The following Columbia Law School centers and programs augment the business-law curriculum and support academic research.
The European Legal Studies Center The European Legal Studies Center is an integral part of the Law School's mission to train lawyers in a global economy that includes increasing numbers of cross-border deals. By hosting European scholars, sponsoring conferences, and supervising the Columbia Journal of European Law, the center promotes research in European Union law that benefits policymakers and the academic community. Its objectives are also accomplished through the center's semester-exchange and double-degree programs with a number of European law schools.
The Center on Corporate Governance The Center on Corporate Governance's activities are informed not only by the traditional understanding of corporate governance, but by current issues raised amid recent scandals and governmental responses. The center hosts symposia, meetings, and other events that address privatization in emerging economies, gatekeepers, shareholder democracy, institutional-investor governance, and accounting standards.
The Center for Law and Economic Studies Shedding new light on fundamental economic and legal problems in modern industrial society is the goal of the Center for Law and Economic Studies. Founded in 1975, the center sponsors research, teaching, and public discussions and has taken the lead in developing new interdisciplinary courses at Columbia. Recently, the center launched a long-term project, "American Industry and the Institutional Investor: The Search for Common Ground," which explores the role of pension funds and other institutional investors in corporate governance.
Asian Legal Studies Centers Columbia Law School has had a presence in Asia since the 1950s. Today, the Law School continues to play a vital role in Asia through several centers. The Center for Japanese Legal Studies fosters a vibrant exchange of ideas among lawyers, judges, academics, and government officials and administers faculty and student exchanges, summer work experiences, and conferences. The Center for Chinese Legal Studies hosts visiting scholars and lecturers and attracts leading academics, jurists, and practitioners to its panels and conferences. The Center for Korean Legal Studies presents panels and roundtables on law of the Korean peninsula.
Transactional Studies Program This program goes beyond conventional law school curricula by bringing transactions and the teaching of transaction-based skills to the classroom. The Law School provides a vibrant space in which cutting-edge transactions are explored, facilitating the exchange of ideas among Columbia's many law and business faculty and prominent economists, practitioners, business leaders, judges, and government officials.
