Date: April 29, 2022
TO: The NYU School of Law Community
FROM: President Andrew Hamilton and Provost Katherine Fleming

It is our great pleasure to name one of our own, Troy McKenzie — the Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law, Faculty Co-Director of the NYU Law Institute of Judicial Administration, and Faculty Co-Director of the NYU Law Center on Civil Justice — as Dean of the NYU School of Law, effective June 1, 2022.

A highly regarded legal scholar whose areas of study include bankruptcy, civil procedure, complex litigation, and the federal courts; a popular and admired teacher; and a respected and well-liked colleague, Troy will, of course, be well-known to many of you. A Furman Fellow and then a member of the Law faculty since 2007, his connection to the Law School extends back farther still: he was a member of the Class of 2000.

As Rachel Barkow — Vice Dean, Charles Seligson Professor of Law, and Chair of the Dean Search Committee — noted to us, support for Troy as dean is both universal among Law School constituencies and overwhelming. He is widely admired for his good judgment, his equanimity, his respectful treatment of colleagues, his wide-ranging scholarly interests and support of colleagues, his readiness to mentor and support students, his dedication and work ethic, and his manifest love of the school. His range of experience, which encompasses both private law and public law, is highly respected and considered a great asset.

He is, in short, an outstanding choice to lead NYU’s School of Law, one of the finest law schools in the world.

Troy McKenzie has compiled a great record of achievement and exceptional service within the field, the profession, and the University. His publications include Judge Shopping; Internal and External Governance in Complex Litigation; Toward a Bankruptcy Model for Non-Class Aggregate Litigation; and Judicial Independence, Autonomy, and the Bankruptcy Courts. He is the recipient of both the Podell and University Distinguished Teaching Awards. He is the faculty advisor to the New York University Law Review, and faculty director of the AnBryce Scholarship Program. He served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice during the Obama Administration; clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court; was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and reporter to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules; and is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference and the Council of the American Law Institute, among other accomplishments and honors.

He received a BSE degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, and his JD degree, magna cum laude, from the NYU School of Law, where he was executive editor of the New York University Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

Prior to joining the NYU School of Law faculty, he was a litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

We want to offer two important expressions of thanks.

First, we thank all the members of the Dean Search Committee, which was so ably led by Rachel Barkow. Few forms of university service are more weighty and far-reaching than helping to identify academic leadership. We are grateful to the members of the committee for all the time and effort they put into the search, which came on top of their regular duties and responsibilities, and for the excellent outcome.

We also want to thank the outgoing dean, Trevor Morrison, for his exceptional service as dean. His tenure was marked by many, many successes and accomplishments. He did an outstanding job of advancing the school’s impressive trajectory and enhancing its academic reputation. In short, he leaves the Law School far stronger than he found it, and we are deeply grateful to him.

Please join us in thanking Trevor for his distinguished work as dean and the Search Committee members for all their efforts.

And especially we ask that you please join us in congratulating our colleague Troy McKenzie on his appointment as the dean of the NYU School of Law. We have complete confidence that the school will be in excellent hands with him as dean.