Troy McKenzie, dean of NYU School of Law since 2022, announced yesterday that he’ll step down in 2027. In a letter to the NYU Law community, McKenzie explained that “[t]he classroom has always been my first love, and it is where I will return.” Though not before building a 14-month runway for his successor.
“NYU Law is in an exceptionally strong position,” McKenzie noted. “Perhaps good manners would counsel against saying that so boldly, but it is the reason I feel good about this moment.”
NYU Law is, by any honest accounting, a top-five law school. It sits on a pile of endowment, a bundle of Manhattan real estate, and a gaggle of alumni who answer the phone. McKenzie’s tenure delivered 18 new full-time faculty hires, six new research centers, a record application cycle in 2025-26, and the second-strongest fundraising year in school history, with more than $300 million raised across his four years. All that after taking the job right as COVID tapered off.
And now he gets to leave right before hantavirus arrives!
But of all the advantages McKenzie leaves for his successor, the biggest perk might be the 14-month heads-up he’s given the school. We’ve seen law schools invite chaos without a smooth transition period.
Not that the next dean won’t face challenges. The Trump administration will, theoretically, be on its last legs at that point, but the damage its done to the cash cow international LL.M. business will still be an obstacle. The fact that no competent lawyer wants to touch federal service with a 10-foot pole has left the elite firms more flush with talent than normal, a development that hasn’t necessarily impacted summer hiring, but presumably changes the calculus eventually. And we’re already confronting layoffs.
The whole nature of legal education may need a revamp as well. Assuming the AI hype machine hasn’t run head first into the shell game economics of data centers, 2028 feels like the year law schools will start to confront a hiring landscape where firms seriously curtail the number of brute force juniors they hire. NYU will always occupy a better position than most law schools as an anchor of the New York market, but the school will need to seriously contemplate how to keep its students ahead of the game when summer classes start to shrink.
McKenzie, for his part, gets to do what every law school dean privately fantasizes about: ditch the financial merry-go-round and go back to teaching.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post NYU Law School Dean Stepping Down, Opening Up Plum Leadership Position appeared first on Above the Law.
Troy McKenzie, dean of NYU School of Law since 2022, announced yesterday that he’ll step down in 2027. In a letter to the NYU Law community, McKenzie explained that “[t]he classroom has always been my first love, and it is where I will return.” Though not before building a 14-month runway for his successor.
“NYU Law is in an exceptionally strong position,” McKenzie noted. “Perhaps good manners would counsel against saying that so boldly, but it is the reason I feel good about this moment.”
NYU Law is, by any honest accounting, a top-five law school. It sits on a pile of endowment, a bundle of Manhattan real estate, and a gaggle of alumni who answer the phone. McKenzie’s tenure delivered 18 new full-time faculty hires, six new research centers, a record application cycle in 2025-26, and the second-strongest fundraising year in school history, with more than $300 million raised across his four years. All that after taking the job right as COVID tapered off.
And now he gets to leave right before hantavirus arrives!
But of all the advantages McKenzie leaves for his successor, the biggest perk might be the 14-month heads-up he’s given the school. We’ve seen law schools invite chaos without a smooth transition period.
Not that the next dean won’t face challenges. The Trump administration will, theoretically, be on its last legs at that point, but the damage its done to the cash cow international LL.M. business will still be an obstacle. The fact that no competent lawyer wants to touch federal service with a 10-foot pole has left the elite firms more flush with talent than normal, a development that hasn’t necessarily impacted summer hiring, but presumably changes the calculus eventually. And we’re already confronting layoffs.
The whole nature of legal education may need a revamp as well. Assuming the AI hype machine hasn’t run head first into the shell game economics of data centers, 2028 feels like the year law schools will start to confront a hiring landscape where firms seriously curtail the number of brute force juniors they hire. NYU will always occupy a better position than most law schools as an anchor of the New York market, but the school will need to seriously contemplate how to keep its students ahead of the game when summer classes start to shrink.
McKenzie, for his part, gets to do what every law school dean privately fantasizes about: ditch the financial merry-go-round and go back to teaching.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
