Columbia Law School
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Image:Jerome L Greene Hall.jpg Columbia Law School is one of the professional schools of Columbia University. It is a preeminent American law school with about 1,500 students in New York, New York.
Historically, Columbia has stood among the nation's top law schools by reputation and selectivity, and for the past decade, it has consistently ranked as a top-four law school according to the US News and World Report. [1] Among those who have studied law at Columbia are eight Supreme Court of the United States Justices and two elected Presidents of the United States, the latter unmatched by any other law school.
One of the first law schools in the United States, Columbia Law School was officially established in 1858. While Columbia is widely known for its well regarded curriculum in transactional law, it also has America’s oldest programs in international and comparative law and human rights law, areas in which Columbia is considered preeminent. The Columbia Law Review is the third most widely distributed and cited Law Review in the country and is one of the four publishers of the Bluebook.
The greatly influential legal realism movement, which flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, is typically associated with Columbia Law School. Among the major realists affiliated with Columbia were Karl Llewellyn, Felix S. Cohen and William O. Douglas. One effect of this influence was an attempt to reorganize the Columbia curriculum in order to acquaint students with the tools of social science analysis; a first-year course on the foundations of the regulatory state was required until 2005.
Columbia Law School’s Arthur W. Diamond Library is the second largest law library in the United States, with over 1,000,000 volumes. The law school’s main building, Jerome L. Greene Hall, was designed by Max Abramovitz, an architect of the United Nations and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (which serves as the site of Columbia Law School's graduation ceremonies). In 1996, the Law School was extensively renovated, including the addition of a new entrance façade and lobby, as well as the expansion of existing space to include a café and lounges.
Among the Law School's best-known faculty members are the legal philosophers Jeremy Waldron and Joseph Raz, corporate law specialist John C. Coffee, "dotCommunist" Eben Moglen, constitutional lawyer Michael Dorf, First Amendment specialist Kent Greenawalt, Nation columnist Patricia J. Williams, tax lawyer David Schizer, criminal law scholar George Fletcher, and former Columbia University president Michael I. Sovern.
Contents |
CLS Notables
See also the list of Columbia University people.
The Supreme Court
- John Jay 1764¹, co-author of the Federalist Papers (1788), first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1789), and governor of New York (1797-1801)
- Samuel Blatchford 1837¹, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1882-1883)
- Charles Evans Hughes 1884, New York governor (1907), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1910-1916), Republican nominee for President of the United States (1916), Secretary of State under Presidents Warren Harding (1921-23) and Calvin Coolidge (1923-29), and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1930-41)
- Benjamin N. Cardozo 1891², judge on the New York Court of Appeals (1917-32) and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1932-37); namesake of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University
- Harlan Fiske Stone 1898, professor (1902-05) and dean (1910-23) at Columbia Law School, Attorney General under President Calvin Coolidge (1924-25), Associate Justice (1925-41) and Chief Justice (1941-46) of the Supreme Court
- Stanley Forman Reed², Soliciter General (1935-38) and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1938-57)
- William O. Douglas 1925, professor at Yale Law School (1928-34), Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1936-39), and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1939-75)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1959, law professor at Rutgers University (1963-72) and Columbia Law School (1972-80), ACLU attorney (1972-80), judge on the DC Circuit (1980-93), and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1993-present)
Politics and Government
- Alexander Hamilton 1773-76¹, principal author of the Federalist Papers (1788) and Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington (1789-95)
- Perry Belmont 1876, congressman from New York (1880-88) and US Ambassador to Spain (1888-1889)
- Theodore Roosevelt 1880², hero of the Spanish-American War, New York governor (1899-1901), 25th Vice President of the United States (1901), 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1906)
- Bainbridge Colby 1891, founder of the United States Progressive Party (1912); Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson (1920-21)
- Henry Morgenthau, Sr., US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1913-16)
- Alva B. Adams 1899, senator from Colorado (1923-24, 1933-41)
- John Purroy Mitchell 1899, New York City mayor (1914-17)
- Luke Lea 1903, senator from Tennessee (1911-17)
- William Donovan 1905, World War I hero, head of the OSS during World War II, and US Ambassador to Thailand (1953-54)
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1904-1907², New York governor (1929-33) and 32nd President of the United States (1933-45)
- Charles Ruthenberg 1909, founder of the Communist Party of America (1919)
- Emanuel Celler 1912, congressman from New York (1923-1973)
- Tracy Voorhees 1915, Undersecretary of the Army (1948-53)
- Lister Hill 1915², congressman (1923-38) and senator (1938-69) from Alabama
- Colgate Darden 1923, congressman from Virginia (1933-37, 1939-41), Virginia governor (1942-46), and president of the University of Virginia (1947-59); namesake of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
- Thomas E. Dewey 1925, Manhattan district attorney (1937-42), New York governor (1942-55), and Republican nominee for President of the United States (1944, 1948)
- Clifford P. Case 1928, congressman (1945-53) and senator (1955-79) from New Jersey
- Wayne Morse 1932, senator from Oregon (1945-69)
- Robert Baumle Meyner 1933, New Jersey governor (1952-62)
- Constance Baker Motley 1946, attorney for the NAACP (1945-64); Manhattan Borough president (1964-66); first African American woman appointed to the federal bench (1966-86)
- Roy Cohn 1947, anti-communist attorney who was an influential aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy and was active in the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
- Jack B. Weinstein 1948, professor at Columbia (1952-98) and federal judge (1967-93)
- Harrison A. Williams 1948, congressman (1953-57) and senator (1959-82) from New Jersey
- Slade Gorton 1953, senator from Washington (1981-87, 1994-2001)
- John D. Hawke, Jr. 1960, Comptroller of the Currency (1998-2004)
- Charles Fried 1960, professor at Harvard Law School (1961-87, 1989-95, 1999-present), US Soliciter General (1985-89), and Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1995-99)
- Charles F.C. Ruff 1963, Washington attorney who represented Anita Hill and President of the United States Bill Clinton
- Gray Davis 1967, California governor (1999-2003)
- Michael Cardozo 1966, corporation counsel of New York City (2002-present)
- George Pataki 1970, New York governor (1994-present)
- Lewis Libby 1975, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-present)
- Richard Ben-Veniste 1976, federal prosecutor (1968-73), chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Special Prosecutor's Office (1973-75), and member of the 9/11 Commission (2002-2004)
- Margery Bronster 1982, Hawaii attorney general (1995-99)
- Caroline Kennedy 1988, daughter of President John F. Kennedy
- Mikhail Saakashvili 1994, president of Georgia (2005-present)
- Li Lu 1996, leader of the Tiananmen Square Protests (1989)
- Karenna Gore Schiff 2000, daughter of former Vice President Albert Gore
Business & Philanthropy
- William Waldorf Astor 1875, Anglo-American financier, son of John Jacob Astor, US Minister to Italy (1881-1885)
- Henry Clay Folger 1881, president of the Standard Oil Company (1911-1923) and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library
- John William Sterling 1893, founder of the Manhattan law firm Shearman & Sterling; major donor to his undergraduate alma mater, Yale University; namesake of Yale's library, law building, and its most prestigious endowed chair
- Douglas Black 1918, president of Doubleday (1946-63)
- Russell E. Train 1948, founding trustee, CEO, president, and chairman of the World Wildlife Fund
- David Sive 1948, pioneer in environmental law; founding partner, Sive, Paget & Riesel, PC
- Morton L. Janklow 1953, literary agent to Sidney Sheldon, Pope John Paul II, Danielle Steele, Ronald Reagan, and J.K. Rowling
- Alan N. Cohen 1954, chairman and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Corporation (1974-77), principle owner of the New Jersey Nets, and principle owner of the Boston Celtics (1983-2004)
- Herbert Sandler, founder of Golden West Financial (1963), philanthropist, member of Forbes 400 (2003-present)
- H. F. Lenfest 1958, media proprietor and member of Forbes 400 (1999-present)
- Stephen Friedman 1962, chairman of Goldman Sachs (1990-1994) and director of the National Economic Council (2004-Present)
- Michael Lynne 1964, president (1990-2001), co-CEO (2001-present) and co-chairman (2001-present) of New Line Cinema
- Douglas H. McCorkindale 1964, CEO (2000-present) and chairman (2001-present) of Gannett
- Robert Shaye 1964, founder, chairman/co-chairman and CEO/co-CEO of New Line Cinema (1967-present)
- David Stern 1966, commissioner of the National Basketball Association (1984-present)
- Ted Forstmann 1965, co-founder of Forstmann Little & Company, chairman and CEO of Gulfstream Aerospace (1990-1999), and member of Forbes 400 (1998-2003)
- S. Robson Walton 1969, chairman of Wal-mart (1992-present) and member of the Forbes 400 (1992-present)
- Bruce Ratner 1970, founder (1985), president, and CEO of Forest City Ratner; principal owner of the New Jersey Nets, which he hopes to move to Brooklyn
- Roland W. Betts 1978, investor, film producer, lead owner in George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers partnership (1989-1998), and developer and owner of Chelsea Piers (1989-present)
- Mark Attanasio 1982, investment banker and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers (2004-present)
- Randolph Lerner, CEO of MBNA (2002-present), owner of the Cleveland Browns (2002-present), and member of Forbes 400 (2002-present)
Arts & Academia
- Isaac Hollister Hall 1865, famed Orientalist and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1885-96)
- Charles Chaille-Long 1880, soldier and explorer of Africa
- John Kendrick Bangs 1883-84², writer and satirist associated with so-called "Bangsian fantasy"
- William Ivins, Jr. 1907, curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1916-1946)
- Paul Robeson 1923, All-American athlete, actor, singer, and civil rights activist
- Felix S. Cohen 1931, expert on Native American law, legal philosopher, and professor at Yale Law School, the City College of New York, the New School, and Rutgers University; early proponent of legal realism
- Herbert Wechsler 1931, professor at Columbia Law School (1933-1978) and director of the American Law Institute (1963-84); argued in front of the Supreme Court in the seminal libel case New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
- Jack Greenberg 1948, counsel for the NAACP (1949-84), in which capacity he argued Brown v. Board of Education (1954); professor at Columbia Law School (1984-present)
- Robert L. Carter, LL.M. 1941, civil rights activist, NAACP general counsel, in which capacity he argued Brown v. Board of Education II (1955); judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- E. Allen Farnsworth 1952, expert on the law of contracts and professor at Columbia Law School (1952-2004)
- Yale Kamisar 1955, expert on criminal law and professor at the University of Michigan Law School (1965-present)
- Michael I. Sovern 1955, professor (1957-present) and dean (1970-79) at Columbia Law School, president of Columbia University (1980-93), and chairman of Sotheby's (2002-present)
- Edward Packard, children's author who developed the "choose your own adventure" style of storytelling
- Robert Cover 1968, professor at Columbia Law School (1971-72) and Yale Law School (1972-86); scholar of history, philosophy, literature, and law; author of the multidisciplinary analysis Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process, and The Structure of Procedure
- Lee Bollinger 1971, professor (1973-87) and dean (1987-1994) at the University of Michigan Law School, and president of Columbia University (2002-present); defendant in the Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
- Barry Mills 1979, president of Bowdoin College (2001-present)
- Brad Meltzer 1996, author of legal thrillers
Athletics
- John Montgomery Ward 1883, played baseball for the Providence Greys (1878-82), New York Giants (1883-1889, 1893-94), Brooklyn's Ward Wonders (1890) and Brooklyn Grooms (1890-91); president of the Boston Braves (1911-1912); advocate for player's rights; member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (1964)
- Moe Berg 1930, light-hitting catcher for the Brooklyn Robins (1923), Chicago White Sox (1926-1930), Cleveland Indians (1931, 1934), Washington Senators (1932-34) and Boston Red Sox (1935-39); able to speak twelve languages; spy for the OSS; according to Casey Stengel, "the strangest man ever to play Major League Baseball"
¹ Studied law at Columbia University or its predecessor, King's College, prior to the founding of the Law School.
² Failed to complete the law degree.
