Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer

Professor Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer is the Luk-Cummings Family Faculty Scholar at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. She served as the James D. Hopkins Professor of Law Chair from 2019-2021. Professor Tenzer's scholarship and teaching bridge the worlds of theory and practice, with a particular focus on regulating conduct in the digital age. Prior to coming to Haub Law, Professor Tenzer was a legislative attorney in the Legal Division of the Council of the City of New York. Her responsibilities included drafting legislation, organizing public hearings and coordinating with city agencies and interest groups on the city's legislative process. She currently teaches and writes in the areas of Commercial Law, including Contracts and UCC Article 2, Criminal Law, Torts and Social Media Law. Professor Tenzer's most recent scholarship focuses on legal issues concerning social media.

In addition to her regular teaching at Haub Law, Professor Tenzer is the host of two podcasts, Law to Fact, a podcast for students studying the law, and Legal Tenzer: Casual Conversations on Noteworthy Legal Topics. She frequently works with recent law graduates, court administrators, judges, lawyers, educators, legislative and executive branch officials on projects to improve the communication and administration of justice. She previously served as the chair of the AALS Section on Academic Support. Professor Tenzer has received several awards during her tenure at Pace, including the Goettel Prize for Faculty Scholarship (2020, 2012), the Ottinger Prize for Faculty Achievement (2012–2013; 2003–2004), and Professor of the Year (2014) (voted by the 2014 graduating class).

• BA, University of Florida
• JD, University of Florida College of Law

• Commercial Law - Sales of Goods (Sales) LAW 655
• Contracts LAW 601
• Criminal Law Law 621
• Internet Law-Regulation of Social Media LAW 757A
• Torts LAW 631

View all of Professor Tenzer’s publications on SSRN, Digital Commons or download her CV (PDF).

• A Supreme Sidestep: The Justices’ Artful Dodge on Platform Immunity, __ Nw. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. __ (forthcoming 2025) 
• Social Media and the Common Law, 88 Bklyn. L. Rev. 227 (2022)
• 2021 A Legal Emoji Dictionary, University of Pittsburgh Law Review 83 (5) (with Ashley Cangro).
• A Period Fail Emoji, Colum. J. Gender & L. (2021)
• The GenZ Juror, 88 Tenn. L. Rev. 173 (2020)
• Social Media, Venue, and the Right to a Fair Trial, 71 Baylor L. Rev. 421 (2019) (awarded Goetell Prize)
• #MeToo, Statutory Rape and the Persistence of Gendered Stereotypes, 2019 Utah L. Rev. 117 (2019)
• “A Call to Respect Pre-Trial Social Media Publicity,” NYU Civil Jury Project (May 2019) (with Richard Montalvo)
• Ratings Fetishism, 39 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 409 (2015)
• The Paradox of Race-Conscious Labels, 79 Brook. L. Rev. (Fall 2014)
• “Affirmative Action: 1996-Present and Beyond,” in Contemporary Perspectives on Affirmative Action (J. Beckman ed. Praeger Press 2013)
• The Inevitable Irrelevance of Affirmative Action, 39 J.C. & U. L. Rev. 1 (Winter 2013)

• Outstanding Professor of the Year, 2014 (voted by graduating class)
• Goettel Prize for Faculty Scholarship, 2012, 2020 (external peer reviewer)
• Ottinger Prize for Faculty Achievement, 2012–2013; 2003–2004 (chosen by faculty peers for service to law school and outside communities)

Criminal Law and the Internet, Social Media, Defamation, Homicide, Sale of Goods Contracts, Entertainment Law Contracts, Affirmative Action, Civil Wrongs, Negligence Claims and Intentional Torts, Liability