Profile

Matt Gewolb is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Institutional Strategy at New York Law School. In this role, he serves as the chief administrator of the Law School’s academic program. He is responsible for the day-to-day budgeting, planning, and management of the academic program. He also serves as the Law School’s General Counsel, advising on significant institutional policy, legal, and strategic government affairs matters, and directs the NYLS Externship Program.

He teaches courses relating to state and local government, public service lawyering, and higher education law.

His scholarship focuses on law school teaching and learning. His most recent project is a national study of law school pedagogical approaches that draw on students’ prior knowledge to deepen their understanding of legal doctrine. The project seeks to develop an empirical understanding of how law students learn, identify effective pedagogical practices, and translate those findings into practical resources for law school faculty. He recently founded the NYLS Center for Research on Teaching and Learning in Law, which will advance related empirical research and disseminate findings to the broader legal education community.

Dean Gewolb served as a Commissioner on the 2024-26 New York City Charter Revision Commission and as Executive Director and Counsel to the 2018 New York City Charter Revision Commission. He previously served as Legislative Director of the New York City Council, overseeing the Council’s legislative, policy, and oversight work. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, teaching State and Local Government and the Law of the City of New York.

He also served as Director of Government Programs and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, where he co-taught the Externship on the Federal Government in Washington, D.C., and directed Social Justice Initiatives programming relating to public service. Prior to joining Columbia, he served as Legislative Counsel at the New York City Council. He was previously Chief of Staff to Georgia Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown.

Dean Gewolb is a graduate of Emory Law School (J.D.), Teachers College at Columbia University (Ed.D., Ed.M., M.A.), and Cornell University (B.S.). He serves on a number of boards, including those of the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens Library, and the Cornell Human Ecology Alumni Association.