9 minute read
Faculty Focus
from 2022 Annual Report
by CLS WebComm
Connecting Our Community
Whether in person or on Zoom, alumni and friends supported the Law School, expanded their legal knowledge, nourished their intellect, and reconnected with faculty and one another at a range of panels, special events, and other gatherings. See a few highlights here, and explore more at law.columbia.edu/virtual-speaker-series.
Seventh Annual Alumni of Color Event Maya Wiley ’89 knows the significance of a Columbia Law School degree, and “it’s not the paper. It’s the leadership. It’s the analytic skills. It’s the advocacy, activism, the strategy, and the critical thinking, and the thinking about society,” she said. That’s “the most important thing to recognize about the law degree.”
Wiley, a 2021 candidate for New York City mayor, former legal commentator for MSNBC, and former NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) lawyer, spoke to members of the Law School community 1 at the seventh annual Alumni of Color event, held virtually on January 20, 2022.
In her introduction, Dean Lester said that Wiley “has public service in her DNA. . . . We are bursting with pride that she’s a Columbian.”
Wiley was joined by Olivia Martinez ’23, chair of the Black Law Students Association, for a conversation about careers and the challenges of entering the field as a lawyer of color. “Be driven by your passion. Be driven by what you want to seek to do and what you want—for lack of a better word—your legacy to be. And the legacy isn’t about a single job,” Wiley said. For example, Wiley said she had never planned to leave her job at the LDF. But when offered a position with the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to work with Mary Jo White ’74 and Jane Booth ’76, Wiley said she took the role because, “I wanted to know that I was the best litigator I could be. . . . It was an opportunity to do just that: to improve my craft in a place that still did civil rights enforcement.”
The lesson for others? “Being open to opportunities to do what will serve the passion that may not have been in the plan,” she said.
Wiley empathized with students who will experience the difficulty and marginalization of being the only person of color or only woman in a professional setting—for instance, she described a time she appeared in court and a judge assumed she was a defendant, not a lawyer. She navigated those moments in two ways: “One . . . I had to be better. And I knew and understood I had to be better. And I knew and understood it was unfair. It wasn’t right. It was just true,” she said. “But the other thing is, I refused to be silent about it.”
As she looks to the future, Wiley is taking her own advice and staying open to opportunities. She doesn’t intend to run for office again, she said, but she knows never to say never: “For me, it’s always about where and how can I utilize my skills to serve my passion? My passion is equality, is democracy, and is ending 3 poverty. And I think all those three things actually go together, and they cannot be done separately. So where I can best do that is where I will do it.”
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Scenes from a year of Columbia Law events.
1, 2, 3: The Seventh Annual Alumni of Color event featured a keynote by Maya Wiley ’89 (1), who was introduced by Dean Lester (2) and joined by Olivia Martinez ’23, chair of the Black Law Students Association (3).
4: Judge Jack B. Weinstein ’48 was remembered as a leading authority on civil procedure and practice. Remembering Jack B. Weinstein: Pioneer in Judging and Justice On December 2, 2021, Judge Jack B. Weinstein ’48 was remembered for his empathy and humanity as a professor, mentor, and friend and hailed as a leading authority on civil procedure and practice. The online event, “Jack B. Weinstein: Pioneer in Judging and Justice,” was presented jointly by Columbia Law School and the Institute of Judicial Administration (IJA) at New York University School of Law.
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Weinstein served as a full-time professor at Columbia Law School from 1952 to 1967, when he was appointed to the federal bench; he continued to teach Evidence at Columbia Law until 1998. When he stepped down from active service on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2020 at age 98, Weinstein was the longest-serving federal judge in U.S. history (53 years). He died June 15, 2021, at 99.
Following opening remarks from Dean Lester and Trevor W. Morrison ’98, then-dean of NYU School of Law, 19 members of the legal community paid tribute to Weinstein. They discussed topics such as his leadership role in developing the federal rules of evidence, his innovations in court administration and integrating magistrate judges into the daily work of the district court, and his use of special masters to oversee complex class action settlements. The program concluded with personal remembrances from former clerks and students. More than half of the speakers were Columbians, including William B. Bonvillian CC ’69, LAW ’74; Senior Judge Anita B. Brody ’58; Professor John C. Coffee Jr.; Samuel Estreicher ’75; Les Fagen ’74, lecturer in law; Tulsi E. Gaonkar ’12; Professor Bert Huang; Professor Olatunde C.A. Johnson; Judge Gerard E. Lynch CC ’72, LAW ’75, professor emeritus; David Noll, former associate in law; and Senior Judge Robert D. Sack ’63, adjunct professor.
STONE CIRCLE LUNCHEON
Alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago convened at a virtual Stone Circle event on October 6, 2021. The event began with a talk by Conrad L. Teitell ’57—principal; chair, charitable planning group at Cummings & Lockwood— titled “Taxes Schmaxes: We’re Still Alive and Kicking.” Professor Petros C. Mavroidis, co-author of China and the WTO: Why Multilateralism Still Matters, gave the keynote on “China and the World Trade Organization.”
The Stone Circle Luncheon originated as an informal group of alumni and special friends whose affiliation was established from 1910 to 1924, during the deanship of Harlan Fiske Stone. By 1974, the luncheons had become a popular annual event.
THE HFS SOCIETY FACULTY BOOK SERIES
Part book club, part author event, the Harlan Fiske Stone (HFS) Society Faculty Book Series brings together alumni supporters and faculty authors for webinars featuring in-depth insights into recent writings by Columbia Law professors.
The popular online events last year included: Professor Philip Hamburger discussing his book Purchasing Submission: Conditions, Power, and Freedom; Professor John C. Coffee Jr. on Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Crisis of Underenforcement; and Professor Thomas W. Merrill on Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago. Celebration Recognizes 2020 and 2021 Graduates In a long-awaited moment, members of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 heard their names read as Columbia Law School graduates while they crossed a ceremonial stage to receive congratulations from Dean Lester. The in-person ceremony—held May 19, 2022, as part of Columbia University’s weeklong commencement activities—celebrated the two classes for which graduations were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dean Lester welcomed members of the classes, who processed into Levien Gymnasium wearing their velvet Law School caps (known as “tams”), applauded by a cheering audience of family and friends. The celebration continued with a reception on Ancell Plaza.
In her remarks, Dean Lester noted the uniqueness of the classes’ time at the Law School, as they experienced the suspension of in-person classes in the spring of 2020 and a year of virtual learning necessitated by the pandemic. She devoted special recognition to those who cared for ill family members while continuing their coursework, pro bono work, and extracurricular activities—all remotely.
Calling them “masters of adaptability, tenacious in the face of change,” she commended the graduates, saying, “None of you would be here today if you hadn’t persevered. I stand in awe of your fortitude.”
A Momentous Weekend: Reunion 22 On June 10 and 11, 2022, Columbia Law School alumni from around the globe returned to Morningside Heights for class celebrations, CLE panel discussions, and a conversation with Dean Lester. More than 800 alumni and guests from over 30 countries participated in Reunion 2022. Class members with graduation years ending in 2 and 7 attended a series of inperson and virtual social and intellectual events—from a gala cocktail party on Friday night and class dinners on Saturday to a robust schedule of panels both days featuring alumni, faculty, and students.
“I’m thrilled we’re all here and that we’re all together in one place, which is something that feels all the more sweet after a couple of years in which we haven’t been able to do this,” said Dean Lester.
One highlight of the weekend was Dean Lester’s conversation with Julie Sweet ’92, chair and CEO of Accenture, the Fortune 500 company specializing in information technology services and consulting. Sweet has been recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business and among the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. In 2010, after 17 years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore (10 of those years as a partner), Sweet switched careers, joining Accenture as general counsel— although the technology field was brand new to her. She said the Law School prepared her for the career pivot: “Columbia taught me how to be a disciplined learner.” Sweet rose in the ranks to become Accenture’s CEO in 2019 and added the title of chair in 2021.
In addition to the conversation between Sweet and Dean Lester, Reunion 2022 programming included CLE panels with Columbia Law faculty, alumni, and guest speakers; an opportunity to meet the editors in chief of Columbia Law School journals; and panel discussions on Columbia Law women in leadership and on how law and policy affect housing, race, and wealth gaps.
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1: Julie Sweet ’92, chair and CEO of Accenture, spoke with Dean Gillian Lester during Reunion 22. 2, 4, 5: Members of classes with graduation years ending in 2 and 7 attended in-person social and intellectual events over the course of the weekend.
3: Popular CLE panels included “What Can the Law Do About Climate Change?” moderated by Professor Michael B. Gerrard.
