Rutgers Law names new Camden-based co-dean

Rutgers Law School has named Michael T. Cahill, a Brooklyn Law School professor and former administrator, to the top post at its Camden campus.

Cahill, 44, will become the co-dean of Rutgers Law School's Camden location beginning July 1, Rutgers-Camden Chancellor Phoebe A. Haddon announced Monday.

He will work with Ronald Chen, who remains co-dean in residence at Rutgers-Newark; Rutgers' two law schools, in Newark and Camden, merged last year into one entity, maintaining both campuses and cooperatively led by two co-deans.

"Rutgers Law School represents one of the most exciting opportunities in American legal education," Cahill said in a statement. "Its unification into a single institution will stimulate significant internal and external change, and reflects a commitment to dynamism, innovation, and evolution."

Cahill joined the Brooklyn Law School faculty in 2003. From 2010 to 2013, he served as associate dean for academic affairs and from 2013-15 as vice dean of the school.

He helped increase the number of need-based and diversity-oriented scholarships, institute a 15 percent tuition reduction that took effect this school year, and create a program that repays 15 percent of costs for students who are not employed full-time within nine months after graduation, Rutgers Law School said in a news release.

"At Rutgers Law, I will continue to work to make legal education more affordable and more equitable," he said, "so that it can both attract a diverse array of talent students and enable them to pursue a diverse array of career opportunities."

Cahill received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1993, a master's degree from University of Michigan School of Public Policy in 1999, and his law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1999. His work focuses on criminal law, including on sentencing law and drafting of criminal codes.

He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Rosalyn Scaff, son, Rowan, 11, and daughter, Tessa, 9.