A Message of Gratitude and Purpose

Dear members of the Columbia Law School community, 

I write to you today in the spirit of deep gratitude. To our faculty: Thank you for your unwavering commitment to academic excellence in your scholarship and teaching, and for your dedication to serving society. To our students: Thank you for bringing your great intelligence, openness to ideas, and rich perspectives to the life of the Law School. To our staff: Thank you for your extraordinary and selfless service—without which we would not be able to realize our collective ambitions. And to our alumni: Thank you for standing with us, for modeling the values that make Columbia lawyers so uniquely talented and distinguished, and for all the ways you contribute to our ongoing success.  

As I complete my first academic year as your Dean, I remain excited by the opportunity before us—to lead at a time of consequence in a place of relevance. I know that this sense of purpose guides so much of what we do at the Law School. Even in the face of momentous challenges and continuing uncertainty this past year, you have remained committed to the values of free speech, constitutional democracy, and the rule of law, which have grounded Columbia Law School for generations. For that, I feel both truly thankful and immensely inspired.

I am equally proud of the work that we have done together—work that is essential and ongoing—as we continue to move forward as a vibrant and welcoming community. Here are some highlights and accomplishments from the year that I am pleased to share with you:

Enhancing Scholarly Eminence

We began the year by welcoming Dennis Fan ’15 as the newest member of our full-time faculty. Dennis launched his appellate litigation clinic at the Law School, and has now completed his first year of teaching. We also acknowledge two faculty retirements—Katherine Franke and Conrad Johnson—and honor the memory of Henry P. Monaghan, who passed away in January after more than 40 years at Columbia Law School. 

Looking ahead, I am pleased to announce that five new full-time faculty members will join us next year: 

• Kate Redburn, a current academic fellow whose scholarship focuses on legal history and theory of gender and sexuality, religion, and political economy in the late 20th and early 21st century United States, will join the faculty as Associate Professor of Law on July 1, 2025. Kate was recognized as Yale Law Journal’s 2025 Emerging Scholar of the Year.
   
• Robert Smit ’86, a leader in the practice of international commercial and investment arbitration who currently teaches courses at the Law School as an adjunct professor, will become Professor of Professional Practice and Director of the Center for International and Commercial Investment Arbitration, effective July 1, 2025. 
   
• Nicole Smith Futrell, an experienced criminal justice practitioner who currently teaches at CUNY Law School, will launch a new clinic specializing in decarceration and reentry, and hold an appointment as Clinical Professor of Law, beginning on January 1, 2026. 
   
• Reilly S. Steel ’17, a current academic fellow who employs empirical and social science research methods to explore questions at the intersection of business, law, and politics will join the faculty as Associate Professor of Law on July 1, 2025. 
   
• Rebecca Wexler, a legal scholar whose research focuses on criminal law and technology, with a specific focus on data privacy, secrecy, and intellectual property, will join the faculty as Professor of Law on July 1, 2025. Rebecca comes to us from Berkeley Law, where she has taught since 2019. 

In addition, we look forward to welcoming several distinguished visiting professors who will be teaching at Columbia Law School next year, including: David Cole, Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at Georgetown Law and former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union; Larissa Katz, Professor and Cecil A. Wright Chair at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law; Christopher Lewis, Assistant Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; Saul Levmore, former Dean and current William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School; Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Deane F. Johnson Professor of Law at Stanford Law School; Gabriel V. Rauterberg, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School; and Paul B. Stephan, John C. Jeffries Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. 

Celebrating Excellence

Columbia Law School continues to attract the most outstanding students, with this year’s entering J.D. and LL.M. classes drawing members from around the U.S. and the world. They represent dozens of countries, speak more than 50 languages, and come to us with an incredible breadth of personal and professional experiences. We are proud of our diverse student body and see how its excellence enriches the educational environment for our entire community. Looking to next year, interest in a Columbia Law School education continues to be robust, with applications for the Fall 2025 entering J.D. class up some 20% compared to 2024. And, very recently, we welcomed a new cohort of Executive LL.M. degree candidates—many of whom are distinguished international legal practitioners—who are beginning their intensive summer residency on campus. 

All of our students, from those entering as 1Ls to those graduating as 3Ls and LL.M.s, continue to demonstrate their commitment to excellence in their coursework and co-curricular involvement, and through the recognition they receive. They presented oral arguments in front of federal judges, traveled the world to serve those in need, and earned prestigious fellowships and grants to support their innovative work. We commend all of them, especially the members of the Law School Class of 2025, who crossed the graduation stage last month. 

We also recognize two faculty members—Talia Gillis and Maeve Glass ’09—who were promoted this year and will assume full professor status on July 1, 2025. Clare Huntington ’96 received this year’s Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching and had the honor of addressing the Class of 2025 at the Law School Class Day Ceremony on May 18.

Six faculty members were among the Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024, and several more were honored for their scholarly achievements this year. I want to highlight just a few of the countless awards and recognitions our faculty received this year to show the breadth of their superb contributions, including: Anu Bradford, who received the 2024 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research; Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, who was honored with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal; Kellen R. Funk, who was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship; Michael Gerrard, who was recognized with an ABA Lifetime Achievement Award; Jane C. Ginsburg, who was named a foreign fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei; Monica Hakimi, who received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; and Philip Hamburger, who was elected to the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. Conrad Johnson and the Lawyering the Digital Age Clinic developed an AI tool for the Legal Aid Society that won Robin Hood’s AI Poverty Challenge, and Elora Mukherjee and the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic received much-deserved recognition for their extraordinary work this year, particularly on behalf of migrant children and families. 

Eight current Law School staff members were chosen by a committee of their peers to receive the Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) Award, which recognizes and expresses gratitude to colleagues who show a commitment to innovation, leadership, and citizenship. This year’s winners were: Gregory Jones (J.D. Admissions); Caitlin Lewis (Faculty Support); Diana Pedi (Registration Services); Sadie Pettigrew (Law Library); Melissa Rivera (Building Services); Elena Soktoeva (Law Library); Marta Torelli (Faculty Support); and R. Martin Witt (Law Library).

Meeting the Moment

Our Lawyers, Community, and Impact series, which convenes roughly a half-dozen community-wide events each year, continued to address legal issues as they emerged in the public discourse. This year’s sessions focused on immigration law, executive orders, Title VI, and key legal questions in the wake of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. We also reprised the Beyond the Casebook series, which featured 28 faculty-led, small group conversations with students. Throughout the year, our faculty, research centers, student organizations, and journals convened hundreds of events and programs on topics ranging from authoritarianism to artificial intelligence, from war crimes to workers rights, from constitutional resilience to climate change. And, true to form, our community did not shy away from discussing the most pressing topics of the moment—including the unprecedented challenges facing Columbia and other higher education institutions.

We continue to honor and uphold our commitments to students and alumni pursuing meaningful careers in service of the public interest. Just last week, I announced new steps—at the recommendation of the faculty, students, and administrators on the Public Interest/Public Service Lawyering Committee—to further optimize Columbia Law School’s industry-leading Loan Repayment Assistance Program. Our ability to provide financial assistance was supported this year by generous contributions for LRAP, including from Monica Shah ’05 and Anil Seetharam. In addition, the Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, which has generously supported two-year postgraduate public interest fellowships since 2015, contributed an additional $3 million to further strengthen the program’s endowment. 

Columbians have an outsize impact in the public sphere each and every day. This year, alumni were selected for prestigious U.S. Supreme Court clerkships, Bristow Fellowships in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and Skadden Fellowships. In all, 124 Columbia Law School alumni began federal and state clerkships in 2024, and 116 more have already accepted clerkships set to begin in fall 2025—with that number expected to grow over the next few months. In a similar vein, several faculty returned to the Law School this year after serving in prominent federal government posts: Suzanne Goldberg, Jamal Greene, Lina Khan, and Gillian Metzger ’96.

We also benefit greatly from our global community of alumni, who exemplify what it means to lead. This year, we celebrated several important alumni initiatives, including the annual Winter Luncheon, where we awarded the Medal for Excellence; the Alumni of Color Reception, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in January; and our second year of programming as part of the Women of Columbia Law series. By the end of June, I will have had the privilege of gathering with thousands of alumni in 16 cities across three continents. I have been uplifted and inspired by the level of engagement and support I have witnessed at every stop, and I look forward to welcoming our alumni back to campus for Reunion 2025. 

Framing Our Future

Reflecting on my time at Columbia Law School, one thing is immediately clear: This is a community brimming with possibility and potential. I am eager to harness the ideas and perspectives you have shared with me, and I look forward to incorporating what I have heard into a set of principles and priorities that will help advance our collective work and foster a sense of common purpose for the Law School’s future. 

Looking ahead, you can expect to hear more about promoting free expression, open inquiry, and respectful dialogue; redoubling our commitment to academic excellence, intellectual rigor, and pathbreaking scholarship; and preparing our graduates for a rapidly changing legal environment transformed by the impact of emerging technologies. 

You will also hear about the Law Library renovation—the most significant investment in the student experience in decades, and the Law School’s largest capital project since the opening of JGH in 1961. Excitement is building for the reimagined space, which remains on track to open this fall. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the progress of construction, featuring several members of the Student Senate. The Law Library Project is supported by more than 50 generous donors and counting, including alumni and their families; law firms; and friends who are making this historic project possible for our future. Most recently, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz supported the Project with a wonderful $2 million commitment, along with a $1 million matching gift to inspire others to join the effort. 

We recognize that we pursue all of our aspirations for the Law School in an environment of uncertainty. To realize them and advance Columbia’s indispensable role in generating new knowledge, we will need to be even more adaptable, creative, and resilient. I am confident that we will meet the challenge. 

Thank you again and best wishes for the summer. 

Sincerely,

Daniel Abebe
Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law