Welcome to the 2024 NYU Law Magazine.
Since I became dean of NYU Law, one of the things I have consistently heard from colleagues and fellow alumni is that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will be the single biggest disruption to the practice of law in the coming years. While AI can be fear-inducing or exhilarating, depending on your perspective, it cannot be ignored, particularly by those of us devoted to training the next generation of lawyers and leaders. Fortunately for us at NYU Law—as this issue’s cover story illustrates—our faculty and alumni are already grappling with AI in their research, their teaching, and their overall professional practice.
I am not surprised. As an NYU Law lifer, I can attest that innovation and flexibility have always been at the heart of our mission. A great example has been our clinics: NYU Law pioneered a clinical approach in the 1980s that has been widely copied by peer institutions throughout the country. This issue features the clinical program’s new horizons as we break boundaries both geographically and pedagogically, making it clear that our clinics are going where they can have the most impact and provide the most meaningful experiences for our students.
One of the great perks of my job is the pleasure of interacting with members of the NYU Law community at every point in their evolution—from applicants and newly arriving 1Ls and LLMs to alumni who have made a tremendous mark not only on NYU Law, but in the wider world. Earlier this year I had the honor of interviewing Hakeem Jeffries ’97, who generously shared his reflections on our nation’s political future in a particularly fraught election year. You can read that conversation in this issue.
Moving from the national to the global stage, Amal Clooney LLM ’01 is an example of how the education and experiences acquired in pursuit of an LLM degree from NYU Law can open many doors in the United States and beyond, as you can see in this issue’s feature on her important work.
What I love best about the magazine is that it serves as a yearbook for our institution: highlighting new faculty hires (including the five who are teaching this coming academic year), remarkable student and alumni accomplishments, powerful tributes to those who have left us, and in-depth reporting on the exceptional research our faculty members continue to put out into the world. I hope you read it with pride, as I have.
Warmly,
Troy McKenzie ’00