J.R. Rothstein graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Middle Eastern & Northern African studies and Jewish studies in 2005 and will be using the award for a comparative religious law project. While at UM, Rothstein took classes with professors Zvi Gitelman and Todd Endelman. Both shaped his views regarding the evolution of Jewish law in the modern world and throughout history.

Rothstein also studied real estate development and investing at New York University and received both his Juris Doctor, and Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from Cornell Law School. He later served as a federal law clerk in the Eastern District of New York for the Honorable I. Leo Glasser.

Rothstein will spend eight months as a visiting scholar at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he will engage in a comparative law analysis regarding the role of Jewish, Islamic, and secular law in the context of real estate transactions. Rothstein will be also be affiliated with the Beis Din Vaad Harabonim of Toronto and an Islamic seminary, both of which will facilitate his research. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected by a Presidential committee on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields.