WASHINGTON, D.C., — At its alumni dinner in New York on Wednesday March 15, Brooklyn Law School honored Cozen O’Connor State AG Group Co-Chair Bernie Nash as its 2023 Alumnus of the Year. Nash obtained his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1966, cum laude, where he was associate editor of the Brooklyn Law Review.

The Alumnus of the Year award recognizes Brooklyn Law School graduates who have not only distinguished themselves through professional achievements but have channeled their individual success into something larger. Their exceptional leadership, service, and support of the Law School provides inspiration and hope to future generations of students.

“Bernie’s extraordinary career has been matched by his exceptional generosity to Brooklyn Law School,” said Michael T. Cahill, president and dean of Brooklyn Law School. “Indeed, our entire student body knows Bernie’s name very well because in 2018, in addition to awarding Bernie with our prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, the Law School dedicated one of our most beautiful, inspiring, and popular study spaces in his honor: our library’s Phyllis & Bernard Nash ’66 Reading Room.”

Nash and his wife Phyllis have been longtime supporters of the Law School, including endowing the Bernard Nash Scholarship in 2011. The Bernard Nash Scholarship is bestowed annually upon a student who has demonstrated academic excellence and financial need. 

Nash credits Brooklyn Law School with launching his trailblazing legal career. “I am thrilled to deepen my affiliation and continue to give back to a school that took a chance on a mediocre student from City College in 1963.”

Also honored at the alumni dinner were Distinguished Service Awardee Debbie Epstein Henry class of 1994, and Rising Star Aubria Ralph class of 2019.