Worthy successors to earlier architects of American law teach at Columbia today. Prominent among them are legal scholars who have influenced the development of international law. Professor Louis Henkin, for example, pioneered the development of comparative constitutionalism, a field bridging constitutional law, international law, foreign affairs, and human rights.
Columbia faculty members are also advancing the frontiers of knowledge in intellectual property law, corporate law, feminist jurisprudence, and critical race theory.
Professor Patricia Williams (featured left), one of the most provocative intellectuals in American law, is widely published in the areas of race and gender and law. Her book The Alchemy of Race and Rights has earned international acclaim for redefining the debate about the relation of law to complex social problems. Professor Williams' most recent book, Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, and the Search for a Room of My Own, was published to critical acclaim in the fall of 2004.
Columbia's programmatic initiatives today include the establishment of numerous legal centers, among them the Centers for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Legal Studies; the Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts; the European Legal Studies Center; and the Public Interest Law Initiative. Recently, Columbia has built upon its strength in human rights by establishing the Human Rights Institute and has expanded its commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship by inaugurating the Center for Law and Philosophy and the Center for the Study of Law and Culture.
Throughout its history, Columbia has pioneered programs to meet the needs of an ever-changing world. At the same time, it has retained its historic commitment to provide a rigorous legal education and to serve as one of the world's leading centers for legal scholarship.
