Law School Launches Three New Centers
Focus on Global Markets, Constitutional Law, and International Arbitration
NEW YORK, July 27, 2012—Columbia Law School has established three new academic centers focusing on global markets, constitutional law, and international arbitration. These initiatives will bring together leading experts in each field and promote scholarship on increasingly important areas of the law.
The Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership will study global financial markets and their diverse, interdependent actors. Building on the Law School’s longstanding strength in the field of corporate law, the center will conduct timely research on crucial real-world issues, including the restoration of public trust in the market and the appropriate relationship between investors and corporations. The center will focus on two major projects: “Interdependence in the Global Economy,” which aims to study means to promote global economic growth and social progress; and “The Project on Investment, Ownership, and Control in the Modern Firm,” which will offer the first comprehensive analysis of the identity, incentives, and influence of the institutions emerging as owners in the newly fragmented world of equity finance.
Ira M. Millstein, a senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City, will bring his expertise on government regulation and antitrust law to the center. The co-directors are Jeffrey N. Gordon, the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law and co-director of the Richman Center for Business, Law & Public Policy; and Professor Robert. J. Jackson Jr., the Milton Handler Fellow at Columbia Law School and a prominent expert in the fields of executive compensation and corporate governance.
The Center for Constitutional Governance will bring together a dynamic roster of constitutional scholars who are deeply engaged in the study of governmental structure and relationships, including experts on separation of powers and issues of federalism. The center will sponsor cutting-edge workshops and conferences on crucial matters in the field of constitutional law and will attract visiting scholars with a shared interest in the field of constitutional governance. The new center will also serve as an interactive forum for the scores of distinguished Law School graduates who have devoted their lives to public law and government service.
Gillian E. Metzger ’95, the Stanley H. Fuld Professor of Law and vice dean at Columbia Law School, and Trevor W. Morrison ’98, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and co-director of the Roger Hertog Program on Law and National Security, will serve as co-directors. Both professors are widely published scholars; Metzger writes often about administrative law issues and federalism, and Morrison’s scholarship focuses on separation of powers, with special attention given to issues of executive authority.
The Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration Law will further the teaching and study of international arbitration, building on the Law School’s considerable expertise in this rapidly growing area of legal practice. The new center will be led by George A. Bermann ’75 LL.M., the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law, the Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, and co-director of European Legal Studies. It will create a series of new programs that include a distinguished speaker series, a workshop series drawing on scholars and practitioners in residence, and a formal annual lecture in international arbitration. Read more about the new center here and about Columbia Law School’s international arbitration program here.