Columbia Law School

Congratulations to Professor Elora Mukherjee, who will be presented with @Columbia ’s Faculty Service Award at Commencement in recognition of her extraordinary and creative voluntary service that has contributed significantly to the university’s inclusion and belonging efforts. As director of the Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, Mukherjee and her students have provided pro bono representation for hundreds of asylum seekers, migrants, and children and adults detained by federal immigration officials. She also serves on Columbia’s Committee on Forced Migration, regularly collaborates with the Office of Student Life to advise students across the university, and has organized numerous “Know Your Rights” support sessions. Dean Daniel Abebe says Mukherjee’s service is distinguished not only by its breadth but also by its constancy. “Year after year, she has chosen to shoulder essential work that is time-consuming, emotionally taxing, and often invisible,” he says. “Through her unwavering dedication to her clients, students, and the institution, she embodies the highest ideals of faculty service. Her service is courageous and profoundly consequential.” “I am grateful to be recognized with this award, and I am grateful to be part of an institution that values service,” says Mukherjee. “I feel extraordinarily lucky to teach at Columbia University.” 🔗 Visit our link in bio to read more. #ColumbiaLawSchool #ColumbiaLaw2026 #Columbia2026

Columbia Law Student Spotlight: When Journey Browne ’27 and Lyndon DeFoe ’27 met in a pre-law program before law school, they discovered that they both had a passion for and a background in voting rights advocacy and civic engagement. After matriculating at Columbia Law, they channeled their shared experiences to launch Harlem Youth Voter Engagement (HYVE) in their 1L year with the support of a Davis Polk Leadership Fellowship from Columbia Law’s Davis Polk Leadership Initiative. The mission of their project was to “hone the civic mindset of the next generation of Harlem voters,” says DeFoe. To do so, Browne and DeFoe developed a two-part workshop timed around New York Civics Week in March 2025 for students in the junior class at Harlem Village Academy, Browne’s high school, to teach students how to engage in local democracy. Part one consisted of presentations discussing the fundamental structure of the New York City local government, and part two consisted of simulations of mock elections and town halls. Through HYVE, the high school students learned how to participate in local and national elections and effect change in their community. Browne and DeFoe also decided to expand the project and its reach beyond their fellowship year. Columbia Law Students for Voting Rights, a student organization of which DeFoe was president, incorporated HYVE as a subcommittee to focus on community outreach. In fall 2025, Browne and DeFoe partnered with Students for Voting Justice, where Browne previously interned as an outreach team leader, to host sessions on civic engagement and voting with students at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

🎓 Less than one week until Class Day! We asked this year’s graduation co-chairs, Amado Aztlán Castillo ’26, G. Shannon Frampton ’26, and Mary Suberu ’26 LL.M., and class speakers Beatrice Olivieri ’26 LL.M. and Shaquille Profitt ’26, what they’re most excited about as they head toward the finish line. 🦁✨ #ColumbiaLawSchool #ColumbiaLaw2026 #Columbia2026

🏅 Students describe Professor Olatunde Johnson as engaging, demanding, charismatic, and caring. She will receive the 2026 Willis L.M.Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching—awarded annually by the Law School’s graduating class—at graduation on May 17. Johnson says teaching Civil Procedure to 1Ls every fall is a privilege and a pleasure. “I love teaching students in their first semester,” says Johnson, whose scholarship focuses on civil rights, legislation, and antidiscrimination law. “It’s a real gift for me because the students are very open. They are invigorated, curious, and very enthusiastic intellectually, which I really appreciate.” “[Civil Procedure] was my most demanding course,” wrote a student in a course evaluation, “but [Johnson] makes you want to put in the work.” Johnson also won the Reese Prize in 2016, the same year @Columbia honored her with its Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching by Faculty (making her the first member of the Law School faculty to receive both awards in the same year). 🔗 Read more about Johnson in our link in bio. #ColumbiaLawSchool #ColumbiaLaw2026

🎉 Congratulations to Celeste X. Woloshyn ’26 for receiving a 2026 Campbell Award! Established by the @Columbia trustees and @ColumbiaAlumni , the annual award honors a graduating student at each school who demonstrates exceptional leadership and Columbia spirit. 🔗 Visit our link in bio to learn more. #ColumbiaLawSchool #Columbia2026

⚖️ An Inside Look: Judging the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition For a century, judges, legal practitioners, and Columbia Law alumni have presided over the competition, putting some of Columbia Law’s brightest to the test during three rounds of appellate advocacy. Former and current moot court judges share their perspective from the bench and why they come back to judge year after year.

Timothy M. Reif ’85, a U.S. Court of International Trade judge, has spent his career—which has included roles in all three branches of government—focused on being a public servant who works across the political divide. Trade quickly became his legal specialty. After an early role with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, he served more than a decade as chief international trade counsel for the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. He later returned to the trade representative’s office as general counsel, and in 2019, he was appointed to the U.S. Court of International Trade. Over time, Reif says, he has seen the dynamic of debates on trade issues evolve. “The issues are incredibly interesting. They’re always multilayered, never black and white. Every issue is, in a way, like a puzzle,” he says. On the U.S. Court of International Trade, “the puzzle is just the law,” he says. “But it’s still a puzzle.” 🔗 Reif discusses why trade matters, his path to public service, and the importance of judicial credibility in our link in bio.

Happy last day of classes, Columbia Law! Good luck on finals, and a big shoutout to the Class of 2026 on their final semester. 🩵🎓

Congratulations to Elizabeth Scott, Harold R. Medina Professor of Law, Emerita, on her election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. Scott joined Columbia Law School in 2006. A leading authority on juvenile justice, she has written extensively on juvenile crime and delinquency; adolescent decision-making; and marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and child custody. She is known for pioneering the inclusion of a developmental framework for juvenile justice, and her work has led to new ways of thinking about children and the legal system. Scott is one of 252 members—drawn from academia, the arts, industry, policy, research, and science—elected in 2026. She joins more than a dozen Columbia Law professors who are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 🔗 Read more in our link in bio.

Four Columbia Law students with an interest in international law traveled to Washington, D.C., in February with Professor Lori Damrosch, an expert in public international law and the U.S. law of foreign relations, for the Salzburg Global Cutler Fellows Program. The theme of this year’s session was “Disruption and Renewal: Charting the Future of the International Rule of Law, Democracy, and Pluralism.” The annual program brings together students from top law schools to connect with legal professionals, public servants, and leaders across various sectors and learn about global legal challenges and career opportunities in international law and public service. 📸 (Clockwise from top left) Alexandra Desmedt ’27, Mreganka Kukreja ’26 LL.M., Paola Ripoll ’27, and Elizabeth Sturley ’26

📚 Since its doors opened in December, Columbia Law’s Li Lu Law Library has served as a vibrant hub of learning, collaboration, and community. Learn more about the vision, planning, and execution that brought the Li Lu Law Library to life. #NationalLibraryWeek #ColumbiaLawSchool

🏆 ICYMI: Columbia Law took home the trophy after a decisive win over @NYULaw at the Deans’ Cup basketball game last week. Founded by students from both law schools, the Deans’ Cup is an annual event that raises money for public interest and community service organizations. #ColumbiaLawSchool