Neil S. Hecht

Director, Institute of Jewish Law
Professor of Law
B.A. and Rabbinical degree, Yeshiva University
J.D., Yale Law School
J.S.D., Columbia University School of Law

Interests: Jewish law; evidence; property

Longtime BU Law faculty member Neil Hecht is an international authority on Jewish law. In 1983, he founded the School’s Institute of Jewish Law, and has since written and edited a variety of treatises, monographs and teaching materials under its auspices, totaling 30 volumes to date. Among these works are The Jewish Law Annual, Jewish Jurisprudence, Controversy and Dialogue in Halakhik Studies and Jewish Law in Context.

From 1985 to 1986, Professor Hecht served as the Visiting Gruss Professor of Talmudic Civil Law at New York University School of Law. Since 1991, he has served as co-director of the Joint Project in Jewish Legal Bioethics, a collaborative initiative of the Institute of Jewish Law and Boston University’s Schools of Medicine and Public Health. His many professional and public service activities include serving on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, as chair of the Jewish Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools and as a member of the American Law Institute.

Professor Hecht’s recent publications include An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law, Volume 3 of Jewish Law in Context, Volume 7 of Selected Topics in Jewish Law, Volume 3 of Controversy and Dialogue in Halakhik Sources and Volume 15 of The Jewish Law Annual. In addition to his expertise in Jewish law, Professor Hecht has researched and published in the areas of evidence and property. His Long-Term Lease Planning and Drafting was selected as a sourcebook for real estate transaction seminars by the American Law Institute/American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Education. He was honored by the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University, which has displayed a plaque next to its Greek Metrological Relief in recognition of his published solution, based upon Jewish law, to the long-standing riddle surrounding the statue. In 2002, he was the recipient of the Silver Shingle Award for distinguished service to the School of Law.