Cristina M. Rodríguez has been selected as the next Sol and Lillian Goldman Dean of Yale Law School. Rodríguez’s appointment was announced by Yale University President Maurie McInnis on December 19, and she will assume the deanship on February 1, 2026.
“Cristina’s commitment to scholarship, excellence, and service make her the ideal person to lead Yale Law School, and the entire Yale community is fortunate to have such a devoted and experienced leader take the helm,” said President McInnis her announcement. “I have no doubt that under Cristina’s principled leadership, Yale Law School will continue to produce pathbreaking scholarship and embody the highest ideals of the legal profession.”
A nationally recognized scholar and leader, Rodríguez brings more than 25 years of experience in academia, public service, and legal practice to Yale Law. Currently the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law and Deputy Dean at Yale Law School, her scholarship spans constitutional law and theory, administrative law and governance, and immigration law and policy.
Rodríguez was elected to ALI in 2016 and to the ALI Council in 2022. She joined Yale Law School in 2013 after serving for two years as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was on the faculty at NYU School of Law from 2004–2012 and has been Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia Law Schools. Following law school, Rodríguez clerked for Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Learn more about Rodríguez and her scholarship here.