About
Eric Mitnick served as dean of the law school from 2016-2023. During that time, the law school earned full ABA accreditation, while enrollment in the law school, student employment outcomes, and annual fundraising each more than doubled. As dean, Professor Mitnick was recognized with the "Excellence in Academia" award from the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association; the Red Mass "St. Thomas More Ecumenical Award" from Bishop Edgar Da Cunha, Diocese of Fall River; and the “President’s Leadership Award” from the Bristol County Bar Association. Professor Mitnick has also been voted Professor of the Year and Administrator of the Year by the student body. Professor Mitnick studied history and government as an undergraduate at Cornell University, law at the University of Michigan Law School, from which he graduated with honors, and American politics, public law, and political theory in the Department of Politics at Princeton University, from which he earned master's and doctoral degrees. Dean Mitnick practiced law as an associate with Willkie Farr & Gallagher, a large law firm in New York City, while performing pro bono work in political asylum cases and constitutional law matters.
Professor Mitnick has also served as an outside reviewer for the American Political Science Review and as a member of the Law & Society Dissertation Prize Committee. His doctoral dissertation was published in book form as Rights, Groups, and Self-Invention: Group-Differentiated Rights in Liberal Theory (Ashgate, 2006; Routledge, 2018). He is also the author of several peer-reviewed journal and student-edited law review articles, including “Three Models of Group-Differentiated Rights,” which was selected for the Columbia, Georgetown, UCLA and USC Law & Humanities Junior Scholars Workshop. His article on procedural due process and reputational harm has been cited by the New Hampshire and Vermont Supreme Courts.