Jenny Roberts
Dean and Professor of Law
On July 1, 2024, Dean Jenny Roberts became the 11th dean and professor of law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. She has more than 20 years of experience in legal education and is a nationally recognized criminal justice expert who frequently speaks to the media. Dean Roberts has authored numerous articles, and her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and dozens of lower federal and high state courts.
Phone: (516) 463-4068
Email: Jenny.Roberts@hofstra.edu
Q&A with Dean Jenny Roberts
What drew you to a career in law?
My mother graduated from law school when I was 12 and my brother graduated from law school around the same time I graduated from college. I was determined not to go to law school. But ultimately, I became a combination of both of my parents. My mother was a lawyer at Brooklyn and then Queens Legal Services and my father was a professor, and I became both a lawyer and a professor.
I did not attend law school immediately after college. In the five years after college, I worked in a lot of different jobs. I worked as a travel agent in Paris right after college, I worked in New York City government, and I spent two years working at Court TV. It was a 24-hour channel covering live trials, gavel to gavel. As an assistant news editor, I was tasked with finding interesting trials to air and working with the network’s lawyers on securing our ability to have cameras in the courtroom—which involved some fascinating First Amendment issues. That experience played a big part in my decision to go to law school.
But the main reason I was drawn to law was my desire to work with and help people, which led to my career as a public defender. I quickly discovered that I loved legal research and writing. I also enjoyed the arcane puzzle-like legal issues as well as the big policy issues that I encountered as a practicing lawyer.
You’ve written extensively on criminal law topics and were the director of a Criminal Justice clinic in your previous position. How did you become interested in criminal law?
I’m interested in criminal law primarily because of how it affects people but also because of how it allows us to think about effective policy solutions to intractable problems. Criminal law affects the lives of so many people in this country— defendants, victims, family members, and communities. Even a low-level misdemeanor can change lives.
Everybody wants to be safe. The real issue is how do we achieve that in a way that is effective, fair, and non-biased? Criminal law is an enormously powerful tool. If there is a way to get the public safety outcome we want that is less intrusive and more effective than our criminal legal system, we should be looking at those avenues.
How will you draw upon your previous experience in leading Hofstra Law?
I have worn a lot of different hats in my time in legal education, but no matter what I was doing, students were always at the core of it. I love teaching, mentoring, and advancing students in any way that I can. That will remain at the core of my role as Dean.
I have also been an associate dean for research, and I have a deep appreciation for the importance of faculty scholarly pursuits and how those pursuits can enrich both a professor’s teaching and the public discourse. I will work hard to support and make visible the excellent scholarly work done by our faculty.
As someone who taught and co-directed a criminal justice clinic for many years, I am also deeply aware of the need to help our students graduate practice ready. I’ll be throwing my support behind our clinical programs, externships, practicums, skills courses, and all the other ways that students can gain field experience, from assisting lawyers to acting as lawyers (under supervision) in clinical programs.
I also served on numerous law school and university-wide committees before coming to Hofstra Law and I understand the incredible opportunity Hofstra Law presents being on a vibrant campus with other schools. The law touches every field, so there is a connection between the law school and every other school on campus. Our new strategic plan emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary work, and I think that’s a great focus.