and early career Sexton graduated from Brooklyn Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school, in 1959. He has written and spoken much about his time at Brooklyn Prep and Charlie Winans, who he has referred to as his "great teacher." Sexton holds a BA. in history (1963), an MA in comparative religion (1965), and a PhD in history of American religion (1978) from Fordham University, as well as a JD (1979) magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Supreme Court Editor of the Harvard Law Review. From 1966 to 1975, he taught religion at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, where he was chair of the Religion Department. In 1977, he incorporated the John Sexton Test Preparation Center in the New York City area, which offered test preparation services for exams such as the GMAT and LSAT. According to a government report, it served 6,500 students and had revenue of over $650,000 in 1979. From 1961 to 1975, Sexton coached the debate team at St. Brendan's High School, a Catholic girls' school in Brooklyn, New York, leading the team to five national championships and numerous invitational titles. He was named to the National Forensic League Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2005, the Barkley Forum at Emory University presented him with a Golden Anniversary Coaching Award recognizing him as a top high school debate coach of the past 50 years. Still an avid proponent of interscholastic debate, he is chairman of the board of Associated Leaders of Urban Debate (ALOUD), which seeks to bring debate activities to underserved communities in America's urban areas. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he clerked for judges Harold Leventhal and David L. Bazelon of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1979-80, and he clerked for Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger in 1980-81. Dean of New York University School of Law Sexton joined the faculty of the New York University School of Law in 1981, teaching first year law students Civil Procedure (the rules of courts); he was given tenure in 1983. In 1988, Sexton was named dean of the New York University School of Law, succeeding Norman Redlich. During his deanship, NYU's School of Law rose to number four in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of law schools; an emphasis on faculty recruitment reduced the student faculty ratio