Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked in the top five schools in the United States since the establishment of the law school rankings by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in 1987. Columbia Law is especially well known for its strength in corporate law and its placement power in the nation's elite law firms. Columbia Law School was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School, and was known for its legal scholarship dating back to the 18th century. Graduates of the university's colonial predecessor, King's College, include such notable early-American legal figures as

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...

, the first chief justice of the United States, and

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, the first

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, who were co-authors of ''

The Federalist Papers ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...

''. Columbia Law has many distinguished alumni, including United States presidents

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

; nine justices of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

; numerous U.S. Cabinet members and presidential advisers; US senators; representatives; governors; and more members of the ''

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is publ ...

'' than any other law school in the world. According to Columbia Law School's 2021 ABA-required disclosures; 98.3 percent of the Class of 2021 obtained employment within ten months of graduation, with the 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile starting base salary for graduates all being $215,000. Since 2014, the law school has been ranked No. 1 on the ''

National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...

''s "Go-To Law Schools" ranking, which measures the percentage of graduates securing employment at the largest 100 law firms in the U.S.

History

James Kent and the early study of law at Columbia University

The teaching of law at Columbia reaches back to the 18th century. Graduates of the university's colonial predecessor, King's College, included such notable early American judicial figures as

, who would later become the first Chief Justice of the United States. Columbia College appointed its first professor of law,

James Kent James Kent may refer to: *James Kent (jurist) (1763–1847), American jurist and legal scholar * James Kent (composer) (1700–1776), English composer *James Kent, better known as Perturbator, French electronic/synthwave musician *James Tyler Kent ...

, in 1793. The lectures of Chancellor Kent in the course of four years had developed into the first two volumes of his Commentaries, the second volume being published November 1827. Kent did not, however, succeed in establishing a law school or department in the College. Thus, the formal instruction of law as a course of study did not commence until the middle of the 19th century.Theodore W. Dwight, "Columbia College Law School, New York," 1 Green Bag 141 (1889)

Theodore Dwight and the founding of the law school

The Columbia College Law School, as it was then officially called, was founded in 1858. Classes were originally held on

Colonnade Row Colonnade Row, also known as LaGrange Terrace, on present-day Lafayette Street in New York City's NoHo neighborhood, is a landmarked series of Greek revival buildings originally built in the early 1830s. They are believed to have been built by Se ...

in a building once owned by

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...

. The first purpose-built law school building was a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

structure located on Columbia's

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

campus, which also house the college library. Thereafter, the college became Columbia University and moved north to the neighborhood of

Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningside ...

. As Columbia Law Professor Theodore Dwight observed, at its founding the demand for a formal course of study in law was still speculative:

It was considered at that time mainly as an experiment. No institution resembling a law school had ever existed in New York. Most of the leading lawyers had obtained their training in offices or by private reading, and were highly skeptical as to the possibility of securing competent legal knowledge by means of professional schools. Legal education was, however, at a very low ebb. The clerks in the law offices were left almost wholly to themselves. Frequently they were not even acquainted with the lawyers with whom, by a convenient fiction, they were supposed to be studying. Examinations for admission to the bar were held by committees appointed by the courts, who, where they inquired at all, sought for the most part to ascertain the knowledge of the candidate of petty details of practice. In general, the examinations were purely perfunctory. A politician of influence was not readily turned away. Few studied law as a science; many followed it as a trade or as a convenient ladder whereby to rise in a political career."

Indeed, Columbia Law School was one of the few law schools established in the United States before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. During the 18th and 19th centuries, most legal education took place in law offices, where young men, serving as apprentices or clerks, were set to copying documents and filling out legal forms under the supervision of an established attorney. For example, in New York John Jay, revolutionary founding father and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, read law with Benjamin Kissam, whose busy practice kept his clerks occupied in transcribing records, pleadings, and opinions. Jay was fortunate to have attentive supervision because the quality and time of learning the law varied greatly within the profession. Theodore Dwight, who had been head of the law department of

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

in Clinton, New York, believed formal legal education, conducted in the classroom with regular lectures, was far superior to casual law office instruction. At its founding, four distinct courses of lectures of this class were then established: one on

Philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

, offered by distinguished scholar and statesman, George P. Marsh; a second by Dr. Francis Lieber, a standard writer upon topics of political science and of international law, then a professor at Columbia College; a third course on

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

, by Professor Nairne, also of the College; and a fourth on Municipal Law, by Theodore W. Dwight, then Professor of Law in Hamilton College, New York, which at the time already had a flourishing law school. The original course of study to obtain a degree consisted of just two years, rather than the modern standard of three. The first lecture in the law school was delivered on Monday, November 1, 1858, by Mr. Dwight, at the rooms of the Historical Society. It was an introductory lecture, afterwards printed. The audience consisted mainly of lawyers. It was plain that many of them could be counted upon as friends of a system of legal education. The result was an immediate attendance of 35 students, who showed their intention of pursuing a regular course of study by at once paying a tuition fee for instruction throughout the year. Such assurances were given of a future increase of numbers that it was determined to divide each class at the beginning of the coming year into two sections, for their convenience. The next year, the number of students was 62; in the third year, there were 103. Many of these early students were members of the bar. In 1860, in order to stimulate excellence in attainments of the students, a series of annual prizes was established, commencing with $250, and diminishing regularly by $50, until the sum of $100 was reached. These were adjudicated by leading members of the bar upon the combined merits of written answers to printed questions, and of essays upon topics selected by the instructors. None could compete for the prizes except those who had fully completed the two years' course. The questions covered the range of studies for the whole course. Stringent rules were adopted in reference to the answers, so as to secure the absolute fidelity of the candidates in their work.

The Dwight Method

Professor Dwight believed a course of legal study should focus on the application of basic legal principles, as learned through the study of legal treatises, coupled with frequent

moot court Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In most countries, the phrase " ...

s which would permit students to demonstrate their proficiency in applying those principles to new legal problems.http://library.law.columbia.edu/EarlyHistoryColumbiaLaw/articles/15AmLaw419-422.pdf In this way, Dwight's method of teaching diverged significantly from the "case method" which had then been popularized by Dean Langdell of the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

which focused on the study of individual cases and the use of inductive reasoning to distill governing legal principles from those cases with little time spent on the practical application of those principles. Dwight believed that his method was superior to the case method because it helped to create trained legal practitioners ready to enter the profession rather than academics more suited to teaching. In support of his position, Dwight cited the example of legal study throughout the Western World since the Roman empire:

It is not out of place in this connection to refer to the chosen methods of acquiring the Roman law, both as sanctioned by great jurists and by imperial authority, after an experience continuing through centuries . . . The Roman jurists had "cases" to deal with, precisely as we do. They were not mere legal philosophers, but disposed of practical and "burning" questions of their time. They were, however, in the habit of referring back to a legal principle in disposing of a concrete case, and believed that great principles could be so stated as to win the attention of students and give them a solid basis for future detailed acquisitions.

By the late 19th century, Dwight's method gave way to the case method which by the turn of the 20th century had become the standard curriculum at all of the other premier American law schools at Harvard,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. In 1891, in response to Columbia's adoption of the case method, Dwight and a number of other professors left the law school to found

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...

in Manhattan's

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

Columbia Law in the 20th century

After Dwight's departure, William Albert Keener of

became dean of the law school from 1891 to 1901 when he was succeeded by George Washington Kirchwey. Future Supreme Court Justice

Harlan Fiske Stone Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname *Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive *Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), American Olympic diver *Byron B. Harlan (1886–1949), American politician *Byron G ...

graduated from the law school in 1898. While practicing law in New York, he began lecturing at Columbia Law School in 1899 and joined the faculty as a full professor. He subsequently became dean of the law school in 1910 and held the position until 1923 when he left to join Sullivan and Cromwell as a partner. Stone became Attorney General of the United States in 1924 and held that Office for almost a year before joining the Supreme Court of the United States as an associate justice. In the 1920s and 30s, the law school soon became known for the development of the

legal realism Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science, i.e., rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Legal realists be ...

movement. Among the major realists affiliated with Columbia Law School were

Karl Llewellyn Karl Nickerson Llewellyn (May 22, 1893 – February 13, 1962) was a prominent American jurisprudential scholar associated with the school of legal realism. ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' has identified Llewellyn as one of the twenty most cited A ...

, Felix S. Cohen and

William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often ci ...

. In September 1988, Columbia Law School founded the first AIDS Law Clinic in the country, taught by Professor Deborah Greenberg and

Mark Barnes Mark Barnes is an American attorney serving as partner in the Ropes & Gray health care and life sciences practice based in Boston. He was director of policy for the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, and associate commissioner fo ...

Rankings

Since '' U.S. News & World Report'' began ranking law schools in 1987, Columbia Law has been rated in the top five annually, along with

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. ''U.S. News & World Report'' consistently places Columbia Law among the top law schools (for both academic reputation and national standing), and currently ranks Columbia Law 4th (tied with

Harvard Law Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

). For 2021, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranks Columbia Law No. 1 for Business/Corporate Law and No. 1 for Contracts/Commercial Law and No. 4 in its Law Firm Recruiters' Ranking of Best Law Schools. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine ranks Columbia Law No. 1 for Best Law Schools for Career Prospects as well as No. 1 for Highest Earning Law Graduates. In 2012, the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

ranked Columbia Law School the 5th best law school in the world. Since 2014, the law school has been ranked No. 1 on the ''

''
Go to Law Schools ranking
which measures the percentage of graduates securing employment at the largest 100 law firms in the U.S.

Columbia Law School in the 21st century

Several of the faculty are recipients of the

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

"genius grant". The following list of disciplines enumerates some of Columbia Law School's notable scholars: *

Administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

: **

Richard Briffault Richard Briffault is an American legal scholar. He is the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School. Biography Briffault earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1974. During his undergraduate studies, ...

** Jessica Bulman-Pozen **

Thomas Merrill Thomas W. Merrill, a legal scholar, is the Charles Evans Hughes professor at Columbia Law School. He has also taught at Yale Law School and Northwestern University School of Law. He is a leader in three fields: property, administrative, and envir ...

** Gillian E. Metzger **

Peter Strauss Peter Lawrence Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. He is five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee. Early life Strauss was born in C ...

* Civil rights, Human rights law ** Sarah Cleveland ** Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw **

Katherine Franke Katherine M. Franke is an American legal scholar who specializes in gender and sexuality law. She is the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Biography Franke received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1981. She graduated from ...

** Olatunde C. Johnson ** Sarah Knuckey **

Kendall Thomas Kendall Thomas is Nash Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Culture, at Columbia Law School. He won a Berlin Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, i ...

Constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

Philip Bobbitt Philip Chase Bobbitt, (born July 22, 1948) is an American author, academic, and lawyer. He is best known for work on U.S. constitutional law and theory, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaining the S ...

Lee Bollinger Lee Carroll Bollinger (born April 30, 1946) is an American lawyer and educator who is serving as the 19th and current president of Columbia University, where he is also the Seth Low Professor of the University and a faculty member of Columbia Law ...

** Henry Monaghan * Corporate law, U.S. securities regulation: ** John C. Coffee Jr. ** Merritt Fox ** Ronald Gilson ** Jeffrey N. Gordon ** Zohar Goshen ** Joshua Mitts ** Edward R. Morrison ** Eric Talley * Criminal law and procedure: ** George P. Fletcher ** Debra Ann Livingston **

Gerard E. Lynch Gerard Edmund Lynch (born September 4, 1951) is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was confirmed to that seat on September 17, 2009, after previo ...

Jed S. Rakoff Jed Saul Rakoff (born August 1, 1943) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education Rakoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 1, 1943. He grew up in ...

Environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

: **

Michael Gerrard Michael Burr Gerrard is an American legal scholar. He is the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School. Biography Gerrard was born in New York City, where his parents were graduate students at Columbia University, an ...

Thomas W. Merrill Thomas W. Merrill, a legal scholar, is the Charles Evans Hughes professor at Columbia Law School. He has also taught at Yale Law School and Northwestern University School of Law. He is a leader in three fields: property, administrative, and envir ...

Jedediah Purdy Jedediah Spenser Purdy (born 29 November 1974 in Chloe, West Virginia) is an American legal scholar and cultural commentator. He is the William S. Beinecke Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses on American Constitutio ...

Intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

: ** Jane Ginsburg **

Lina Khan Lina M. Khan (born March 3, 1989) is a British-born American legal scholar serving as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission since 2021. While a student at Yale Law School, she became known for her work in antitrust and competition law in ...

** Clarisa Long **

Eben Moglen Eben Moglen (born 1959) is an American legal scholar who is professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center. Professional biography Moglen started out as ...

Tim Wu Timothy "Tim" Shiou-Ming Wu (born 1972) is a Taiwanese American legal scholar and official in the Biden Administration tasked with Technology and Competition policy. He was also a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opinio ...

International International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

and

Comparative law Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law (legal systems) of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal "systems" (or "families") in existence in the world, including the ...

: **

George Bermann George Bermann is an American lawyer and scholar of international law. He is the Walter Gelhorn Professor of Law, the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law, the Director of the Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration ...

** Sarah Cleveland ** Lori Damrosch ** Michael Doyle ** Benjamin L. Liebman *

Legal history Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...

: **

Barbara Aronstein Black Barbara Aronstein Black (born 1933) is an American legal scholar. Born and raised in Brooklyn, She was the first woman to serve as dean of an Ivy League law school. when she became Dean of Columbia Law School in 1986. Black is the George Wellwoo ...

** Kellen R. Funk ** Maeve Glass ** Jeremy K. Kessler **

** Christina Duffy Ponsa-Kraus ** Sarah Seo *

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

Vincent Blasi Vincent Blasi, born January 28, 1943, is an American legal scholar. He is the Corliss Lamont Professor of Civil Liberties at Columbia Law School. Biography Blasi graduated from Northwestern University in 1964, received his J.D. from the Universi ...

** David Pozen **

Donald Verrilli Donald Beaton Verrilli Jr. (born June 29, 1957) is an American lawyer who served as the Solicitor General of the United States from 2011 into 2016. He was sworn into the post on June 9, 2011. On June 6, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Ve ...

** Jeremy Kessler *

Legal philosophy Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal vali ...

** Kent Greenawalt **

Bernard Harcourt Bernard E. Harcourt (born 1963) is an American critical theorist with a specialization in the area of punishment, surveillance, legal and political theory, and political economy. He also does pro-bono legal work on human rights issues. He is a pr ...

** Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus **

Charles Sabel Charles Fredrick Sabel (born December 1, 1947) is an American academic and professor of Law and Social Science at the Columbia Law School. His research centers on public innovations, European Union governance, labor standards, economic develop ...

** William H. Simon

Law centers and programs

Columbia University was among the first schools to establish both comparative and international law centers, as well as an effective

space law Space law is the body of law governing space-related activities, encompassing both international and domestic agreements, rules, and principles. Parameters of space law include space exploration, liability for damage, weapons use, rescue efforts ...

department. The law school also has major centers for the study of international law, including th
Center for Chinese Legal Studies
th
Center for Korean Legal Studies
the Center for Japanese Legal Studies (the first and only center of its kind in the United States), th
European Legal Studies Center
th
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
th
Center on Corporate Governance
th
Center for Gender & Sexuality Law
th
Center for Law and Economic Studies
th
Center on Global Legal Transformation
as well as several other centers and law programs. In July 2012, the law school launched the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership to "study global financial markets and their diverse, interdependent actors"; the Center for Constitutional Governance to "bring together a dynamic roster of constitutional scholars who are deeply engaged in the study of governmental structure and relationships, including experts on separation of powers and issues of federalism"; and th
Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration
to "further the teaching and study of international arbitration, building on the Law School's considerable expertise in this rapidly growing area of legal practice." On May 26, 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Judge

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

, a Lecturer-in-Law since 1999, to be a Justice of the

. Judge Sotomayor created and co-taught a course entitled "The Federal Appellate Externship" every semester at the law school since the fall 2000. Federal Appellate Externships and many other externships, including Federal District Externships, are offered each year at Columbia Law. Among other externships, the law school offers a full-semester externship on the federal government in Washington, D.C., which provides students hands-on experience in government law offices. In addition to their placements at federal agencies, students in the program are also required to attend a weekly seminar and write a substantive research paper. The Federal Government Externship has the following three specific components: # Field Placements: Students are required to work a minimum of 30 hours a week doing substantive legal work at a federal agency. Options include, amongst others, several sections of the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

, the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

, the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

, the

Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

, and the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

, # Seminar: Students conduct an in-depth analysis of the roles lawyers play in federal offices. Each seminar is taught by Columbia Law faculty and a Washington-based adjunct professor. Each seminar also features guest speakers and has a substantive writing component. # Supervised Research: Students are required to produce an 8,000–10,000-word research paper on a topic closely connected to their externship and field placement. Externs are encouraged to consult with the agency in which they work to develop their topic.

Arthur W. Diamond Library

Columbia_Law_School_-_Jerome_L_Greene_Hall_(48170357816)

Columbia Law School's Arthur W. Diamond Library is one of the most comprehensive libraries in the world and is the third largest private academic law library in the United States, with over 1,000,000 volumes and subscriptions to more than 7,450 journals and other serials.

The ''Columbia Law Review'' and other student journals

The ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

'' is the third-most-cited law journal in the world and is one of the four publishers of the ''

Bluebook ''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. law schools and is also used in a majority of federal ...

''. Columbia Law publishes thirteen other student-edited journals, including the '' Columbia Business Law Review'', ''

Columbia Human Rights Law Review The ''Columbia Human Rights Law Review'' is a law review established in 1967 focusing on human rights issues. Named the ''Columbia Survey of Human Rights Law'' for its first three volumes, the journal is produced and edited by students of Columbia ...

'' (which in turn publishes ''

A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual ''A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual'' ("the ''JLM''") is a resource for incarcerated individuals and jailhouse lawyers. It is published and distributed by the editors of the ''Columbia Human Rights Law Review'', who are students at Columbia Law School ...

''), ''Columbia Journal of Asian Law'', ''

Columbia Journal of Environmental Law The ''Columbia Journal of Environmental Law'' is a student-run law review published at Columbia University's School of Law. The journal primarily publishes articles, notes, and book reviews discussing environmental law and policy and related subj ...

'', '' Columbia Journal of European Law'', ''Columbia Journal of Gender and Law'', '' Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts'', ''Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems'', ''Columbia Journal of Race & Law'', '' Columbia Journal of Tax Law'', ''

Columbia Journal of Transnational Law The ''Columbia Journal of Transnational Law'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles and student notes on issues of transnational law. Ranking and Citations The ''Columb ...

'', ''Columbia Science and Technology Law Review'', and the ''American Review of International Arbitration''.

Joint degree programs

In December 2010, the law school announced the addition of an accelerated JD/MBA joint degree program, which allows students to obtain both a JD and MBA within three years. The accelerated program will not replace the existing four-year JD/MBA joint degree program. Interested students will be able to choose between the two programs. A joint degree can prove to be beneficial to law students' career objectives. To enable interested students to achieve this goal, the law school may approve a joint degree with any of the following of Columbia's graduate or professional schools: * Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Ph.D. in selected programs) * School of Business * School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) * Graduate School of Journalism * School of the Arts * School of Public Health *

School of Social Work A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

* School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Dual degree programs and alliances, abroad

Columbia has cultivated alliances and dual degree programs with overseas law schools, including the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, and the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

in London, England; the ''

Institut d'études politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

'' ("Sciences Po") and the '' Université Panthéon-Sorbonne'' in Paris, France; the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in the Netherlands; and the

Institute for Law and Finance The Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) is a graduate school which was established as a non-profit foundation in 2002 by Goethe University Frankfurt am Main with the support of many prominent institutions. Leading commercial banks and internationa ...

(ILF) at

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

in Frankfurt, Germany. The double degree options include JD/Masters in French Law (4 year program in Paris), JD/Masters Program in Global Business (3 Year program in Paris), JD/LLM (3 year program in London), LLB/JD (4 year program in London), and JD/LLM (4 year program in Frankfurt). Columbia Law School has one of the largest international alliances with China, and with Peking University, specifically, a joint exchange program that began in 2006 when students could be exchanged for a semester, which was expanded as a program in 2011 to allow faculty to teach or co-teach courses abroad, and which was expanded as a program again in 2013 when Columbia Law School dean David Schizer and Peking University Law School dean Zhang Shouwen signed a memorandum of understanding between the universities, allowing for joint publications and joint seminars between faculty at the respective universities.

Clinical and experiential learning programs

The law school runs several clinical programs that contribute to the community, including the nation's first technology-based clinic, called Lawyering in the Digital Age. This clinic is currently engaged in building a community resource to understand the

collateral consequences of criminal charges Collateral consequences of criminal conviction are the additional civil state penalties, mandated by statute, that attach to a criminal conviction. They are not part of the direct consequences of criminal conviction, such as prison, fines, or pro ...

. In April 2006, Columbia announced that it was starting the nation's first clinic in sexuality and gender law. The Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic "is the first law school clinic anywhere in the U.S. directed by a full-time law school faculty member and dedicated to legal and public policy issues related to gender and sexuality." In 2007, Columbia opened a new program in law and technology. Given that Columbia is well known for its strength in corporate law, the law school offers, for example, a "Deals" course that includes participants from the

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

and the law school. In addition, the Columbia Business and Law Association (CBLA), the law school's principal student group dedicated to the interaction between law and business, routinely sponsors lectures, workshops, and networking events from traditional areas of interest such as investment banking, management consulting, venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, and entrepreneurship. CBLA also serves as a center for members of the Columbia Law School community interested in many aspects of business law, including corporate governance and securities regulation.

Facilities

Columbia Law School's main building,

Jerome L. Greene Jerome L. Greene (1906–1999) was a prominent New York lawyer, real estate investor, and philanthropist. Early years and Education Greene was born in Brooklyn in 1909. Greene graduated from Columbia College in 1926 and Columbia Law School in 192 ...

Hall, was designed by

Wallace Harrison Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He i ...

and

Max Abramovitz Max Abramovitz (May 23, 1908 – September 12, 2004) was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz. Life Abramovitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduate ...

, architects of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Headquarters and

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

(which for many years served as the site of Columbia Law School's graduation ceremonies). It is located at the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street. One of the building's defining features is its frontal sculpture, ''Bellerophon Taming Pegasus'', designed by

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of Cr ...

, symbolizing man's struggle over (his own) wild side/unreason. In 1996, the law school was given an extensive renovation and expansion by Polshek Partnership (now Ennead Architects), including the addition of a new entrance façade and three story skylit lobby, as well as the expansion of existing space to include an upper-level students' commons, lounge areas, and a café. In the summer of 2008, construction of a new floor in Jerome Greene Hall was completed providing 38 new faculty offices. Other Columbia Law School buildings include William and June Warren Hall, the Jerome Greene Annex (which Jerome Greene's representatives politely declined to have renamed after the building of Jerome Greene Hall), and William C. Warren Hall (or "Little Warren"). Lenfest Hall, the law school's premier residence, opened in August 2003. The hall was named for H. F. Lenfest '58 and his wife Marguerite. Lenfest contains more than 200 luxury student residences, including private studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments. In addition to Lenfest Hall, the majority of Columbia Law students live in the university's Graduate Student Housing consisting of single and shared apartments in buildings throughout Morningside Heights. All Columbia Law students are guaranteed housing on campus for the duration of their law school studies. The school reported in December 2020 that its Center for Chinese Legal Studies will be named for

Hong Yen Chang Hong Yen Chang (張康仁; 1859 or 1860Chinese Educational Mission Connections, http://www.cemconnections.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54. - August 4, 1926) was reportedly the first Chinese immigrant licensed to practice law in ...

, the school′s first Chinese graduate in 1886 and the country′s first

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

lawyer.

Columbia graduate legal studies program

Columbia offers a Graduate Legal Studies Program, including the

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

( LL.M.) and the Doctor of the Science of Law ( J.S.D.) degrees. The LL.M. Program is considered one of the best in the United States and has been ranked very highly according to private studies. Each year the law school enrolls approximately 210 graduate students from more than 50 countries with experience in all areas of the legal profession, including academia, the judiciary, public service, civil rights and human rights advocacy,

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, international organizations, and private practice. Graduate students are an important component of the law school community. They participate in many co-curricular activities, including student journals, moot courts, and student organizations. Graduate students also organize and speak at conferences, workshops, and colloquia on current legal issues.

U.S. Supreme Court clerkships

Since 2005, 24 Columbia Law alumni have served as judicial clerks at the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, one of the most distinguished appointments a law school graduate can obtain. This record gives Columbia a ranking of fifth among all law schools for supplying such law clerks for the period 2005–2017. Columbia has placed 135 clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court in its history, one of the top five law schools for clerks; this group includes

, who clerked for Chief Justice

Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...

in the 1972 Term, and is now the

president of Columbia University The president of Columbia University is the chief officer of Columbia University in New York City. The position was first created in 1754 by the original royal charter for the university, issued by George II, and the power to appoint the presiden ...

Employment

According to Columbia Law School's official 2014 ABA-required disclosures, 93.8 percent of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment ten months after graduation. Columbia Law School's

Law School Transparency Law School Transparency (LST) is a nonprofit consumer advocacy and education organization concerning the legal profession in the United States. LST was founded by Vanderbilt Law School graduates Kyle McEntee and Patrick Lynch. LST describes its m ...

under-employment score was 1.6 percent, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Columbia Law School for the 2019–2020 academic year was $101,345. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $357,503.

Columbia Law School alumni

, the 26th president of the United States and the 25th vice president of the United States, and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, the 32nd president of the United States, were students at CLS; neither graduated from CLS, but they both received honorary J.D.s in October 2008. Former

President of Georgia President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

, received his LL.M. at Columbia;

Giuliano Amato Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted t ...

, twice former

Prime Minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

(1992–93 and 2000–2001), was also a CLS graduate. Graduates of the law school have served as members of the United States President's Cabinet and non-U.S. government executive cabinets, including

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

Secretary of Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

(now

U.S. Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...

), and

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, among others. Three of the school's graduates have served as Chief Justice of the United States:

Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...

, and

. Columbia Law School is the only law school to have graduated more than one chief justice. Ten alumni of Columbia Law School have served on the

, including Justice

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...

. Several alumni have served as

United States Solicitor General The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...

. There are over 90 current and past members of the U.S. federal courts who have graduated from CLS. Internationally, CLS graduates also have occupied prominent judicial positions, including

Shi Jiuyong Shi Jiuyong (; 9 October 1926 – 18 January 2022) was a Chinese judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Shi was elected to the ICJ on 6 February 1994, and became President nine years later on 6 February 2003. In 2010, he announced h ...

, former president of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

(ICJ);

Xue Hanqin Xue Hanqin (; born 15 September 1955) is a Chinese jurist at the International Court of Justice. On 29 June 2010, she was elected to fill the vacancy created by Shi Jiuyong's resignation on 28 May 2010. She is one of three female judges serving ...

, current member of the ICJ;

, current member of the

Constitutional Court of Italy The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic ( it, Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the highest court of Italy in matters of constitutional law. Sometimes, the name ''Consulta'' is used as a metonym for it, because its sessi ...

; Jan Schans Christensen ('88 LL.M.), current member of the

Supreme Court of Denmark The Supreme Court (, lit. ''Highest Court'', , ) is the supreme court and the third and final instance in all civil and criminal cases in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is based at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen which also houses the Danish Par ...

;

Susan Denham Susan Jane Denham, SC (''née'' Gageby; born 22 August 1945) is a retired Irish judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 2011 to 2017, she was the first woman to hold the position. She served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1992 to ...

, current Chief Justice,

Supreme Court of Ireland , image = Coat of arms of Ireland.svg , imagesize = 120px , alt = , caption = Coat of Arms of Ireland , image2 = Four Courts, Dublin 2014-09-13.jpg , imagesize2 = , alt2 ...

;

Marvic Leonen Marvic Mario Victor Famorca Leonen (born December 29, 1962) is the Senior associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines since May 14, 2022 upon the retirement of Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe. He became an associate ...

('04 LL.M.), current member of the

Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on Ju ...

;

Hironobu Takesaki is a Japanese lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law and of Columbia Law School. At age 64, Takesaki replaced Niro Shimada as the Chief Justice when November 2 ...

, current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan; Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh, current Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Sierra Leone;

Karin Maria Bruzelius Karin Maria Bruzelius (born 19 February 1941) is a Swedish-born Norwegian supreme court justice and former president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights. In 1989, she became the first woman to be appointed Permanent Secretary of a gove ...

, former member of the

Supreme Court of Norway The Supreme Court of Norway (Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, whi ...

; Lawrence Collins, former

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than the president and the deputy president. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United Kingdom for civil and crimi ...

; and Francis M. Ssekandi, former justice of the

Supreme Court of Uganda The Supreme Court of Uganda is the highest judicial organ in Uganda. It derives its powers from Article 130 of the 1995 Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court with original jurisdiction in only one type of case: a presidential electi ...

, among others. Notable legal academics who are graduates of CLS include

Barbara Black Barbara Aronstein Black (born 1933) is an American legal scholar. Born and raised in Brooklyn, She was the first woman to serve as dean of an Ivy League law school. when she became Dean of Columbia Law School in 1986. Black is the George Wellwood ...

, Felix S. Cohen, Lawrence Collins,

Robert Cover Robert M. Cover (July 30, 1943July 18, 1986) was an American law professor, scholar, and activist. He taught at Yale Law School from 1972 until his death at age 42 in 1986. Cover wrote on a number of subjects, including the relationship of viole ...

Samuel Estreicher Samuel Estreicher (born 1948) is Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, director of its Center for Labor and Employment and co-director of its Institute of Judicial Administration. He has published dozens of artic ...

, E. Allan Farnsworth,

Charles Fried Charles Anthony Fried (born April 15, 1935) is an American jurist and lawyer. He served as United States Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He is a professor at Harvard Law School and has been a visiting professor ...

, Harvey Goldschmid, Kent Greenawalt,

Jack Greenberg Jack Greenberg (December 22, 1924 – October 12, 2016) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall. He was involved in numerous crucial ...

Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. Geoffrey Cornell Hazard Jr. (September 18, 1929 – January 11, 2018) was Trustee Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught from 1994 to 2005, and the Thomas E. Miller Distinguished Professor of Law ...

, Benjamin Kaplan,

Jessica Litman Jessica Litman is a leading intellectual property scholar. She has been ranked as one of the most-cited U.S. law professors in the field of intellectual property/cyberlaw. Litman graduated from Reed College, received an MFA from Southern Methodis ...

, Louis Lusky,

Yale Kamisar Yale Kamisar (August 29, 1929 – January 30, 2022) was an American legal scholar and writer who was the Clarence Darrow Distinguished University Professor of Law Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. A ...

Soia Mentschikoff Soia Mentschikoff (April 5, 1915 – June 18, 1984) was a Russian American lawyer, law professor, legal scholar and law school dean, best known for her work in the development and drafting of the Uniform Commercial Code. She served as dean of Un ...

, Richard B. Morris, Paula Franzese, Robert Pitofsky,

Barbara Ringer Barbara Ringer (May 29, 1925 – April 9, 2009) was one of the lead architects of the 1976 Copyright Act.

, Lawrence Sager, Michael I. Sovern,

Arthur T. Vanderbilt Arthur T. Vanderbilt (July 7, 1888 – June 16, 1957) was an American judge and judicial reformer. He served as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1948 to 1957, the first Chief Justice under the revamped New Jersey court system e ...

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

Amy Wax Amy Laura Wax (born January 19, 1953) is an American lawyer, neurologist, and academic. She is the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy, as we ...

Herbert Wechsler Herbert Wechsler (December 4, 1913 – April 26, 2004) was an American legal scholar and former director of the American Law Institute (ALI). He is most widely known for his constitutional law scholarship and for the creation of the Model Penal ...

, and

Mark D. West Mark D. West (born July 26, 1968) is an American legal scholar, social scientist, and academic leader serving as the Nippon Life Professor of Law at the University of Michigan since 2003"Mark D. West, University of Michigan Law School" michigan.la ...

. In 2015, the positions of Attorney General of the United States (

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...

), Solicitor General ( Don Verrilli), and the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division ( Lanny Breuer) were all occupied by graduates of the law school. CLS alumni are also notable in the arts, business, and elsewhere. For example, civil rights activist, recording artist, and actor

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

received his law degree from CLS in 1923.

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning lyricist and playwright

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

attended the law school.

Moe Berg Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, ...

was a Major League Baseball player, and a spy for the United States. Alumni of the law school have been the president or founder of more than 30 colleges and universities in the nation. Entrepreneur and former 2020 Presidential candidate

Andrew Yang Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-c ...

is also an alumnus.

Columbia Law School in popular culture

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

character Matthew Murdock, the

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

of superhero Daredevil, and his roommate and eventual law partner, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, attended Columbia Law School. * On the television show ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'',

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who has served as a U.S. representative since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented since 2013. Schiff's district (numbered as the 2 ...

and Assistant

Jamie Ross Jamie Ross (born 4 May 1939 in Markinch) is a Scottish-American actor, best known for his work on Broadway. Career Ross made his Broadway debut in 1971 as Major Caldwell in Leon Uris's short lived musical ''Ari''. His first major success w ...

studied law at Columbia. * In ''

Body Heat Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

'', Edmund Walker (played by

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as ''The Sand Pebbles'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''Un Flic'', ''Body Heat'', the first three ' ...

), the wealthy husband of the film's femme fatale, is a Columbia Law School graduate. * In the film '' Old School'', Dean Gordon Pritchard bribes the student body president by guaranteeing her admission to Columbia Law. * In the film '' Just Cause'', Law Professor Paul Armstrong, played by Sir Sean Connery, is a Columbia Law graduate. * In the film ''

Two Weeks Notice ''Two Weeks Notice'' is a 2002 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence and starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Although critical response was mixed, the film was successful at the box office. Plot Lucy Kels ...

'', Howard Wade, played by David Haig, asks for a lawyer trained at Columbia Law School. * On the television show ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'', the character Marshall Eriksen is an Environmental Law graduate of Columbia Law School. * On ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

'' (S5), Angela (the new head of legislative affairs at the White House) meets Leo to talk about the President's high popularity in polls during the time of his daughter's kidnapping. When Leo says that the President's temporary self-removal from office was a constitutional necessity, Angela comments on the negative political ramifications and tells Leo, "If you want a Constitutional debate, call the Dean of Columbia Law." * On the television show '' Raising the Bar'', the character Judge Trudy Kessler is a Columbia Law alumna.* * In the novel ''

Portnoy's Complaint ''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation u ...

'', protagonist Alex Portnoy attended Columbia Law School. * In the film ''

Veronica Mars (film) ''Veronica Mars'' is a 2014 American neo-noir mystery comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Thomas, who co-wrote the script with Diane Ruggiero. It is a continuing film adaptation based on the television series of the same name created ...

'', protagonist

Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen noir mystery drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional town of Neptune, California, and stars Kristen Bell as the eponymous character. The series prem ...

attended Columbia Law School before returning home to pursue a life as a private investigator. * On the television show ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of thr ...

'', one of the main characters, Mitchell Prichett, is a Columbia Law School graduate. * In the television series ''Suits (U.S. TV series), Suits'', Rachel Zane (played by Meghan Markle), is a part-time student of Columbia Law School.

References

External links

*
''U.S. News & World Report'' Columbia Law School Profile
{{Coord, 40, 48, 25, N, 73, 57, 37, W, source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Columbia Law School, Columbia University Environmental law schools Law schools in New York City Universities and colleges in Manhattan 1858 establishments in New York (state) Educational institutions established in 1858

History

James Kent and the early study of law at Columbia University

Theodore Dwight and the founding of the law school

The Dwight Method

Columbia Law in the 20th century

Rankings

Columbia Law School in the 21st century

Law centers and programs

Arthur W. Diamond Library

The ''Columbia Law Review'' and other student journals

Joint degree programs

Dual degree programs and alliances, abroad

Clinical and experiential learning programs

Facilities

Columbia graduate legal studies program

U.S. Supreme Court clerkships

Employment

Costs

Columbia Law School alumni

Columbia Law School in popular culture

See also

References

External links