Robert Jackson Jr., Pierrepont Family Professor of Law, will become director of the Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business on September 1, Dean Trevor Morrison announced today. Professor of Law Helen Scott and Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence Gerald Rosenfeld, who were among the program’s founders, will step down as co-directors while continuing to be involved in the program.
“We’re delighted to have Rob Jackson take a lead role in the pioneering interdisciplinary program that Jerry Rosenfeld and Helen Scott have built,” says Morrison. “The Jacobson Program is a signature offering at NYU Law, attracting dedicated and exceptional students and preparing them for leading roles in innovative careers at the intersection of law and business.”
“The Jacobson Program gives NYU students unmatched opportunities to work at the intersection of law and business,” Jackson says. “From its curated curriculum to its close connections with the NYU alumni driving change across our markets, there is simply nothing like the Jacobson Program anywhere else in the world. Over the past fifteen years, Helen and Jerry have created an extraordinary community committed to building the leaders in law and business who will help define our economic future. It’s a privilege to be a part of the program’s leadership.”
Launched in 2007, the Jacobson Program is addressed to students who aspire to a nontraditional career path that requires intensive training grounded in legal and business curricula. Students can construct an academic program, with the guidance of the faculty co-directors, that is tailored to their interests, drawing on the curricula of both NYU Law and NYU Stern School of Business. Unique features include a Law and Business Mentor network, designed to connect business-minded students with mentors in the corporate world, and a senior project in which students work independently or collaboratively in small teams and present their projects to a panel of faculty and alumni.
Former Jacobson Scholar Jordan Freisleben ’21, now an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, who was also Jackson’s teaching assistant in his Corporations and Investment Banking courses, praises the Jacobson Program’s focus on interdisciplinary education, professional mentoring, and the opportunities it offers for real-world work with an academic focus. “[The program] fuses the academic and professional worlds in a really harmonious way,” she says, “and Rob in his teaching approach really embodies that as well.”
Co-director of NYU Law’s Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance and director of the Program on Corporate Law and Policy, Jackson served as a commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2017 to 2020. Prior to his SEC nomination, Jackson taught at Columbia Law School, where students honored him with the Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Earlier, he served as a senior policy advisor at the US Treasury Department during the financial crisis and as deputy to Kenneth Feinberg, Treasury’s special master on executive compensation; he also practiced law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and was an investment banker at Bear, Stearns. In addition to his JD from Harvard Law School, Jackson received an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
“We are extremely proud of the Jacobson Program, and are excited by transition of leadership to Rob Jackson,” Scott says. “His enthusiasm for teaching and his range of experience in finance, law, and government make him a great fit to helm the Jacobson Program. Our students will gain immensely from his unique and broad-ranging perspective on law and business.”
“Like the Jacobson Program itself, Rob has broken down silos in his own career and engaged with the significant intersection of business and legal issues,” says Rosenfeld. “It’s a great pleasure to welcome him to the program.”
Posted May 31, 2022