Richard D. Geiger

From the video archives of the Cornell Law School Heritage Project. The interviewer is Peter W. Martin; the videographer, Michael d’Estries. This video covers Richard Geiger’s reflections on his career as Associate Dean of Communications and Enrollment at Cornell Law School from 1987-2015. Dean Geiger received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Natural Science from Lewis \u26 Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He received his J.D. degree from Boston University, where he served as a Note \u26 Case Editor on the B.U. Law Review. Following graduation, he clerked for Chief Judge Raymond Pettine on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Before coming to Cornell he worked as an associate at Sidley \u26 Austin\u27s Washington, D.C. office, at Bowker, Elmes, Perkins, Mecsas \u26 Gerrard in Boston, and as assistant counsel at Corning Incorporated. Dean Geiger was hired as Assistant Dean for Admissions in 1987, and was promoted to Associate Dean and Dean of Admissions in 1997. In 2005, he was appointed Associate Dean for Communications and Enrollment. He built and oversaw the Law School’s Communications department, and oversaw a three-year reorganization of the IT department. In the broader legal education community, Dean Geiger served as Chair of the AALS Section on Pre-Legal Education and Admission to Law School, and was a member of the AALS Committee on the Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students. He was a member of numerous ABA law school accreditation site inspection teams and a member of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. He was also extensively involved with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). Dean Geiger has been the Law School’s longest serving Dean of Admissions, and in this role, has been a central figure in the selection and recruitment of the best and brightest new students each and every year out of thousands of applicants. He retired in 2015.