Ph.D., Princeton University, 2025
M.A., Princeton University, 2023
J.D., Columbia Law School, 2017
B.A., Middlebury College, 2011
Corporations
Securities Regulation
Financial Institutions
Contracts
Law and Politics
Empirical Legal Studies
Reilly Steel ’17 is an expert in the areas of business, law, and politics, and often employs empirical and social science research methods in his work. His scholarship examines the strategic interactions between economic, legal, and political actors in both private and public institutions, engaging with a range of legal fields including corporate law, financial regulation, and administrative law. He joined Columbia Law School as associate professor of law on July 1, 2025, having earlier served as an academic fellow.
Before entering academia, Steel was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law clerk to Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. of the Delaware Supreme Court, and the inaugural Millstein Public Service Fellow at the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. His research has been published in both law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, including the American Political Science Review; Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization; Yale Law Journal; Columbia Law Review; Iowa Law Review; University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law; and Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law.
While a student at Columbia Law School, Steel was an articles editor of the Columbia Law Review and president of the Law School’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The corporate law scholar and political scientist—who has worked in government, the courts, and private practice—joins the Columbia Law School faculty as an associate professor of law.