Landmark $3 Million Gift Establishes Grubman Institute for Entertainment, Media, Technology & Sports Law at Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School has received a landmark $3 million gift from legendary entertainment and media attorney and alumnus Allen Grubman ’67 to establish in perpetuity the Grubman Institute for Entertainment, Media, Technology & Sports Law, a major new initiative that will bring together education, scholarship, and industry engagement across four rapidly evolving fields.
The gift is the second-largest commitment ever received by Brooklyn Law School from a living donor and marks a new chapter in Grubman’s extraordinary relationship with his alma mater and strengthens the Law School’s longstanding leadership in media and entertainment law.
"I owe so much to Brooklyn Law School. It allowed me to build the career of my dreams," said Grubman. "Establishing this Institute will help create those same possibilities for future generations of students and build something that will endure."
The Grubman Institute will serve as the hub for Brooklyn Law School’s educational activities in entertainment, media, technology, and sports law, bringing together courses, clinics, conferences, symposia, lectures, journals, and other programming. Its first-year initiatives will include a flagship conference and smaller events, expanding clinical opportunities and new curricular offerings in media, entertainment, and sports law. Together, these initiatives will connect students and faculty with practitioners, industry leaders, and other experts across four increasingly interconnected fields.
"Allen Grubman has made an extraordinary investment in Brooklyn Law School and the future of legal education," said David D. Meyer, President, Joseph Crea Dean and Professor of Law. "The industries represented by the Grubman Institute are changing at remarkable speed, and lawyers will play a critical role in shaping what comes next. Allen’s generosity gives us the opportunity to build an interdisciplinary program that connects our students and faculty with the legal, business, and creative forces transforming these fields."
Building on a Foundation
The Grubman Institute builds directly on a foundation that Grubman has helped establish at Brooklyn Law School.
In 2024, Grubman and his wife, Deborah Grubman, made a $1.5 million gift to endow the Allen Grubman Chair in Media and Entertainment Law. The endowment enabled Brooklyn Law School to recruit a nationally recognized scholar in the field and advance its longstanding reputation in media and entertainment law.
Professor Seán O’Connor, the inaugural holder of the chair, will lead the Grubman Institute. O’Connor joined the BLS faculty in 2025 with a vision for building a world-class entertainment law program. Now that the Grubman Institute has been established, this vision has become a reality. It provides a permanent institutional home and an expanded mandate for this work, extending beyond entertainment and media to encompass technology and sports law, as well.
"I’m deeply grateful to Allen Grubman for his extraordinary commitment to Brooklyn Law School and to the vision we share for the future of entertainment law." said O’Connor. "His earlier gift established the Allen Grubman Chair in Media and Entertainment Law, and this new commitment allows us to build on that foundation in a transformative way. I’m excited to lead the Grubman Institute and bring this vision to life."
In the spring of 2026, O’Connor co-taught Advanced Media & Entertainment Deals with attorneys from Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, giving students practical insight into high-stakes entertainment dealmaking. The course will be taught annually.
"This gift takes the vision we began developing with the Grubman Chair to an entirely new level," said Robert Fairfield, Chief Advancement Officer at Brooklyn Law School. "Allen and Deborah Grubman have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to Brooklyn Law School. The Grubman Institute will create opportunities for students and faculty while bringing leading practitioners and industry voices to the Law School."
A Legacy of Giving Back
Grubman’s latest gift reflects a relationship with Brooklyn Law School that stretches back six decades and a philanthropic commitment rooted in gratitude for the people who helped shape his life and career.
Grubman grew up in a working-class family in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and attended Brooklyn Law School while working in the entertainment industry, including in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency and as a CBS page. He has often described himself as a less-than-stellar law student but credits the late Professor Joseph Crea ’47 with helping him remain in law school and ultimately launch his career.
After Grubman struggled on a Torts final, Crea gave him a chance to remain in school if he passed his other examinations. Grubman did, and he has repeatedly described the moment as pivotal.
"If I didn’t make that call on Sunday, to Professor Crea’s house, I’d probably be a very successful salesman in the Garment Center right now," Grubman said in a previous BLS interview. "I owe that man my career. Period, end of conversation."
Grubman later honored Crea’s legacy with a major gift supporting the Joseph Crea Reading Room in the Law School’s library. Crea, who died in 2019 at age 104, remained an important influence on Grubman throughout his life.
That commitment to giving back has since expanded to support the future of media and entertainment law at the Law School. His 2024 gift with Deborah Grubman established the Allen Grubman Chair, and the appointment of O’Connor as its inaugural holder marked the beginning of a broader effort to build Brooklyn Law School’s national leadership in the field.
At the celebration of the Grubman Chair in 2024, Grubman spoke with pride about his BLS degree, emphasizing to students that a Brooklyn Law School education can provide a path to the highest levels of the profession.
"Everybody who matters in media and entertainment ... knows that I went to Brooklyn Law School," he said in 2024. "I brag about it because so many lawyers in the industry went to Harvard or Yale, and I make it clear that I went to Brooklyn Law School, and I'm proud of it."
Shaping the Future of Entertainment and Sports Law
Grubman’s career has helped define the modern practice of entertainment law. After graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 1967, he went on to establish Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, which is one of the leading U.S. law firms specializing in media, entertainment, and sports law.
Over the course of his career, Grubman has represented some of the most influential figures in media and entertainment, including Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Elton John, U2, Sting, Lady Gaga, Martha Stewart, Robert De Niro, Jerry Seinfeld, LeBron James and other talent and corporations across music, film, television, sports, journalism, and media. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, becoming the first practicing lawyer to receive the honor.
His career has also mirrored the evolution of the industries that the new Grubman Institute will bring together, reflecting the increasingly interconnected worlds of music, film, television, sports, technology, and digital media.
Brooklyn Law School has long been recognized for producing leading lawyers in these fields. Its students have also built a vibrant community around entertainment and sports law through student organizations, symposia, publications, clinics, and other programs.
The Grubman Institute will bring these strands together, creating opportunities for students and scholars to examine emerging legal and business issues across industries and to engage directly with the lawyers, dealmakers, creators, executives, and policymakers shaping them.
"The opportunity here is enormous," said Dean Meyer. "Allen Grubman has helped Brooklyn Law School imagine what is possible, and this gift gives us the resources to pursue that vision with ambition. We are deeply grateful for his confidence in the Law School and excited about what the Grubman Institute will mean for our students, our faculty, and the broader legal and professional communities we serve."
Emerging technologies are transforming how creative work is produced, distributed, monetized, and protected. Sports has become an increasingly sophisticated business and legal ecosystem, while the boundaries among music, film, television, digital media, technology, and other forms of entertainment continue to evolve.
By bringing these areas together, the Grubman Institute will position Brooklyn Law School to help students and scholars understand and help shape the legal landscape emerging at their intersection.
For Grubman, the gift represents another way of investing in the institution that helped launch his remarkable career.
"If you work hard, you’re ambitious, and you’re honest, you can do as well as any Harvard lawyer and better, and I’m living proof of it," Grubman has told Brooklyn Law School students. "That’s a very important message."