Reunion 2025: Alumni Gather To Renew Their Connections To Columbia Law School
The weekend included parties, a picnic, panel discussions, and a state-of-the-school presentation from the Dean.
Over 1,000 alumni, traveling from across the United States and 43 countries, returned to Morningside Heights to catch up with classmates, engage with contemporary legal issues, and hear from Columbia Law School faculty during Reunion 2025, held June 6–7.
The event kicked off with a cocktail party at Gotham Hall in midtown Manhattan on the evening of June 6. The conversations and conviviality continued at affinity group after-parties, with gatherings for the Alumni of Color group, LGBTQ+ alumni, and LL.M. and international alumni. On June 7, participants headed to the Columbia campus for panel discussions, a picnic lunch, and a state of the school with Daniel Abebe, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law.
In his remarks, Dean Abebe focused on four areas: faculty strength and intellectual leadership, student excellence and success, physical and community infrastructure, and principles and priorities for the future.
The Law School continues to be “a destination for the very best scholars across fields, disciplines, and experience,” said the Dean, noting that five new full-time faculty members will join the Law School in the 2025–2026 academic year. “The faculty are the foundation of the institution. … They are the transformative force in the classroom. Their research advances our understanding of the law and pushes the boundaries of knowledge creation.”
The Law School, he said, also continues to attract outstanding students, with applications up 20% this year over last year, in line with national trends. “I was proud that the class that entered last fall—the first since the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision—was of absolutely exceptional quality,” said Dean Abebe, adding that it’s important to bring in students “who are not only outstanding academically but who have the ambition, the commitment, the potential, and the diversity of experience to pursue excellence in whatever path they choose.”
Dean Abebe also previewed the reimagined Law Library—“the largest single investment in the Law School student experience in decades”—which is scheduled to open in the fall. The new space will feature a marquee two-story reading room and will expand available study seats by 60%. The renovations will play “a huge role in building a physical sense of community,” Dean Abebe said. “I just can’t wait for all of you to see it.”
Lastly, he talked about principles and priorities for the Law School, including its “North Star of academic excellence” and its responsibility to prepare students to be leaders and to uphold free expression and open inquiry.
The Law School must “teach students how to think and not what to think,” he said. He emphasized the importance of fostering rigorous debate “in an environment free from discrimination or harassment. … It’s important that we model a culture of deep academic engagement and, critically, an openness to a productive discomfort that I believe is essential to learning.”
Reunion Classes Raise the Bar for Fundraising Success
As of July 25, giving from members of class years ending in 0 and 5 had reached nearly $18.5 million—a record amount for these reunion classes—and still counting. Competition for the highest overall giving by a class is fierce: the Class of 1985 is currently at $5.4 million in giving and the Class of 1995 at $5.2 million. The Class of 1975, celebrating its 50th reunion, leads with the highest percentage of reunion class donors at 30% and has raised more than $1.5 million.
Panelists Explore Current Legal Issues
Reunion 2025 included two panels featuring Law School faculty experts and alumni practitioners:
- “Examining the Rule of Law: Domestic and Global Perspectives,” moderated by Elora Mukherjee, Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor of Law, with discussants Jeffrey Buenger ’95, legal adviser to the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, United Nations Department of Peace Operations; Gillian Metzger ’96, Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law; and Ludivine Van der Heyden ’10 LL.M., pro bono immigration attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
- “AI and the Law: AI’s Impact on the Legal Profession,” led by Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Sol Goldman Professor of Law, with panelists Elisa Botero ’10 LL.M., partner at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle; Nia Castelly ’00, co-founder and head of legal of Checks at Google; Vivek Mohan ’10, partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; and Andrew Tannenbaum ’00, partner at A&O Shearman.
