Board of Governors Distinguished Public Service Professor and Alfred C. Clapp Distinguished Public Service Professor of Law. (Contracts; Education Law; Complementary Dispute Resolution.) Professor Tractenberg earned his B.A. from Wesleyan and his J.D. from the University of Michigan, where he was associate editor of the Law Review. He joined the faculty in 1970 after being associated with two major New York City law firms, the Peace Corps, and the Governor's Committee to Study New York Human Rights Laws. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and papers on education law; a frequent lecturer; and consultant and adviser to many national, regional, and state organizations and agencies. In 1973, Professor Tractenberg established the Education Law Center, a public interest law project, and served as its director for three years. He is involved in a number of landmark constitutional cases about public education, especially Abbott v. Burke, which New Jersey judges and lawyers voted overwhelmingly the most important state court decision of the 20th century. In September 2000, Professor Tractenberg established and continues to serve as founding director of the Institute on Education Law and Policy, an interdisciplinary research project at Rutgers-Newark.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Professor Tractenberg built upon long-standing interests in the lawyering process and in dispute resolution by teaching three seminars, by serving as faculty adviser to the law school's regional and national championship negotiations and client counseling teams, and by writing and consulting in the field. He is the author of a lawyer's deskbook on alternate and complementary dispute resolution. In his spare time, Professor Tractenberg is an avid long-distance bicyclist.