Aaron Twerski

In an essay that appeared in the Jan. 19 edition of New York Law Journal, Aaron Twerski, the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law, reflects on his search for a teaching position almost 50 years ago and the prejudice that almost derailed his promising career.

Aaron Twerski, the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law, has been honored with the prestigious William L. Prosser Award, given by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in recognition of outstanding contributions of law teachers in scholarship, teaching and service in torts and compensation systems. Professor Twerski, a preeminent authority on products liability, has been a faculty member at the Law School for nearly 30 years. He was presented with the award on January 8 at the annual AALS meeting in New York City.

Aaron D. Twerski, the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law, and Neil B. Cohen, the Jeffrey D. Forchelli Professor of Law, have co-authored a new casebook, Choice of Law: Cases and Materials for a Concise Course on Conflict of Laws. The book is designed for a two-credit course that will provide students with an appreciation of the many methods that courts use to decide choice of law cases.

With NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation's revelation that Toyota vehicles did not have electrical flaws causing more car accidents, Professor Aaron Twerski says that plaintiff lawyers will have a much more difficult time suing the company. Research has shown that these accidents were caused not by faulty wiring, but by drivers stepping on the gas instead of the brakes. "It's going to be much harder on the class-action side," said Professor Twerski to  Forbes blogger, Daniel Fisher. "In an individual case someone can be a damned fool and still recover. It's much more tricky on a class basis. You have to say the car is worth less because of the possibility of some idiot doing something. It’s much a harder sell."

With the daunting task of sorting through September 11 settlements, Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District has selected Professor James A. Henderson of Cornell Law School and Professor Aaron Twerski of Brooklyn Law School to be Special Masters for the cases. As Special Masters, Professors Twerski and Henderson chose 225 of the most severe cases from a group of 9,000 plaintiffs.

Professors Margaret Berger, Aaron Twerski, and Elizabeth Schneider ranked in Brian Leiter’s recent survey of “Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty.” The survey, published on his Law School Rankings Web site, a highly respected and comprehensive ranking of law school performance, counted citations in law review articles from 2000 to 2007 that reference scholars in 18 different fields. In each category, 10 or 20 professors are ranked.

On August 12, 2007, the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section presented the 2007 Robert B. McKay Law Professor Award to Professor Aaron D. Twerski. The award was presented during the ABA’s annual meeting in San Francisco.