Paula A. Franzese received her B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa (junior year), from Barnard College and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was an International Fellow, Teaching Fellow, and recipient of the prestigious Rosenman Prize. She was a litigator with Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York City, where she also served as a member of the Housing Court Reform Project and the Governor's Task Force on Life and Law. She is a former law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Alan B. Handler. She joined the Seton Hall Law School faculty in 1986, where she is Professor of Law, directs the Pro Bono Program, has taught at Fordham Law School and teaches at Barnard College. Professor Franzese has received the Seton Hall Law School Professor of the Year Award an unprecedented four times, has been named an Exemplary Teacher by the American Association of Higher Education and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the New Jersey Young Lawyer of the Year Award.
With an expertise in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, First Amendment Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Property and Commercial Law, Professor Franzese has published extensively, and is the co-author of Property Law and the Public Interest (Michie, 1998), author of Throw Your Fears Out the Window (Donnelly, 1997) and co-author of New Jersey Forms of Jury Instruction (Matthew Bender, 1993). She is featured as a Legends of the Law on Property (Harcourt Brace) and is commentator on Court TV. She is Commissioner of the Essex Human Rights Commission and serves on the American Arbitration Association, the National Affordable Housing Colloquium, the Federal Bar Council and the Columbia Law School Alumni Board of Directors, and has served as Chair of the Barnard College Alumnae Council.
Professor Franzese is President of the New York-based Justice Resource Center, and founded the New Jersey Mentor Program, a law-related education program for inner-city youth. In 1996 she was appointed by Governor Whitman to serve as Commissioner of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. She lectures throughout the country and leads several pro bono initiatives on behalf of children.
