David Schizer

David M. Schizer (born December 5, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York) was named the fourteenth Dean of Columbia Law School in 2004. He was appointed Dean at the age of 35, making him the youngest dean in the school's history and one of the youngest deans of a top law school.

One of the nation's leading experts in tax law, Schizer worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell prior to joining the Columbia Law faculty in 1998. Schizer is occasionally mentioned as a potential future United States Supreme Court nominee.

As dean, Schizer has more than doubled the amount of support given to Columbia Law School, significantly broadening the base of donors that contribute leadership gifts. In the 2007-08 academic year, philanthropic support in excess of $37 million was raised to fund faculty scholarship, new professorships and student debt relief.

Schizer has also strengthened Columbia’s support for students and graduates working in government and public interest jobs. In spring of 2007 he announced guaranteed summer funding for all J.D. students working in public interest internships. In 2011, this funding was cut by 33%. In 2008 Schizer announced significant enhancements to Columbia Law School’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) by doubling the income threshold, accelerating loan forgiveness and enhancing benefits to working parents.

To broaden the curriculum and create the opportunity for more intense interactions between faculty and students, Schizer has begun to grow the faculty while greatly enlarging the student body(by over 12.5% in the past five years from an average class of under 400 to 450). Since his tenure as dean began, 22 new faculty have been appointed. In the summer of 2008, construction of a new floor in Jerome Greene Hall will be completed providing 38 new faculty offices.

Schizer is a graduate of Yale University where he earned his B.A., M.A. and J.D. degrees. Schizer clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the 1994-95 term, and for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1993-94 term. Schizer is a member of the Federalist Society.

Schizer continues to teach a colloquium on tax, and a course on professional responsibility. Prior to his appointment as dean, Schizer served as the Wilbur H. Friedman Professor of Tax Law at Columbia Law School. He started a highly popular Deals course, bringing students, academics and practitioners together to examine the art of the deal in the real world. For his ingenuity in the classroom, students awarded him the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Schizer was an internal candidate for the dean's position. The head of the search committee, Professor Michael C. Dorf, has noted in interviews that several of Columbia's rival schools had recently appointed new and "relatively … young" deans. Dorf added that the excitement around a young, 'star' dean poses a fundraising challenge for competing schools. Even so, Schizer was eight years younger than Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan was when she was appointed at the age of 43.

Many Columbia Law School students celebrated Schizer's appointment as dean for getting rid of the required classes Foundations of the Regulatory State and Perspectives on Legal Thought. This was commemorated in a Columbia Law Revue song, "Suddenly Schizer".