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Strategic Initiatives

Community Life
Strategic Initiatives

Columbia Law School represents the best of what a legal education can be. We are home to the world’s foremost legal thinkers and scholars, who train the world’s best students and future lawyers, at one of the world’s preeminent universities, all in one of the world's great urban centers. Our unique charge remains at the forefront of all that we do: to teach students how to think, not what to think.

Learn about the principles, pillars, and priorities that shape and anchor Columbia Law School’s future. And discover how Columbia Law School is staying true to its enduring mission and values, while ushering in a new era of bold ambition, unprecedented innovation, and transformative impact in the world at large.

Student standing in a lecture hall during class

Free Expression and Open Discourse

Columbia Law School strives to be an intellectual environment in which faculty and students have the widest possible latitude to express their views, test their ideas, and disagree without being disagreeable. We are committed to fostering the conditions for free expression, open discourse, and rigorous debate and supporting the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth in teaching, learning, and research.

Row of law reporter books in the library

Academic Excellence

Columbia Law School is the destination for top scholars across a wide range of legal fields and disciplines, and supports pathbreaking research at the vanguard of knowledge creation. Our exceptional students possess the highest levels of talent and skill, motivation and commitment, potential and purpose. Explore our curriculum and areas of study, and learn more about our faculty and their scholarship.

Student cross Amsterdam Avenue at the crosswalk.

Lawyering for the Future of the Profession

Generative artificial intelligence is impacting the way that lawyers are hired, the nature of the work that they do, and the tools that they need to succeed. Columbia Law School draws on its location in New York City, its longstanding connections to the practicing bar, and the intellectual leadership of its faculty in order to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to lead in rapidly changing and complex professional settings.

Students sitting in lounge chairs with laptops in Jerome Greene Hall.

Institutional Vitality and Community Flourishing

Columbia Law School supports all members of our community as they flourish in their intellectual, professional, and personal pursuits. We are committed to fostering a sense of belonging among and between students, faculty, staff; ensuring an academic and co-curricular experience in which students thrive, personally and intellectually; deepening connections between alumni and our academic enterprise; and framing the Columbia Law School experience is one stop in a lifelong Columbia journey of learning, community, and discovery.

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Seizing Every Opportunity to Lead

Throughout our history, Columbians have answered the call to lead. Our faculty, students, and alumni have stood up for justice and the rule of law, closed the most consequential deals, vigorously advocated on behalf of their clients, and engaged in impactful public service. The issues of the moment once again compel us to lead, and we must seize those opportunities at every level—on our campus and in society.

”I have seen Columbia Law School’s positive, even transformational impact on campus and in the world at large. Our students, faculty, staff, and alumni are leading with principle and purpose. Columbia Law School continues to pursue excellence in every facet of our work, and I am confident that we will continue to deliver on our enormous potential.”

Daniel Abebe, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law

Highlights

Learn about projects and initiatives that will position Columbia Law School as a model, not just for Columbians who will take pride in their academic home, but for everyone who believes in the best of what legal education can provide.

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Li Lu Law Library

Following a multi-year project to renovate—and fully reimagine—the new Li Lu Law Library, opening December 2025, will be a marquee space befitting its place at the nexus of student learning, groundbreaking scholarship, and community life.

Expanding Learning Opportunities

The curriculum is designed to train students in an academically rigorous environment, while also providing a rich array of applied and experiential learning opportunities. Clinics, externships, and other experiential learning opportunities allow students to work with real clients on live issues affecting their lives and communities and equip graduates to be versatile, practice-ready professionals.

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Excellence in and out of the Classroom

From a wide array of student organizations and journals to special series like Beyond the Casebook and Lawyers, Community, and Impact that enable students explore timely, relevant issues outside of the classroom to high-quality facilities, such as the Li Lu Law Library, the experience of being a law student at Columbia is both empowering and supportive of personal and professional growth.

Students pose for a group selfie at the 26th Annual Paul Robeson Gala.

Community Inclusion and Belonging

At Columbia Law, we seek to create community across communities. With a diverse faculty and student body, we challenge students to learn from perspectives and experiences different from their own. Opportunities abound for students to join an affinity group, participate in a service trip, or attend an event or a conference.

Close up of the columns of the Supreme Court building with an American flag and the US Capitol in the background

Public Interest/Public Service Investments

Serving others and advancing the public good should be a part of every lawyer’s professional pathway. Through unprecedented investments, we have expanded programming and deepened financial support for students pursuing public sector careers while they are in law school and as they begin their careers.