
programs. Reliance on a single program
has shortcomings as a business model;
moreover, it neglects other exciting
and interesting possibilities. Of course,
we already have an LL.M. program for
foreign-trained lawyers, which has great
potential to grow, but there are many
other avenues as well. We can pursue
ways to offer our expertise to people who
might not want to become lawyers, but
who are interested in further education
that will help them in a law-adjacent
career—and in this day and age, legal
concerns are relevant to nearly any
professional setting.
The second priority for me is
fundraising. We need a sustained effort
to broaden the number of alumni who
give, and to seek out significant gifts
from donors who have the capacity to
contribute on a large scale. We have
a strong case to make: Supporting
the scholars and teachers who are
shaping our legal world and serving our
community, and the students who will
make up the next generation of ethical
and dedicated lawyers to preserve
our economic and political order and
promote justice for all, is as worthwhile
a philanthropic cause as I can imagine.
We’ve had a number of generous
benefactors in the past, but there are
others whom we can inspire to start
giving for the greater good of the
school, our mission, our profession,
and our society.
Where do you see Brooklyn Law
School’s role in online education?
I think we should explore some form
of online education as well as other
innovative ways to incorporate technology
into legal education. Much of that effort
also will intersect with offerings we can
provide outside our J.D. programs. We
must remain mindful when integrating
technology into instruction that the law
is an interactive profession, and we must
enable students to speak, write, act, and
interact as lawyers do—both in person and
via technology. So, although portions of
the J.D. program could perhaps take place
online, there still would be an essential
part that needs to be in residence.
What’s the best advice you’ve
received about leading a law school?
That, above all else, it’s about serving
students—to ensure they get the training,
the support, the encouragement, and the
guidance they need to succeed.
Professor Emeritus Joseph Crea ’47
recently passed away at the age of
104. What does it mean to you to hold
the dean’s title in his honor?
I’m so thankful to have known Joe, and I
spoke to him within 48 hours of accepting
this position—to express my gratitude for
having a title that included his name. He
was completely devoted to teaching and
helping his students and colleagues, and
he also remained devoted to continuing
to learn throughout his life. And, on our
call, at the age of 104, he did most of the
talking. Joe was an important person to
me personally, and as important a person
as there has been in the history of this
Law School.
My title, in his honor, is also a
significant reminder to me of the
centrality of our faculty. I think it’s
important to remain conscious that I
hold three titles: president, dean, and
professor of law. So, among other things,
I still am a faculty member, just like my
colleagues. And it’s still my dream job!
Considering the many law schools in
New York, why should a prospective
applicant choose Brooklyn?
Of course, Brooklyn itself is a reason
to come here. In the public sector, as
the only law school in the city’s most
populous borough, we have our own set
of courthouses, government offices, and
agencies, all within walking distance.
In the private sector, the borough of
Brooklyn, even more than Manhattan,
now leads the innovation economy in the
city and, in turn, the U.S. And of course,
it’s a cultural hub. Regardless of the kind
of law you want to practice, this is a
great place to live and work.
And Brooklyn Law School is a great
place to study and grow. Although we’re
a relatively big law school in a big city,
we’re able to create the feeling of a small,
close-knit community. We pride ourselves
on training government and public
interest lawyers, as well as business and
private sector lawyers. So, no matter
what area you want to pursue, our size,
location, and breadth of curriculum make
us well positioned to provide a legal
education that’s tailored to your needs.
The opportunities are as far-reaching as
you could want, but you’re never lost in
the crowd here, and you’ll get to know
your classmates and professors.
How do you plan to build on the
Law School’s legacy and areas
of distinction?
Brooklyn Law School has always been a
place that excels at preparing practice-ready
lawyers, and it has always been a
place of innovation. Our students benefit
from a faculty of outstanding scholars
who are nationally and internationally
recognized for the excellence and impact
of their work. In fact, in terms of how
frequently their work is cited by other
scholars, we are ranked as one of the
top 40 schools in the nation. They bring
this depth of expertise to the classroom
and offer superb instruction in a variety
of subject matter areas. We have
tremendous opportunities to build on our
faculty strength going forward.
Historically, we’ve been known for
providing access to legal education,
and, in turn, access to justice in the
community, city, and region. We have
long welcomed women when other
schools did not. This year’s first-year class
is 58 percent women. We have a long
record of admitting students of color and
members of religious minorities, dating
back to the early 20th century. This year’s
incoming class is 34 percent students of
color. Our diversity and inclusiveness are
a significant component of who we are.
We remain committed to these
proud traditions. At the same time,
we’re committed to doing even more
and doing even better. We’re continuing
to transform our skills-based and
experiential education to meet the needs
of the next generation of lawyers. We’re
implementing the dramatic revision of
our legal writing curriculum, which was
led by my predecessor, Interim Dean
Maryellen Fullerton, along with Legal
Writing Director Heidi Brown. We’ll
continue to expand our clinical offerings,
not just in quantity but also in type,
so we’re not only providing litigation
experiences, but also opportunities
to counsel clients, represent and
advise businesses, and draft essential
documents. We have a very exciting
future ahead.
What are the biggest trends in the
legal profession affecting law schools
now, and how is Brooklyn Law School
responding?
We must provide students with
quantitative skills: the ability to read,
understand, and analyze complex
aggregated data. Training lawyers who
are comfortable with sophisticated
statistical and computational models
will be a crucial part of legal education,
regardless of whether our students
practice in business or other areas.
Nowadays, successful professionals of
all varieties, including lawyers, must
both make and understand data-driven
decisions, and they must also be able
to translate numbers into compelling
narratives and arguments. It’s a crucial
part of the job for professionals with
significant managerial roles.
How is the Law School positioned
to thrive in response to shifting
demographics and demand for
legal education?
We need to stay ahead of the curve,
because there’s no assurance that the
recent positive trajectory will sustain
itself. The long-term demographic trend
starting five or six years from now is that
there will be fewer college-age students,
and accordingly, fewer recent college
grads seeking to enter law school down
the road. Meanwhile, the cohort of
people in their late 20s to mid-30s will
increase. Therefore, we need to provide
a variety of educational opportunities
for various kinds of professionals. And
in turn, having other complementary
programs will enable us to be deliberate,
rather than reactive, in contemplating the
future of the J.D. program and making
sure it continues to deliver the skills,
knowledge, and values essential to the
practice of law in the 21st century.
Amid the 24/7 news cycle, political
turmoil, and social media, how can
students and lawyers uphold their
core ideals of character, fitness,
and justice?
From what I see, this generation is as
engaged and committed to confronting
and overcoming social issues and
injustices as any generation that has
preceded it. For all of social media’s
flaws, students are finding positive uses
for these outlets and finding their voices.
They see their own and our country’s
problems as global in scope, and they
want to solve those problems. It’s part
of our role as legal educators to channel
that passion while keeping it alive, and
to remind our students daily about, and
offer a model of, the honorable work
that lawyers do and their true potential
for making a difference in the world with
their legal education.
—Interview conducted by Elaine Friedman