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Biography

B.A., Fordham University
J.D., Yale Law School

Professor Brescia combines his experience as a public interest attorney in New York City with his scholarly interests to address economic and social inequality, the legal and policy implications of financial crises, how innovative legal and regulatory approaches can improve economic and community development efforts, and the need to expand access to justice for people of low and moderate income.  He is the author of “The Future of Change: How Technology Shapes Social Revolutions” (Cornell University Press, 2020), which examines the intersection of technology and social movements, from the American Revolution, to the present day.  His forthcoming work, “Lawyer Nation: The Past, Present, and Future of the American Legal Profession,” due out in late 2023, will be published by New York University Press.

He is also the co-editor of two books: Crisis Lawyering: Effective Legal Advocacy in Emergency Situations” (New York University Press, 2021); and “How Cities Will Save the World: Urban Innovation in the Face of Population Flows, Climate Change, and Economic Inequality” (Routledge 2016).  He has also published over fifty law review articles in such publications as the Ohio State Law Journal, the Florida State University Law Review, and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

Before coming to Albany Law, he was the Associate Director of the Urban Justice Center in New York, N.Y., where he coordinated legal representation for community-based institutions in areas such as housing, economic justice, workers' rights, civil rights and environmental justice. He also served as an adjunct professor at New York Law School from 1997 through 2006. Prior to his work at the Urban Justice Center, he was a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance and the Legal Aid Society of New York, where he was a recipient of a Skadden Fellowship after graduation from law school.

Professor Brescia also served as Law Clerk to the pathbreaking Civil Rights attorney-turned-federal judge, the Honorable Constance Baker Motley, Senior U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York. While a student Yale Law School, Professor Brescia was co-recipient of the Charles Albom Prize for Appellate Advocacy; was a student director of several clinics, including the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Homelessness Clinic; and was Visiting Lecturer in Yale College.

​Read his blog: the Future of Change.

View Professor Brescia’s TEDx Talk on Creativity in the Law.

Blog: the Future of Change

​Read his blog: the Future of Change.

Opinion Pieces

Washington Post: Cases this term will shape the Supreme Court far more than Biden’s commission:, Dec. 3, 2021.
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The Hill : A Better Way to Investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack, Feb. 18, 2021
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Washington Post, The USPS Is a Crucial Tool for Democracy — Helping the Left and the Right Organize , August 17, 2020
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The Hill : Preventing a Public Health Crisis from Turning into a Homelessness Crisis , July 16, 2021
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Next City: Saving Homes to Save the Nation , June 24, 2020
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The Hill: It's Not the Technology, It's the Movement , June 8, 2020
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Slate: Eat the Loan Sharks!: Let’s solve the subprime mess by going after lawbreaking lenders, Nov. 24, 2008
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In the News

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  published an op-ed on MSNBC.com,  "Elon Musk attacked the courts. Now they’re his best hope against Trump." on June 7, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  was quoted in the CBS News story,  "Can Trump give Harvard's funding to trade schools? Education experts say it may not be that easy." on May 28, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  was quoted in The Bloomberg Law story,  "Harvard Feud With Trump Deepens as US Punches Back at Garber" on May 13, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  published an op-ed on MSNBC.com,  "Stephen Miller’s view of habeas corpus would horrify the Founding Fathers" on May 12, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  was quoted in The Hill story,  "Trump puts IRS in middle of fight with Harvard" on May 5, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  published an op-ed on MSNBC.com,  "The Trump administration says it can’t return Kilmar Abrego Garcia. That’s false." on April 14, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  was quoted in the ABA Journal story,  " BigLaw firms slow down recruiting and hiring amid changing political landscape" on April 10, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  published an op-ed The Courior,  "Ray Brescia: The Real Crisis in the Legal Profession Is Not Too Many Lawyers Defending Rights But Too Few." on April 10, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  published an op-ed Bloomber Law,  "Adams Case, Big Law Deals Launch Era Rife With Ethical Conflicts," on April 2, 2025.

Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life Ray Brescia  was quoted in the Business Insider story,  "Trump is using his Big Law executive order to disarm the legal efforts to reign him in," on April 2, 2025.

Selected Achievements

Professor Ray Brescia was named a 2019 academic fellow of the Pound Civil Justice Institute, a national legal think tank that works to ensure access to justice for citizens and provide a balanced view of the issues affecting the U.S. civil justice system.​

Professor Ray Brescia was named a 2019 academic fellow of the Pound Civil Justice Institute, a national legal think tank that works to ensure access to justice for citizens and provide a balanced view of the issues affecting the U.S. civil justice system.​

Professor Ray Brescia was named to the transition committee for incoming New York Attorney General Letitia James in November 2018.​

​Professor Ray Brescia,with assistance from six first-year students, co-authored amicus briefs recently filed in two U.S. Courts of Appeals on behalf of 165 members of Congress. The briefs argued that the Trump administration's executive order limiting travel from six predominantly Muslim countries was “vastly overbroad.”

Professor Ray Brescia,with assistance from six first-year students, co-authored an amicus brief filed on behalf of 167 members of Congress opposing the Trump administration’s immigration executive order.

Professor Brescia was appointed to Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan's blue ribbon panel on rail oil safety.

Professor Brescia has been appointed director of the law school’s Government Law Center.

Videos

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