Matthew Diller is one of the nation’s leading voices on access-to-justice issues and a prominent scholar of social welfare law and policy. He is also an expert in legal education, having served as dean in two major law schools.
Diller is currently senior counsel to the Feerick Center for Social Justice along with its founder, John Feerick. He served as dean of Fordham Law from 2015-2024, and will return to the active Fordham Faculty in Fall 2025. Under his leadership, the Law School launched an array of new programs and centers focused on advancing legal scholarship and undertook a series of landmark initiatives focused on transforming the student experience, including the establishment of a 1L house system and the launch of new programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, wellness, and professionalism.
To bring greater attention to equal-justice issues, Diller launched the Access to Justice (A2J) Initiative at Fordham Law to promote teaching and scholarship in access-to-justice issues while also expanding legal services to vulnerable populations through Fordham Law’s clinics. He was also instrumental in building Fordham Law’s faculty and supporting legal scholarship. During Diller’s tenure, the Law School added 17 new full-time faculty members, deepening its expertise in foundational areas of the law while adding thought leaders in emerging disciplines.
Diller has lectured and written extensively on the legal dimensions of social welfare policy, including public assistance, Social Security, and disability programs, and on disability law and policy. Diller has also lectured internationally on issues relating to the U.S. constitutional system.
Prior to being appointed dean of Fordham Law, Diller served as dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law from 2009 to 2015. He began his teaching career at Fordham Law in 1993 and was named the Cooper Family Professor of Law and co-director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. From 2003 to 2008, he served as the associate dean for academic affairs. Diller worked as a staff attorney in the civil appeals and law reform unit of The Legal Aid Society from 1986 to 1993 and was a law clerk to the Honorable Walter R. Mansfield of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Diller earned his A.B. and J.D. degrees from Harvard University.