Brooklyn Law School names David Meyer its fourth dean since 2018

April 26, 2023 Rob Abruzzese

David Meyer, a distinguished scholar and dean of Tulane University School of Law, is set to become Brooklyn Law School's 10th Dean and President since its founding in 1901 and its fourth since 2018, taking on the role of Joseph Crea Dean and President on July 1, 2023. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Law School.

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Brooklyn Law School announced on Monday the appointment of David Meyer as its 10th dean and president since its founding in 1901 and its fourth since the start of 2018.

Meyer, a distinguished scholar and dean of Tulane University School of Law, will assume the role of Joseph Crea Dean and President on July 1, 2023.

“I am deeply honored to join Brooklyn Law School as its next Dean and President,” Meyer said. “For well more than a century, Brooklyn Law School has built a reputation combining scholarly excellence and ambition with a compelling mission of access and public service.

“As Brooklyn Law School approaches its 125th anniversary in 2026, that distinctive mission has never been more important,” he continued. “I look forward to joining with faculty, staff, students, and alumni in ushering in a new era of ambition and innovation, leveraging its location in the heart of the world’s most creative, vital, and entrepreneurial city to prepare new generations of lawyers for leadership in a rapidly changing world.”

Meyer has an impressive academic background, having served as dean at Tulane since 2010 and previously as a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School in 2008. His tenure at Tulane saw the expansion of experiential education, creation of skills-focused boot camps, and the establishment of three new law clinics. Meyer also raised $50 million in support for the school and tripled its endowment during his time at Tulane.

According to Brooklyn Law School, Meyer played a key role in hiring Tulane Law’s first Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. His involvement has also positioned Tulane’s Annual Corporate Law Institute as a leading conference in the field.

Frank Aquila, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, praised Meyer’s leadership and shared vision for Brooklyn Law School. Meyer expressed his honor at joining the institution and emphasized his commitment to access and public service in legal education.

“In Dean David Meyer we have selected a dynamic leader who will move Brooklyn Law School forward as one of the preeminent independent law schools in the United States,” Aquila said. “Dean Meyer is an accomplished lawyer, legal scholar, and professor, who, as one of the longest-serving law school deans in the nation, has the breadth and depth of experience needed to be our next Dean and President.

Approximately four years after it hired Michael Cahill as dean of the law school, David Meyer becomes the 10th dean at Brooklyn Law School. Screenshot via Youtube.

“From our first conversation it was evident that Dean Meyer shared the Law School’s commitment to inclusive education for students who might not otherwise have access to legal education,” Aquila continued.

The Board of Trustees extends its gratitude to the Dean Search Committee and current Dean and President Michael Cahill for their efforts in the selection process. Cahill will remain in his role until Meyer begins his post in July 2023 and will continue to serve as a faculty member.

Meyer has previously held the position of U.S. national reporter on family law for multiple congresses of the International Academy of Comparative Law, and from 2016 to 2020, he served as an associate reporter for the American Law Institute’s Children and the Law Restatement project.

Meyer, a University of Michigan Law graduate, gained valuable experience as a law clerk for Judge Harry Edwards at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Byron White at the U.S. Supreme Court. As an elected member of the American Law Institute, he continues to contribute to the field.

BLS also announced on Monday that it is also hiring Meyer’s wife, Amy Gajda.

Gajda, once a journalist who transitioned to a legal career, has become a well-known privacy and media law scholar. She will be joining the Brooklyn Law School faculty as the Jeffrey D. Forchelli Professor of Law.

Gajda’s latest book, Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy, was published by Viking in 2022. This book follows her earlier works, The First Amendment Bubble and The Trials of Academe. A first-generation college student, she won the Felix Frankfurter Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Tulane President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching while at Tulane.