Gillian E Metzger

Early life and education

The daughter of Columbia University history professor Walter P. Metzger, Gillian grew up on campus in faculty housing. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University in 1987, and then worked as a legislative aide for District Council 37, a local union in New York City. Metzger then earned a master's degree in philosophy at the University of Oxford. After several years as a staff analyst for New York City government, Metzger enrolled in Columbia Law School, earning her law degree in 1995.

Professional career

After law school, Metzger first clerked with U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judge Patricia Wald and then clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

After completing her clerkship with Ginsburg, Metzger became a staff attorney for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law for several years. During her time at the Brennan Center, Metzger worked on two notable causes: challenging Florida's permanent disenfranchisement of convicted felons and defending campaign finance reform measures. Her work on felon disenfranchisement earned her an invitation to testify before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary on October 21, 1999.

Metzger joined Columbia Law's faculty in 2001. Her areas of expertise are constitutional law, administrative law, federalism, and institutional reform. She also has served as the faculty advisor to the school's American Constitution Society for Law and Policy chapter.

Personal

Metzger and her husband, New York City Department of Finance Director of Tax Policy Research Michael Hyman, live on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They have two sons, Oliver and Nathaniel Hyman-Metzger who both went to school at The School At Columbia.