Distinguished Senior Lecturer David Sokolow is the latest recipient of the Massey Teaching Excellence Award, which is given to a law professor who, in the words of the award, “epitomizes the School’s priority of providing the highest quality of teaching to its students.” Sokolow received the award at Texas Law’s Celebration of Service on April 16, 2026.
The Massey Award was established in 2003 and endowed by John H. Massey, J.D. ’66, and his wife, Elizabeth (Libba) Massey, B.S. ’61. Past recipients include teaching greats David Rabban, Stanley Johanson, Ernest Smith, Steve Goode, Barbara Hines, Thomas McGarity, Bill Powers, and Mechele Dickerson. The award was last presented in 2022.
Sokolow joined the Texas Law faculty in 1981 and currently teaches the courses Contracts, Sales, and Business Associations. A five-time Teacher-of-the-Year Award winner — from both the Student Bar Association and the Texas Exes — he has taught more than 12,000 students in 145 courses and supervised 54 independent study projects. In 2004, he became the Law School’s first director of student life, serving in that role until 2013. He was responsible for formulating and implementing Texas Law’s Society Program and the Dean’s Fellows Program, both of which continue to thrive today.
In presenting the award, Dean Bobby Chesney said, “All these numbers and awards are amazing, but they do not tell you definitively the most important thing to know about David Sokolow: he is beloved. As a colleague, as a teacher, as a mentor, as a human, he is simply the best.”
All these numbers and awards are amazing, but they do not tell you definitively the most important thing to know about David Sokolow: he is beloved.
Dean Bobby Chesney
Sokolow’s former students include the solicitor general of Texas and three former Texas Supreme Court justices, as well as numerous state and federal judges. But he measures success more broadly than titles suggest.
“I get a real kick out of seeing what my students go on to accomplish,” he says. “Not everybody is destined to hold a high-profile position and that is absolutely fine. I simply want each student to become the best lawyer that he or she can be, in whatever career path is chosen. That’s the ethos I want to foster in the classroom—to encourage students to do the best they are capable of and to maximize their potential.”
I simply want each student to become the best lawyer that he or she can be, in whatever career path is chosen.
David Sokolow
Prior to his arrival on the Forty Acres, Sokolow clerked for The Honorable Thomas Gibbs Gee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced entertainment law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College and an M.A. from Columbia University, both in art history. Sokolow went on to Columbia Law School for his J.D., then earned an M.B.A. from UT Austin while teaching at Texas Law.
Sokolow is the author of numerous scholarly articles and the book “A Short & Happy Guide to Agency and Partnership” (West Academic, 2021). He has been a visiting professor at SMU, Emory, Ohio State, and Case Western Reserve.
“This award is something I’ve thought about for a long time, and I was thrilled to be honored,” says Sokolow. “Teaching is my life so to be honored for doing what I love is especially significant for me. After my family, my students are really the most important people in my life.”