Richard L. Revesz Receives Burton Award for Academic Excellence

The award recognizes a law school dean or legal thought leader whose career reflects exceptional scholarship, leadership, public service, and contributions to legal education and the profession. Named in honor of the late Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the award celebrates individuals whose work has strengthened both legal institutions and public life.

Revesz, the AnBryce Professor of Law and dean emeritus at New York University School of Law, is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading scholars in environmental and regulatory law and policy. Over the course of his career, he has authored ten books and approximately 80 articles examining regulatory decision-making and advocating for thoughtful and effective environmental and climate policy.

From 2023 to 2025, while on public service leave from NYU, Revesz served as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the White House Office of Management and Budget. In that role, he oversaw the development of hundreds of significant federal regulations and led the first comprehensive update in two decades to Circular A-4, the federal government’s primary guidance for evaluating the consequences of regulation. His tenure also emphasized expanding public participation in the regulatory process and reducing barriers to access government benefits.

In 2008, Revesz founded NYU Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity, which has become an influential voice in environmental and regulatory policy and has played a significant role in advancing rigorous analysis of climate and environmental impacts in agency and judicial proceedings.

Revesz also served as Director of The American Law Institute from 2014 to 2023 and now continues his service to the Institute as Director Emeritus and a member of the ALI Council. During his tenure as Director, ALI marked its centennial, strengthened engagement with members and legal audiences, expanded access to its work through new publications and digital initiatives, and continued to advance an ambitious portfolio of Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, and Model Codes addressing both foundational and emerging areas of law.

Prior to his public service and institutional leadership roles, Revesz served as Dean of NYU School of Law from 2002 to 2013, helping guide a period of enduring institutional development and strengthening the school’s commitments to scholarship, public interest law, and access.

Born in Argentina, Revesz immigrated to the United States at age 17 and learned English as a second language. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Following clerkships with Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States, he joined the NYU Law faculty in 1985.

In announcing the award, Burton Awards Founder and Chair William C. Burton said, “Mr. Revesz is respected and admired by all who know him and appreciate his many successes. He is a leader and a proven scholar in academic circles.”

William Treanor, Dean Emeritus of Georgetown Law and co-chair of the Academic Excellence Committee, described Revesz as “a preeminent scholar in the fields of environmental and regulatory law and policy” whose career reflects a rare combination of scholarship, leadership, and public impact.

ALI congratulates Ricky on this well-deserved recognition and thanks him for his years of leadership and continued service to the Institute.