Speakers

Trevor Morrison is the Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York University School of Law. He served as dean of NYU Law from 2013 to 2022. He is also of counsel at the firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. He was previously the Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he was also faculty co-director of the Center for Constitutional Governance and faculty co-chair of the Hertog Program on Law and National Security.

Dean Morrison's research and teaching interests are in constitutional law (especially separation of powers and federalism), federal courts, and the law of the executive branch. His scholarship has appeared in multiple journals including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.

Dean Morrison previously served as a clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2009, he served as associate counsel to President Barack Obama. 

Dean Morrison is a member of the American Law Institute and the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Law. He was awarded the Willis L. M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching by the Columbia Law School Class of 2011, and he was elected Faculty Convocation Speaker by the Cornell Law School Class of 2007.

He received a B.A. (Hons.) in History from the University of British Columbia in 1994 and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Martha Minow is Harvard Law School Dean Emeritus and holds the 300th Anniversary University Professorship at Harvard University.

An expert in human rights and advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children, and persons with disabilities, she also writes and teaches about law, culture, and narrative. Her recent books include Saving the News: Why The Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve the Freedom of Speech (2021) and When Should Law Forgive? (2019). (For a list of Dean Minow’s books and publications, please visit her faculty page.)

Ms. Minow co-chairs the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law for the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering and the Access to Justice project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She previously served on the Independent International Commission Kosovo and helped to launch Imagine Co-Existence, a program of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, to promote peaceful development in post-conflict societies. During a 5-year partnership with the Federal Department of Education and the Center for Applied Special Technology, she worked to increase access to the curriculum for students with disabilities. Ms. Minow previously chaired the board of directors for the Revson Foundation (New York) and served on the boards of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Covenant Foundation (New York and Chicago), Facing History and Ourselves, and the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center. In 2008, she served on advisory committees addressing legal policy and educational policy for the Obama campaign.

Her honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (2023), the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award from the Women in Legal Education Section of the American Association of Law Schools (2024), and 10 honorary degrees; she was appointed to the post of 300th Anniversary University Professor, one of 25 faculty members recognized for boundary-crossing work.

John Edward Sexton, vice president of the Advantage Testing Foundation, is the president emeritus of New York University, as well as the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and NYU Law School’s dean emeritus.

President Sexton is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Association of American University Presidents and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the boards of the New York State Commission on Higher Education, the American Council on Education, the Institute of International Education, and the Association for a Better New York. While dean of the Law School, he was president of the Association of American Law Schools. 

In July 2008, John was named as Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, the national order of the Legion of Honor of France. In March 2015, he received the TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, recognizing outstanding leadership on the part of a college or university president or chancellor. In 2012, he received the NASPA President’s Award, which is given annually to a college or university leader who has, over a sustained period of time, advanced the quality of student life on campus by supporting student affairs staff and programs. In 2014, the Institute for International Education awarded him its Dugan Prize for “distinguished work in education.”

President Sexton received a B.A. in History from Fordham College, an M.A. in Comparative Religion and a Ph.D. in History of American Religion from Fordham University, and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before coming to NYU, President Sexton served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court, and to Judges David Bazelon and Harold Leventhal of the United States Court of Appeals.

Richard L. Revesz, the AnBryce Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York University School of Law, is one of the nation’s leading voices in the fields of environmental and regulatory law and policy. 

Dean Revesz has published 10 books and approximately 80 articles in major law reviews and journals, advocating for protective and rational climate change and environmental policies and examining the institutional contexts in which regulatory policy is made. Since January 2023, he has been on a public service leave, serving as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is part of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Dean Revesz’ scholarly work has been influential in the fields of environmental and regulatory law and policy. His article “Rehabilitating Interstate Competition” received the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law’s 1994 award for most distinguished article or book. He is the author of the casebook Environmental Law and Policy and the co-author of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health.

Following clerkships with Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court, Dean Revesz joined the NYU Law School faculty in 1985. He has been a visiting professor at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, earned a Master's in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received a law degree from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.

Troy McKenzie is currently serving as the 18th dean of New York University School of Law.

In addition to his current role, Troy has served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel and as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Bankruptcy Institute. His innovative leadership as the dean of NYU School of Law underscores his commitment to shaping the future of legal education.

Troy clerked for Judge Pierre Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court. He joined the NYU School of Law faculty in 2007, focusing his scholarship on civil procedure, bankruptcy law, complex litigation, federal courts, and class actions.

A distinguished leader in legal education, Troy holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as an executive editor of the Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University.

Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. is the Jesse Climenko Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Criminal Justice Institute.

His areas of interest include criminal law, criminal procedure, legal ethics, and race theory. Prior to teaching at Harvard, Professor Sullivan served on the faculty of the Yale Law School, where, after his first year teaching, he won the law school’s award for outstanding teaching. Professor Sullivan is the faculty director of the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop and faculty director, emeritus, of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute. He also is a founding fellow of the Jamestown Project at Yale. From 2009-2019, Professor Sullivan served as faculty dean of Winthrop House at Harvard College, the first African American ever appointed to that position in Harvard’s history.

In 2008, Professor Sullivan served as Criminal Justice Advisory Committee Chair for then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and later was as a member of the National Legal Advisory Group for the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign.

Professor Sullivan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard Law School,  where he served as president of the Harvard Black Law Students Association and as general editor of the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal.

Robert C. Bordone is a senior fellow at Harvard Law School and is founder The Cambridge Negotiation Institute. Previously, he served on the full-time faculty at Harvard Law School for more than 20 years as the Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law. He also served as director and founder of the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program and as visiting clinical professor of conflict transformation at the Boston University School of Theology. He taught several courses at Harvard Law School including the school’s flagship Negotiation Workshop.

In 2007, Professor Bordone received The Albert Sacks-Paul Freund Teaching Award at Harvard Law School, presented annually to a single member of the Harvard faculty for teaching excellence, mentorship of students, and general contributions to the life of the Law School.

His research interests include the design and implementation of dispute resolution systems, the development of a problem-solving curriculum in law schools, and ADR ethics. Professor Bordone is the co-author of Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes (2d ed., 2019), The Handbook of Dispute Resolution (2005) and Conflict Resilience: How to Change When You Can’t Change People (2025). Professor Bordone is the co-editor of The Handbook of Dispute Resolution (Jossey-Bass, 2005), recipient of the 2005 Book Award from the National Institute for Advanced Conflict Resolution, awarded to a book published in the United States that shows the best promise of promoting and contributing to the field of conflict resolution. He has published articles in leading dispute resolution journals including the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, and Negotiation Journal.

Bob currently serves on the board of directors for Seeds of Peace, the advisory board for the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, on the pastoral council of The Paulist Center in Boston, on the board of advisors for the Center for Empathy in International Affairs, as senior advisor to the National Institute for Civil Discourse, and on the LGBTQ+ Commission for the City of Cambridge, MA. Professor Bordone has also worked in the corporate, governmental, and non-profit sectors for clients such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Professor Bordone received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

J. Tomilson Hill was president and chief executive officer of Blackstone’s Hedge Fund Solutions Group and vice chairman of The Blackstone Group, where he served on the board of directors. Mr. Hill was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the firm's marketable alternatives group, including investment management, client relationships, marketing, operations and administration. He also served as a member of Blackstone’s Management and Executive Committees as well as the Private Equity group’s Investment Committee.

Mr. Hill has over three decades years of financial industry experience. Mr. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he chairs the Investment Committee, and is a member of the board of directors of the Lincoln Center Theater, where he serves as vice chairman. He serves as chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. In addition, Mr. Hill is a member of the Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution's endowment. He formerly served on the board of trustees of Milton Academy and The Nightingale-Bamford School. Mr. Hill is a founding member of the Advantage Testing Foundation Board of Trustees.

He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and received an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

James Jacobs was the Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Professor of Constitutional Law and the Courts and the Director of the Center for Research in Crime and Justice at the NYU School of Law. His areas of research included gun control, fraud, and the dissemination and use of criminal records. In 2002, Mr. Jacobs was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. Mr. Jacobs was the author of numerous books and articles including Mobsters, Unions and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement and Can Gun Control Work?.

Mr. Jacobs was a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, and earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Philip Lee is a professor of law at St. John's University School of Law; previously, he was a professor of law for 10 years at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. He is also the former assistant director of admissions at Harvard. Prior to joining the admissions staff at Harvard, he was an associate at a white-collar criminal defense boutique in Manhattan and an assistant corporation counsel at the New York City Law Department.

Professor Lee’s interests center on academic freedom, diversity and educational access, school law, higher education history and law, and property law and race. His work has appeared in Emory Law Journal, Ohio State Law Journal, West Virginia Law Review, Utah Law Review, Brooklyn Law Review, St. Louis University Law Journal, Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice, among others. He also published Academic Freedom at American Universities: Constitutional Rights, Professional Norms and Contractual Duties in 2015 and served as editor-in-chief of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession’s 2019-2020 Review.

He is a magna cum laude graduate in psychology and sociology of Duke University, holds an M.Ed. Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he interned at Harvard Defenders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, and the Criminal Justice Institute.

David W. Pollak was a partner in Morgan Lewis's Securities and Mergers and Acquisitions Practices for 40 years, focusing on public and private offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, and advising clients on matters under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He represented clients in a variety of fields, including the financial services, healthcare, technology, sporting goods, biotechnology, information services, investment banking, and printing industries.

Mr. Pollak earned his J.D. from University of Chicago Law School and his B.A. from Princeton University. .

David B. Poole is an associate justice of the Boston Municipal Court. Before his appointment in 2008, Judge Poole was litigation director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, where he was also a clinical instructor and Lecturer on Law.

From 1990 to 1997, Judge Poole was a trial lawyer in the Boston and Roxbury offices of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, where he represented both adult and juvenile clients. Before becoming a public defender, he was a housing lawyer at Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell, Massachusetts, and a law clerk to the Hon. Frederick H. Weisberg on the District of Columbia Superior Court.

Judge Poole graduated from the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School and holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Alexa Shabecoff was the assistant dean for public service at Harvard Law School. She previously served as director of the Office of Public Interest Advising at Harvard Law School, where she advised thousands of students on pursuing careers in public service. Prior to joining Harvard Law School, Ms. Shabecoff worked with Middlesex Legal Services and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Ms. Shabecoff received her B.A., cum laude, from Brandeis University and is a graduate of the New York University School of Law.

Gloria Tan is an associate justice of the Middlesex Division of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court in Middlesex County. Previously, she was a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, where she taught and supervised law students representing indigent adults and youth in criminal and delinquency proceedings.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Gloria Tan worked as a staff attorney the Boston Trial Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (the Massachusetts Public Defender), where she represented indigent adult clients charged with serious felonies. Gloria also worked in the juvenile unit of the Public Defender’s office, the Youth Advocacy Project, where she represented juvenile and youthful offender clients in all aspects of their cases.

Gloria has lectured and taught at continuing legal education courses and has served as a panelist at juvenile law conferences. Gloria chaired the Massachusetts Bar Association Criminal Justice section. She has served as a member of the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and on the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts Board of Directors.