Law Schools

Law School Dean Knows He's A Loser

This dean loves politics, but is staying in legal academia.

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David Yassky

When last we checked in with Pace Law School’s dean, David Yassky, he’d thrown his hat into the ring to get the Democratic party nomination for a district that covers lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Due to a late vacancy, the nomination was to be filled by party leaders, not a primary, but Yassky was public in seeking the nomination, even appearing at a candidates’ forum. As the state senate position is a full-time one, many wondered: what would happen at Pace Law if the dean were successful?

Turns out Yassky knew all along he wouldn’t be making the move into politics. On Sunday, five-term Manhattan Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh got the nod for the nomination, and in emails sent to the faculty and students of Pace Law, Yassky explained he figured on losing. He sent the following email to all faculty on Friday afternoon:

From: “Yassky, David”
Date: September 15, 2017 at 1:56:33 PM EDT
To: Voting Faculty
Subject: RE: News from Above the Law

Fear not – other hands will have to take up the important work of fixing the broken State Senate.  The vacancy will be filled through a rather bizarre process.  There is no primary with actual voters – the Democratic County Leaders of Brooklyn and Manhattan will select the next Senator, and it won’t be me.  As I’ve long felt, politics would be an incredibly entertaining spectator sport if there weren’t real things at stake.

David

The tone of the email struck some in the Pace Law community as strange:

I find Dean Yassky‘s response puzzling on many levels. He basically says, “I’m not going to win.” So that invites the question of why he is taking time and focus away from his primary responsibilities to the Law School to chase a position he won’t get, by his own estimation? And why did Dean Yassky not inform the faculty or students before appearing in public at a candidates’ forum? Did he think the faculty and students wouldn’t care that he is signaling to the public that he doesn’t consider Pace Law School to be his top priority? This man is a joke as a leader.

But Yassky wasn’t done explaining his actions. On Saturday, an email was sent by the Dean to the full student body, characterized by a tipster as follows:

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In a nutshell, his very lengthy email is an attempt to mediate the outrage of students by saying he ran, but knew he wouldn’t win. Plus, the campaign was only a month. Welcome to Pace.

We have the full email on the next page for the interested, but Yassky’s weekend missive begins:

The short answer is: I’m staying right here on the 3rd Floor of Preston, not going to Albany.

Of course, anyone who’s been in my office or my class, knows that I prefer the long answer.

The email details Yassky’s love of politics, but notes that it would still be “very difficult to leave my position at the Law School.” He goes on to reiterates his “I wasn’t going to win” excuse from the faculty email:

I also knew that my path to the nomination was quite narrow.  Among other things, most of the district is in Manhattan, and I live in Brooklyn.  While the boundary lines between boroughs do not seem to matter much to voters, they matter a great deal to party officials (there are some valuable lessons about federalism here).  Also, while in politics I sometimes found myself in opposition to the very party organizations which are choosing the nominee (see, e.g., Yassky v. Kings County Democratic County Committee, 259 F. Supp. 210 (2001)).

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While Yassky definitely racks up the legal-nerd points for including a citation in the school-wide email, the overall tone is that he’s a loser, and he knows it. Cue the Beck.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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