A Grand Opening: Celebrating the Li Lu Law Library

Alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the Law School marked the opening of the Li Lu Law Library—one of the most significant capital projects in Columbia Law’s history—at two ribbon-cutting events that each featured remarks from lead donor Li Lu LAW ’96, BUS ’96, CC ’96, for whom the library is now named. 

A Night to Remember

On the evening of December 4, more than 200 guests attended a special event for donors and friends as well as Law School and university leadership. For the alumni in attendance, the gathering provided the chance to be among the first to explore the reimagined library space. From the sweeping two-story windows of the reading room, guests could also see the holiday lights adorning the trees on Revson Plaza, which added to the event’s festive glow. 

“Tonight is an inflection point for Columbia Law School. For the first time in our history, we have a library that so wonderfully meets the needs of our community today yet is able to evolve and meet the aspirations of tomorrow,” said Daniel Abebe, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law. “The Li Lu Law Library will be a nexus of learning, discovery, and community. And on top of all that, it’s beautiful. It is really the kind of marquee space the Law School has not had before.”

Li Lu, who served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University from 2017 to 2024, was hailed for his leadership and generosity by David J. Greenwald ’83, co-chair of the Trustees of Columbia University, himself a major supporter of the Law Library renovation. “His journey from student to global leader and philanthropist embodies the very best at Columbia,” said Greenwald. “Li Lu understood something fundamental: that a great library is the intellectual heart of a great law school, a place where ideas, scholarship, and community come together.” 

Claire Shipman CC ’86, SIPA ’94, acting president of Columbia University, who served as a Trustee of Columbia University alongside Li Lu during his time on the board, also lauded him. “Nobody embodies the spirit of tenacity, creativity, dogged determination, and vision that it took to create this space more than Li Lu,” she said. “He is a Renaissance man of the first order and one of the wisest, most morally driven people I know.” 

After the unveiling of the Li Lu Law Library signage in the reading room, Li Lu delivered a moving address. “Supporting this Law Library is one way of giving back to this institution that gave me so much,” he said. “Columbia has played a defining role in my life. When I arrived in the United States in 1989 as a refugee, it was this university that became my true emotional and intellectual home. It welcomed me, it challenged me, and it nurtured me in ways I could not have imagined. My years here shaped how I think, how I ask questions, and how I understand the law’s central role in creating fairness and possibilities in our society.”

Earlier in the evening, Dean Abebe also paid tribute to his predecessor, Gillian Lester, Dean Emerita and Alphonse Fletcher Jr. Professor of Law, who made a reimagined library one of the top priorities of her deanship (2015–2024). “Our new library really reflects Gillian’s ambitious vision and her tireless work in garnering support for the Law Library,” he said, adding that the renovation evinces “years of unbridled ambition, persistent effort, and meticulous planning, not to mention months of construction on a massive scale, all in the middle of a fully occupied building.”

Following the evening’s remarks, Li Lu and Dean Abebe officially opened the library, cutting a ceremonial blue ribbon at the foot of the grand staircase leading from the main reading room to the library’s top floor. Guests fanned out to explore the reimagined space and its variety of study areas that include carrels, lounges, cubicles, and shared tables, along with a special exhibition showcasing artifacts and treasures from the library’s collections. (Read more about the exhibition, below.) 

A Special Welcome for Students

There are very few Law School classes held on Fridays, but that didn’t stop hundreds of students, along with faculty and staff, from gathering outside the library on the morning of December 5 for the opening of the library to the community. With excitement and anticipation in the air, they were welcomed to the new space by Dean Abebe; Li Lu; Simon Canick, Arthur W. Diamond Director of the Li Lu Law Library; and Student Senate President Celeste X. Woloshyn ’26. 

“The Law Library is magnificent, and it is worthy of this great law school,” Canick told the crowd. “To the law students here today … I want you to know that the Li Lu Law Library is for you. It was developed, designed, and constructed with you in mind. Whether you are here to do research or collaborate or quiet study or just decompress, this library is for you. I hope that you love it as much as I already do.” 

Woloshyn praised the new library for transforming the student experience. “It recognizes how student life has changed, how scholarship has changed, how the practice of law continues to change,” she said. “It responds to the students’ call for community spaces that feel accessible and safe. It’s built for a world our graduates will enter, not a world of a century ago.”

Dean Abebe pointed out that the Law School finally had a library commensurate with its preeminence. “In more than 160 years, Columbia Law School has not had a library space to match the talent and ambition of our students, the intellect and innovation of our faculty, or the depth and breadth of our collection,” he said. “Well, that all changes today.”

Welcoming students to a transformed space that he promised would “blow your mind,” Li Lu said that he hoped that lending his name to the library would resonate with people, including those who may find inspiration from his own story. “I hope this library will provide a hope, a place, a sanctuary for all of you to continue your journey,” he said. “In a community like this, representation is not symbolic. It is the way our community tells you that you belong. And I hope that by associating my name to that, it will really inspire and encourage those of you whose path echoes some part of my own.” 

Dean Abebe, Li Lu, Canick, and Wolohsyn then cut the ribbon with two pairs of oversized golden scissors. The Dean raised his arms in the air. “Welcome to the Li Lu Law Library,” he called out, and the crowd flooded in. Once inside the library, students collected commemorative gifts, including bookmarks that were selected as winners of a community-wide design competition.

With finals about to begin and the library open around the clock until the end of the exam period on December 19, students quickly claimed their new favorite study spots, filling the long tables in the main reading room, the carrels in the quiet study areas, and the group tables and lounge chairs with views of Revson and Ancell Plazas. Within an hour of opening, the library’s 20 reservable study rooms were booked and full of students writing on whiteboards and sharing documents on the wall-mounted monitors. 

By the afternoon, the library already felt like the place that Woloshyn had envisioned a few hours earlier, when she said: “We have a space where new generations of students will have their own moments of discovery. A space where students will find a corner with just the right light or the table with the least amount of yappers. A space that will witness friendships forming in whispers, 1L sweats before exams. A space where thoughts will be exchanged that will become articles, arguments, and maybe even case law someday.”