Dean Michael T. Cahill to Step Down as Dean Next Year

Cahill to Rejoin Full-Time Faculty in Fall 2023

Brooklyn, N.Y., June 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brooklyn Law School President and Joseph Crea Dean Michael T. Cahill announced today that he will step down and rejoin the Brooklyn Law School faculty in the fall of 2023. He will remain in his current position until the end of the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year and will work with the Board of Trustees and faculty on a seamless leadership transition and new dean search.

“Michael Cahill’s return to the full-time faculty will indeed be bittersweet. Anyone who has worked with Michael has felt his devotion to Brooklyn Law School and his sincere appreciation for its unique and proud history. Michael’s leadership and sense of responsibility for the Law School is something he has embraced and shouldered admirably. When Michael departs as dean and president he will be missed as much for the spirit he has brought to the Law School as for any particular accomplishment, as many and varied as they may be. We are delighted that Michael will return to the tenured faculty when his responsibilities as dean and president conclude next year,” said Frank Aquila, Chairman of Brooklyn Law School’s Board of Trustees and Senior M&A Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell.

Since his appointment in 2019, Dean Cahill has made an indelible impact on Brooklyn Law School. While navigating the Law School through these very challenging pandemic years, he successfully strengthened its financial standing, enrolled high-caliber incoming students, and appointed eleven outstanding and diverse new tenure-stream professors, as well as established the position of Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity, supported by a major gift from former faculty member Arthur Pinto and his partner Stephen Bohlen. Over the course of the next academic year, Cahill will continue to focus on the Law School’s priorities, including fundraising work and the development of new programs, both during his remaining time as dean as well as after rejoining the faculty.

“Serving Brooklyn Law School has been, and remains, the highest honor and privilege of my professional life. I offer my personal thanks to all, and each, of my colleagues for everything you have done to make my job and my life easier and more pleasant and to advance the Law School’s mission during my time as dean. I chose to return to Brooklyn Law School for one main reason: the people. Our faculty, staff, alumni, and students together create a powerful and rare community, and I will be pleased and proud to remain a member of this community for a long time to come,” said Cahill.

“The Board and the faculty will form a dean search committee in the coming weeks and we are looking forward to involving all our other constituencies in this important process,” said Aquila.

Cahill became President and Joseph Crea Dean of Brooklyn Law School on July 1, 2019, upon his return from Rutgers Law School, where he had been co-dean and professor of law. Before departing in 2016 to assume the Rutgers deanship, he was a member of the Brooklyn Law faculty for 13 years. He also served Brooklyn Law School as associate dean for academic affairs (from 2010 to 2013) and as vice dean (from 2013 to 2015).

As Dean, Cahill holds the Joseph Crea Chair in Law. He is also a tenured professor of law on the faculty with a primary focus on criminal law.

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. and LL.M. degree programs. Visit Brooklyn Law School at www.brooklaw.edu.

CONTACT: Peggy Swisher Brooklyn Law School 718-780-0350 peggy.swisher@brooklaw.edu Kate Alexander Brooklyn Law School kate.alexander@brooklaw.edu