Professor Ray Brescia Named Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life

Newswise — Professor Ray Brescia is the new Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life at Albany Law School.

Brescia, is currently the Hon. Harold R Tyler Chair in Law and Technology, and has been a member of the faculty at Albany Law School since 2009. He has also served as Director of the Government Law Center.

Brescia is a prolific and nationally-recognized scholar with his recent book, The Future of Change: How Technology Shapes Social Revolutions published in 2022 and his book Lawyer Nation: The Past, Present, and Future of the American Legal Profession coming this December. He is also the co-editor of Crisis Lawyering: Effective Legal Advocacy in Emergency Situations and How Cities Will Save the World: Urban Innovation in the Face of Population Flows, Climate Change, and Economic Inequality.

Beyond books, he has had law review articles published by The Ohio State Law Journal, the Florida State University Law Review, and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

“[Professor Brescia’s] work advances thinking on critical themes such as the role of social movements in legal change, legal ethics and technology, and access to justice,” said Albany Law School President and Dean Cinnamon P. Carlarne. “He is a deeply committed member of our community, who served as chair of the faculty Long-Range Planning Committee when the school adopted its most recent strategic plan and coordinates the law school’s Semester-in-Practice and City Semester programs, in which forty students now participate annually.”

Academically. Brescia leads the law school’s Innovation Intensive Program, which Bloomberg Law recently recognized as one of the most innovative law school programs in the country. He is also the director of the City Semester and Semester in Practice programs.

“Ray has served as a critical sounding board to his colleagues on their own scholarship and will expand that work in this new position. Ray has innovative ideas for how we can continue to deepen our support for research, enrich our internal intellectual life, and expand scholarly opportunities and the reach and impact of our scholarly work outside of the building. I am thrilled to have Ray as part of the Law School leadership team. Please join me in congratulating Ray and welcoming him into this new role,” Dean Carlane said.

Before coming to Albany Law, Brescia was the Associate Director of the Urban Justice Center in New York City, where he coordinated legal representation for community-based institutions in areas such as housing, economic justice, workers' rights, civil rights and environmental justice. He was an adjunct professor at New York Law School from 1997-2006. Prior to his work at the Urban Justice Center, he was a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance and the Legal Aid Society of New York, where he was a recipient of a Skadden Fellowship after graduation from law school.

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Albany Law School is a small, private school located in the heart of New York State’s capital where it has educated leaders since 1851. The institution offers students an innovative, rigorous curriculum taught by a committed faculty. It has an affiliation agreement with the State University at Albany that includes shared programs and access for students and faculty to learn from one another. Students have access to New York's highest court, federal courts, the executive branch, and the state legislature. With approximately 11,000 alumni practicing across the country and several continents, Albany Law School’s graduates serve as a vital community and resource for the school and its students. The school offers the J.D. degree—the traditional law degree—along with residential and online Master’s and LL.M. programs, as well as online advanced certificate programs.

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