Columbia Law School

06/02/2026

Judge Brian E. Murphy ’06 of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts joined Dean Daniel Abebe for a fireside chat in April; they spoke about his path to the law, the nuances of sentencing, and the value of clerking. The conversation launched Columbia Law School’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges Distinguished Jurist Speaker Series.

💬 “One of my colleagues described clerking as all the benefits of being a judge but without having to take responsibility. And I think that that’s fairly true,” said Murphy. “Clerks are intimately involved in the decision-making, and they’re talking about the legal thinking, and they talk about the case. … It is a year where you will put in a lot of time, and you will perseverate a lot—as you should. But it’s an incredible experience.”

Read more from the conversation with Judge Murphy: https://bit.ly/3Qd9M50

06/02/2026

Professor George A. Bermann ’75 LL.M.—a world-renowned authority on comparative law, transnational litigation, and international arbitration who has trained generations of students—was honored at Columbia Arbitration Day 2026. The conference organized by the Law School’s International Arbitration Association paid tribute to Bermann’s 50 years of teaching at Columbia Law School and featured a special dinner on March 30, where faculty, students, alumni, and practitioners from around the world saluted the legendary scholar and teacher.

💬 Dean Daniel Abebe provided opening remarks at the dinner and praised Bermann’s “incredible range” as an academic. “In many ways, his work has shaped the architecture of international arbitration, making it more coherent, more legitimate, and more integrated across all systems. He’s a synthesizer, someone who brings doctrine, practice, and comparative insight into a single, highly influential body of work.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4e2a2Mh.

05/29/2026

Hong Yen Chang, Class of 1886, was the first Chinese graduate of the Law School and the first Chinese American admitted to practice law in the United States.

Chang overcame barriers throughout his life and blazed a trail for others during his distinguished career. After graduating from the Law School with high honors in May 1886, Chang waged a two-year fight to be admitted to the New York Bar—drawn out due to the discrimination he faced on the basis of race—and was finally admitted by a special act of the New York State legislature in 1888. In 2021, the Law School’s Center for Chinese Legal Studies was renamed the Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies in his honor.

✏️ Pictured in the video is the student register for the 1884–1885 academic year, bearing Chang’s signature. It is one of the remarkable artifacts in the Arthur W. Diamond Special Collections currently on display in the Li Lu Law Library as part of “For the Record,” a curated exhibition of the library’s rare treasures that trace a path from the Law School’s origins to the present day.

05/28/2026

💬 “Getting to know some of you, appreciating how brilliant and thoughtful and kind and committed you are … fills me with hope,” said Donald B. Verrilli Jr. ’83, the 46th solicitor general of the United States and a lecturer-in-law at the Law School, in his keynote address to the Class 2026 at graduation.

05/27/2026

One week ago, members of the Class of 2026 celebrated their graduation at Columbia University’s Commencement ceremony. Congratulations, Lions! 💙🎓

📸 Includes photos from Brandon Vallejo and Lucas Hoeffel/Columbia University

05/22/2026

Professor Tim Wu discusses his new book, “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity,” and explains how dominant tech platforms extract wealth, paving the way for a rise in autocracy.

“I wrote a book going back to the writings of the ’90s and the early ’00s and figuring out what we were saying and maybe where we went wrong,” says Wu. “We were so optimistic about the internet, and we had this vision—it was going to make everybody rich and bring democracy everywhere, and the future was going to be grand. … [I] wanted to know what happened.”

https://bit.ly/491KJrR

05/22/2026

At a Lawyers, Community, and Impact event in March, faculty experts in constitutional law, national security, and the global economy considered the Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose tariffs. Moderated by Professor Benjamin Liebman, the panel featured Professors Anu Bradford, Gillian Metzger, and Matthew Waxman discussing the implications of the decision for the separation of powers, national security, and trade policy.

At a recent Lawyers, Community, and Impact event, Columbia Law School faculty discussed the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s Learning Resources ruling for presidential power, foreign affairs, and trade.

05/21/2026

📝 Members of the Columbia Law School Association stopped by to hand out kits to Columbia Law students taking the bar exam this summer. Good luck, Class of 2026!

05/21/2026

🎙️ With the U.S. Supreme Court invalidating most of President Trump’s signature tariff policy and the Trump administration imposing new—and contested—tariffs in response, Yale Law Professor Natasha Sarin joins “Beyond Unprecedented” co-hosts Columbia Law Professors Eric Talley and Dorothy Lund to analyze the current U.S. tariff regime and what lies ahead. https://bit.ly/4dBB3pj

05/19/2026

You did it! Congratulations to the Columbia Law Class of 2026, who celebrated their Class Day on Sunday. 🩵