Richard A. Matasar

Dean and President (July 2000-December 2011)
 

Richard A. Matasar was the 15th dean of New York Law School. He joined the faculty and began his tenure as dean on July 1, 2000 and served until December 31, 2011.

A nationally recognized scholar in civil procedure and federal jurisdiction, Dean Matasar also has spent many years thinking about law schools as institutions and how to use education to add value to society. During his tenure he has energized the New York Law School community with innovative curricular and administrative changes, creating a new experience for students.

“As a stand-alone, private, expensive law school, we are obligated to provide our students with a significant, value-added education. To that end, we are developing an approach that we call ‘The Right Program For Each Student.’ Students receive individual attention and a chance to develop their talents to the maximum in a law school climate with sufficient flexibility to give each student the best opportunities possible,” he says.

Dean Matasar was the Levin Mabie & Levin Professor of Law at the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, one of the ten largest law schools in the nation, and served as its ninth dean from 1996 to 1999. During his tenure, he created and implemented the school’s first comprehensive strategic plan, which led to the development of several new research centers and an expanded international presence. Technological strides under his leadership included the development of the International Center for Automated Information Research and the Legal Technology Institute. The law school also successfully completed a fundraising campaign of more than $40 million and tripled its endowment.

Dean Matasar also was dean of the Chicago-Kent College of Law (1991–96). During his tenure, the school’s endowment rose from $5 million to more than $17 million. He was responsible for enhancing the faculty and helping Chicago-Kent establish a reputation as the nation’s leading institution in integrating technology into legal education.

At the University of Iowa College of Law, Dean Matasar was professor of law from 1980 to 1991 and served as associate dean for academic affairs from 1989 to 1991. He spent a semester as visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School in 1989.

Dean Matasar has published extensively in scholarly and academic venues. His teaching and scholarly areas include civil procedure, constitutional litigation, federal jurisdiction, trial advocacy, and professionalism.

“The thrust of my work for the last several years has been in two different directions: first, to radically disrupt our traditional approach to legal education by emphasizing the need for professionalism and the need for educational institutions to be flexible; and second, to force the profession of law and the legal academy to think about ways they can work with each other. Law schools need to be more businesslike and lawyers need to be better teachers,” he says.

“Most law schools have no chance to improve. They’re mired in the past, beholden to special interest groups, and incapable of disrupting their own comfort levels,” Dean Matasar says. “New York Law School is ready, willing, and able to innovate.”

Dean Matasar resides in Manhattan with his wife Sharon.