Biography

Deborah Gordon’s scholarship explores the intersection of language, emotion, and gender in inheritance law.  An English major in college and English teacher thereafter, Professor Gordon also uses narrative theory, rhetorical theory, and literature to explore intergenerational donative transfers and fiduciary responsibilities.

Professor Gordon’s publications include “Mor(t)ality & Identity: Wills, Narratives, and Personal Possessions,” in the Yale Journal for Law & the Humanities, “Forfeiting Trust,” in the William & Mary Law Review, “Trusting Trust,” in the University of Kansas Law Review,  "Letters Non-Testamentary," also in the University of Kansas Law Review, and “Reflecting on the Language of Death,” in the Seattle University Law Review. Professor Gordon also is a co-author of the casebook “Experiencing Trusts & Estates” (West Academic 2017) and a contributor to “U.S. Feminist Judgments Project” (Cambridge University Press 2016).

Professor Gordon has served on the Governing Board of the Legal Writing Institute’s Writer’s Workshop, on the Executive Board of the American Association of Law School’s Trusts & Estates section, and on the Scholarship Development Committee of the Legal Writing Institute. 

Before joining the law school faculty, Professor Gordon practiced at Day Berry & Howard (now Day, Pitney) in Stamford, Connecticut, where she handled sophisticated estate planning, business and succession planning, pre-marital planning, estate administration, and litigation involving fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

A graduate of New York University School of Law, Professor Gordon served as editor-in-chief of The New York University Law Review. She graduated Magna Cum Laude, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received the Benjamin F. Butler memorial Award for Scholarship, Character and Professional Activities, the N.Y.U. Alumnae Key Pin for the Outstanding Female Law School Graduate, and the Judge Rose L. & Herbert Rubin Law Review Prize. After law school, she clerked for Judge I. Leo Glasser of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and served as Sullivan & Cromwell’s pro bono fellow. 

Professor Gordon was chosen by graduating students to receive the Dean Jennifer L. Rosato Excellence in the Classroom Award in 2017.