Faculty Spotlight: Tal Kastner

Assistant Professor of Law Kastner finds teaching law incredibly rewarding and enjoys helping students learn and develop skills to make positive changes in the world.

What attracted you to Touro Law?
I joined Touro Law in 2021. I was attracted to the community. The faculty impressed me with their collegiality and commitment to the students. I was also attracted to the diverse student body at Touro. The students I met were thoughtful and serious about learning. Having spent a year teaching at Touro, I am delighted that my first impressions were confirmed.

What classes do you teach?
I currently teach Property I and Property II.

What is your favorite thing about teaching?
I find teaching incredibly rewarding in so many ways. I enjoy getting to know my students and I always learn from them. If I succeed in helping them learn a new concept or see the world in a new way, that is gratifying. And, teaching law, I have a chance to help students develop the tools to make positive change in the world.

What do you love most about a career in the law?
A career in law taps into all kinds of skill sets and gives you unique tools. Among other things, a lawyer must consider ethics and values, analyze problems, empathize, pay attention to detail, see the big picture, and treat people with respect. Whatever your area of practice, a career in law gives you the power to help others and society.

Are you currently working on any scholarship?
I am currently working on an article on contract law that is the first empirical study to take a broad view of the development of the common law of contract interpretation. I am also writing an article that analyzes Toni Morrison’s novel Sula as a critique of racist and sexist principles underpinning contract and property law in the United States.

What advice would you offer to current/prospective students?
There is so much to learn in law school! You are lucky to have classmates and professors to support your learning. This is the start of your career, so hold yourself out to your classmates and professors as the professional you plan to be. The friends you make in law school can be your network for life, and your professors will be your cheerleaders and mentors.

Also, consider this advice I learned from one of my former students: Keep a notebook or a file on your laptop with all your questions, whether a new word or a legal concept. Then be sure to try to find the answers. Everyone encounters something new in the practice of law, so it is a good habit to get used to the process of mastering big ideas and small details.

And, of course, do your best to enjoy! There is a reason it is called legal “practice”— lawyers should always be learning and growing.