Bryan Stevenson
Aronson Family Professor of Criminal Justice and University Professor
Bryan Stevenson is the Aronson Family Professor of Criminal Justice and a University Professor at NYU School of Law, where he has taught since 1998. He is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, through which he has won reversals, relief, or release for over 140 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row. His bestselling book Just Mercy was adapted into a major motion picture. He has won landmark Supreme Court cases including those prohibiting life-without-parole sentences for children, and he created the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the nation's first memorial dedicated to victims of lynching.
Teaching Style
Professor Stevenson brings unparalleled real-world experience as a capital defense attorney and civil rights advocate to his teaching. His classes combine Socratic questioning with powerful storytelling drawn from his decades of representing death row inmates. He does not rely on aggressive cold-calling but instead creates an immersive classroom experience where students confront the moral and legal complexities of the criminal justice system. His teaching is deeply moving and challenges students to consider the human dimensions of law.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Be prepared to engage with difficult questions about race, poverty, and their intersection with the criminal justice system
- 2Read Just Mercy before the course begins — it provides essential context for his approach to criminal law
- 3Understand the Eighth Amendment doctrine on cruel and unusual punishment, including evolving standards of decency
- 4Think about the systemic forces that drive criminal justice outcomes, not just individual case analysis
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- M.P.P., Harvard Kennedy School of Government
- B.A., Eastern University
Notable Publications
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)
Research Interests
More Professors at NYU School of Law
Constitutional Law, Antidiscrimination Law, Law and Literature
Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Sentencing
Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Election Law, Employment Law
Constitutional Law, Family Law, Criminal Law, Reproductive Rights
Constitutional Law, Election Law, Voting Rights, Separation of Powers
Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Federal Courts, Policing