Professor Tractenberg earned his B.A. from Wesleyan University 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. (A December 20, 2009 Record op-ed noted Abbott's role in the State's recent educational successes.)
In September 2000, Professor Tractenberg established and continues to serve as codirector of the Institute on Education Law and Policy
(IELP), an interdisciplinary research project at Rutgers University–Newark. He is
also codirector of the Newark Schools Research Collaborative, a major
project of IELP.
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 2008-9, Professor Tractenberg taught a special yearlong centennial seminar about the law school, and he and his students authored a book titled A Centennial History of Rutgers Law School in Newark: Opening a Thousand Doors. It was published by the History Press in 2010. Professor Tractenberg's second book inspired by the centennial was published by Rutgers University Press in 2013. It is titled Courting Justice: Ten New Jersey Cases That Shook the Nation. Most of the chapter authors and most of the featured cases have a substantial Rutgers law school connection.
