Aviva Abramovsky joined University of Idaho College of Law as dean in June of 2024.

A noted expert in the fields of insurance law, commercial law, regulation of financial entities, and legal ethics, Abramovsky joined Idaho Law from the University at Buffalo School of Law. There, she most recently served as the William J. Magavern Faculty Scholar, after previously serving as dean for six years from 2017-23. During her tenure as dean, the law school’s clinical legal education program expanded to include the launch of a new Criminal Justice Advocacy Clinic, a Community Engagement Clinic, and the revitalization of its Innocence and Justice Project. The law school also saw expanded student and academic support services with significant rises in student outcomes, job placement, and bar passage.

She is a member of the American Law Institute and was the winner of the New York State Bar Association Professor David D. Siegel Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the study of New York law. She is the author of “Uniform Commercial Code, West’s McKinney’s Forms for New York,” as well as numerous other book chapters and articles in the fields of insurance and commercial law.

Before her time at Buffalo, Abramovsky was the Kaufman Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and an associate dean at Syracuse University College of Law, where she led the school’s internationalization efforts. She also spent one year as a visiting professor with the Florida State University College of Law, after beginning her professional career in private practice.

An active member in the legal education community, Abramovsky has served on multiple committees and sections for the AALS, the American Bar Association, and the American Law Institute. She was also a member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, Academic Reading Group for the evaluation of both Sonia Sotomayor and Samual A. Alito, Jr. prior to their appointments as Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

A graduate of Cornell University, she received her bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations before earning her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania.

• Insurance Law
• Commercial Law
• Regulation of Financial Entities
• Legal Ethics

• Professor David D. Siegel Award for outstanding academic contribution to New York Law by the Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) (January 2020)
• Outstanding Women in Law Award (Lamplighter), Eighth Judicial District’s Women in the Courts/Gender Racial Fairness Committee (May 2019)
• Female Trailblazer in Erie County, Buffalo Rising (March 2022)
• Power Women, Buffalo Business First (July 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
• Power List for Law, Western New York Daily Record (April 2021)
• Legal Elite Leader, Buffalo Law Journal/Business First (September 2018, 2019, 2020)
• Power 250, Buffalo Business First (March 2019)

• Author, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE, WEST'S MCKINNEY’S FORMS FOR NEW YORK, the definitive set on the New York Uniform Commercial Code and official companion to
• MCKINNEY'S CONSOLIDATED LAWS OF NEW YORK ANNOTATED (updated annually) (2016-Present).
• Editor, LSN Insurance Law, Legislation, & Policy eJornal (with R. Malloy) (2007-Present)
• Editor, LSN Housing & Community Law eJournal (with R. Malloy) (2023-Present)
• Editor, Volume 4: Specific Types of Liability Insurance (Chs. 24-40), NEW APPLEMAN ON INSURANCE LAW LIBRARY EDITION by Mathew Bender (2010- present).
• Contributing Editor, NEW APPLEMAN INSURANCE LAW NEW YORK, SECOND EDITION, by Mathew Bender (2008- present).
• Editorial Board of the National Ministry of Public Prosecutorial Ethics Council, Journal of Brazil (2016-2018)
• Board of Editors, Insurance Titles Group, Mathew Bender (Lexis) (2010-2015)
• Editor and Academic Advisor, Connecticut Insurance Law Journal (2010-2011)
• Reviewer for Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, American Business Law Journal, Mathew Bender, West, Springer, Lexis, among others
• BILA Book Prize 2013, Research Handbook on International Insurance and Regulation (Chapter Author)