Matthew Diller

Matthew Diller is one of the nation’s leading voices on access-to-justice issues and a prominent scholar of social welfare law and policy. He is also an expert in legal education, having served as dean in two major law schools. For the 2024-25 academic year, Diller is a distinguished scholar in residence at NYU Law School while on sabbatical. He will return to the active Fordham Faculty in Fall 2025.

Diller served as dean of Fordham Law from 2015-2024. Under his leadership, the Law School launched an array of new programs and centers focused on advancing legal scholarship and undertook a series of landmark initiatives focused on transforming the student experience, including the establishment of a 1L house system and the launch of new programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, wellness, and professionalism.

To bring greater attention to equal-justice issues, Diller launched the Access to Justice (A2J) Initiative at Fordham Law to promote teaching and scholarship in access-to-justice issues while also expanding legal services to vulnerable populations through Fordham Law’s clinics. He was also instrumental in building Fordham Law’s faculty and supporting legal scholarship. During Diller’s tenure, the Law School added 17 new full-time faculty members, deepening its expertise in foundational areas of the law while adding thought leaders in emerging disciplines.

Prior to being appointed dean of Fordham Law, Diller served as dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law from 2009 to 2015. He began his teaching career at Fordham Law in 1993 and was named the Cooper Family Professor of Law and co-director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. From 2003 to 2008, he served as the associate dean for academic affairs.   Diller worked as a staff attorney in the civil appeals and law reform unit of The Legal Aid Society from 1986 to 1993 and was a law clerk to the Honorable Walter R. Mansfield of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He earned his A.B. and J.D. degrees, both magna cum laude, from Harvard University,

Diller has lectured and written extensively on the legal dimensions of social welfare policy, including public assistance, Social Security, and disability programs, and on disability law and policy. His articles have appeared in the The Yale Law Journal, UCLA Law Review, NYU Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Texas Law Review, and Michigan Law Review, among other publications, and he is widely cited as an expert by the media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and National Law Journal. He has taught a range of law school classes, including Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Social Welfare Law, and Public Interest Law.

Diller has also lectured internationally on issues relating to the U.S. constitutional system, including lectures in Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Spain and Uruguay.

In addition to his work as an administrator and scholar,  Diller is a member of the New York State Permanent Commission on Access to Justice and is chair of the commission’s Committee on Law School Involvement. He has served on the boards of The Legal Aid Society of New York, Legal Services NYC, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, and Volunteers of Legal Service. He has also served as vice president and a member of the executive committee of the New York City Bar Association and was co-chair of the Association’s Council on the Profession. Diller is a member of the New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Widely recognized by the legal community and beyond, Diller has received numerous awards for his work and scholarship. In 2021, he delivered the Charles Evans Hughes Lecture at the New York County Lawyers Association. In 2014, the AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities awarded him the Deborah L. Rhode Award for his leadership in legal education and public service. In 1991, the New York City Bar Association honored him with a legal services award. At Fordham Law School, he has been recognized with the Louis J. Lefkowitz Award for the Advancement of Urban Law from the Fordham Urban Law Journal (2000), the Eugene J. Keefe Award for outstanding contributions to the Law School (2002), and the Dean’s Medal of Achievement (2009). In 2024, he received Fordham University’s Presidential Medal.

Education

A.B., magna cum laude, Harvard University, 1981
J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard University, 1985