ATL
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!
