List of Columbia Law School alumni

This is a list of individuals who have attended Columbia Law School. For a full list of individuals who have attended or taught at Columbia University as a whole, see the list of Columbia University people.

Government

United States Government

Executive branch

Presidents

* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1904-1907)², Governor of New York (1929-33) and 32nd President of the United States (1933-45)
* Theodore Roosevelt², hero of the Spanish-American War, Governor of New York (1899-1901), 25th Vice President of the United States (1901), 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), Nobel Peace Prize winner (1906)

Cabinet members

* Bainbridge Colby (1891), founder of the United States Progressive Party (1912); Secretary of State (1920-21)
* Charles Evans Hughes (1884), Governor of New York (1907), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1910-1916), Republican nominee for President of the United States (1916), Secretary of State (1921-29), and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1930-41)
* Harlan Fiske Stone (1898), professor (1902-05) and dean (1910-23) of Columbia Law, Attorney General (1924-25), Associate Justice (1925-41) and Chief Justice (1941-46) of the Supreme Court

Judicial branch

upreme Court

* Samuel Blatchford (1837)¹, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1882-93)
* Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (attended), judge on the New York Court of Appeals (1914-32), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1932-38)
* William O. Douglas (1925)², professor at Yale Law School (1928-34), Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1936-39), and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1939-75)
* Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1959), professor at Rutgers (1963-72) and Columbia Law (1972-80), ACLU attorney (1972-80), judge on the DC Circuit (1980-93), and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1993-present)
* Charles Evans Hughes (1884), Governor of New York (1907), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1910-1916), Republican nominee for President of the United States (1916), Secretary of State (1921-29), and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1930-41)
* John Jay (1764)¹, First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1789-95)
* Stanley Forman Reed, Solicitor General (1935-38) and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1938-57)
* Harlan Fiske Stone (1898), professor (1902-05) and dean (1910-23) at Columbia Law School, Attorney General (1924-25), Associate Justice (1925-41) and Chief Justice (1941-46) of the Supreme Court

Federal courts

* Marvin E. Frankel (1948), professor at Columbia, federal judge, partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel (1983-2002)
* Gerard E. Lynch (1975), professor at Columbia (1977-present) and federal judge (2000-present)
* Constance Baker Motley (1946), attorney for the NAACP (1945-64); Manhattan Borough president (1964-66); first African American woman appointed to the federal bench (1966-86)
* Jack B. Weinstein (1948), professor at Columbia (1952-98) and federal judge (1967-present)
* Charles P. Sifton (1961), United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
* Nicholas Garaufis (1974), United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
* Dora L. Irizarry (1979), United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
* Joseph F. Bianco (1991), United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
* Robert P. Patterson, Jr. (1950), United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Alvin Hellerstein (1958), United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Naomi Reice Buchwald (1968), United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Richard Holwell (1970), United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Kenneth M. Karas (1991), United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Denise Page Hood (1977), United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
* Anita B. Brody (1958), United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
* Daniel M. Friedman (1940), United States Court of Federal Claims
* S. Jay Plager (1961), United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
* Wilfred Feinberg (1946), United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
* Robert D. Sack (1963), United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Legislative branch

* Alva B. Adams (1899), senator from Colorado (1923-24, 1933-41)
* Perry Belmont (1876), congressman from New York (1880-88) and US Ambassador to Spain (1888-1889)
* Clifford P. Case (1928), congressman (1945-53) and senator (1955-79) from New Jersey
* Emanuel Celler (1912), congressman from New York (1923-1973)
* Colgate Darden (1923), congressman from Virginia (1933-37, 1939-41), Governor of Virginia (1942-46), chancellor of the College of William and Mary (1946-47), president of the University of Virginia (1947-59); namesake of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
*Samuel Fowler unspecified, represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district in the U.S. Representative from 1893-1895. [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000326 Samuel Fowler] , "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress". Accessed September 4, 2007.]
* Slade Gorton (1953), senator from Washington (1981-87, 1994-2001)
* Lister Hill (left 1915), congressman (1923-38) and senator (1938-69) from Alabama
* John Kean (1875), senator from New Jersey (1899-1911). [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000028 John Kean] , "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress". Accessed August 29, 2007.]
* Luke Lea (1903), senator from Tennessee (1911-17)
* Wayne Morse (1932), senator from Oregon (1945-69)
* Harrison A. Williams (1948), congressman (1953-57) and senator (1959-82) from New Jersey

United States Diplomats

* Perry Belmont (1876), congressman from New York (1880-88) and US Ambassador to Spain (1888-1889)
* William Joseph Donovan (1905), World War I hero, head of the OSS during World War II, and US Ambassador to Thailand (1953-54)
* Henry Morgenthau, Sr., US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1913-16)
* Mitchell Reiss, former Director of Policy Planning at U.S. State Department (2003-2005); Vice-Provost of International Affairs and law professor at College of William and Mary; current U.S. Special Envoy to Ireland
* Edward T. Wailes (1927) US Ambassador to Iran (1958-61)
* Paul Warnke (1948), Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1966-1969; SALT Negotiator and Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1976-1978

tate government

* Margery Bronster (1982), Hawaii attorney general (1995-99)
* Colgate Darden (1923), congressman from Virginia (1933-37, 1939-41), Governor of Virginia (1942-46), chancellor of the College of William and Mary (1946-47), president of the University of Virginia (1947-59); namesake of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
* Gray Davis (1967), Governor of California (1999-2003)
* Thomas E. Dewey (1925), Manhattan district attorney (1937-42), Governor of New York (1942-55), and Republican nominee for President of the United States (1944, 1948), name partner of New York law firm Dewey Ballantine
* Charles Evans Hughes (1884), Governor of New York (1907), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1910-1916), Republican nominee for President of the United States (1916), Secretary of State (1921-29), and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1930-41)
* John W. King (1943), Governor of New Hampshire (1963-1969)
* Robert Baumle Meyner (1933), Governor of New Jersey (1952-62)
* Charles J. O'Byrne (1984), Secretary to the Governor of New York David Paterson, contributor to the Columbia Spectator, former President of Columbia Alumni Association (2008-)
* George Pataki (1970), Governor of New York (1994-2006)
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1904-1907)², Governor of New York (1929-33) and 32nd President of the United States (1933-45)
* Theodore Roosevelt², hero of the Spanish-American War, Governor of New York (1899-1901), 25th Vice President of the United States (1901), 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), Nobel Peace Prize winner (1906)
* Rolando T. Acosta (1982), New York State Supreme Court Justice, New York County
* Robert S. Smith (1968), New York Court of Appeals

City government

* Michael Cardozo (1966), corporation counsel of New York City (2002-present)
* Rocky Delgadillo (1986), City Attorney of Los Angeles; first Latino in over 100 years to be elected city-wide in Los Angeles
* John Purroy Mitchell (1899), New York City mayor (1914-17)
* Constance Baker Motley (1946), attorney for the NAACP (1945-64); Manhattan Borough president (1964-66); first African American woman appointed to the federal bench (1966-86)

Miscellaneous United States government

* Richard Ben-Veniste (1967), federal prosecutor (1968-73), chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Special Prosecutor's Office (1973-75), and member of the 9/11 Commission (2002-2004)
* Moe Berg (1930), light-hitting catcher for the Brooklyn Robins (1923), Chicago White Sox (1926-1930), Cleveland Indians (1931, 1934), Washington Senators (1932-34) and Boston Red Sox (1935-39); able to speak twelve languages; spy for the OSS; according to Casey Stengel, "the strangest man ever to play Major League Baseball"
* Roy Cohn (1947), anti-communist attorney who was an influential aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy and was active in the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
* William Colby (1947), career spy, Director of Central Intelligence (1973-76)
* William Joseph Donovan (1905), World War I hero, founder and head of the OSS, US Ambassador to Thailand (1953-54)
*Charles Fried, United States Solicitor General (1985-1989)
* John D. Hawke, Jr. (1960), Comptroller of the Currency (1998-2004)
* Bill Lann Lee 1974, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (1997-2001)
* Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby (1975), novelist, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2005), convicted on obstruction of justice charges for his role in the Plame affair (2007)
* Tracy Voorhees (1915), Undersecretary of the Army (1948-53)
* Lawrence E. Walsh (1935), Independent Prosecutor for the Iran-Contra Affair, Trustee of Columbia University
* Mary Jo White (1974), first female US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (1993-2002)
*Harvey Goldschmid (1965), Commissioner, United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Non-U.S. Government

*Giuliano Amato (1963), twice Prime Minister of Italy
* Mikhail Saakashvili (1994), president of Georgia (2005-present)
* Kim Hyun-chong (1985), South Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations

Academia

University presidents

* Carmen Twillie Ambar (1994), president of Cedar Crest College (2008-present)
* Lee Bollinger (1971), professor (1973-1994) and dean (1987-1994) at the University of Michigan Law School, Provost of Dartmouth College (1994-1996), President of the University of Michigan (1996-2002) and president of Columbia University (2002-present); defendant in the Supreme Court case "Grutter v. Bollinger" (2003)
* Colgate Darden (1923), congressman from Virginia (1933-37, 1939-41), Governor of Virginia (1942-46), and president of the University of Virginia (1947-59); namesake of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
* E. Gordon Gee (1971), president of West Virginia University (1981-85), University of Colorado at Boulder (1985-90), The Ohio State University (1990-97), Brown University (1997-2000), Vanderbilt University (2000-07), and The Ohio State University (2007-present)
* Barry Mills (1979), president of Bowdoin College (2001-present)
* Michael I. Sovern (1955), professor (1957-present) and dean (1970-79) at Columbia Law School, president of Columbia University (1980-93), and chairman of Sotheby's (2002-present)

Legal academia

*John F. Banzhaf III (1965), professor and practitioner of public interest law at George Washington University [cite encyclopedia| encyclopedia = Current Biography Yearbook| title = Banzhaf, John F(rancis), 3d| year = 1973| publisher = H. W. Wilson| pages = 30–33]
* Lee Bollinger (1971), professor (1973-1994) and dean (1987-1994) at the University of Michigan Law School, Provost of Dartmouth College (1994-1996), President of the University of Michigan (1996-2002) and president of Columbia University (2002-present); defendant in the Supreme Court case "Grutter v. Bollinger" (2003)
* Felix S. Cohen (1931), expert on Native American law, legal philosopher, and professor at Yale Law School, the City College of New York, The New School, and Rutgers University; early proponent of legal realism
* Robert Cover (1968), professor at Columbia Law School (1971-72) and Yale Law School (1972-86); scholar of history, philosophy, literature, and law; author of the multidisciplinary analysis "Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process", and "The Structure of Procedure"
* Michael Cox (1981), Dean of Thomas M. Cooley Law School (1988-1996)
* Marvin E. Frankel (1948), professor at Columbia Law, federal judge, partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel (1983-2002)
* Charles Fried (1960), professor at Harvard Law (1961-87, 1989-95, 1999-present), US Solicitor General (1985-89), and Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1995-99)
* E. Allan Farnsworth (1952), expert on the law of contracts and professor at Columbia Law School (1952-2004)
* Jack Greenberg (1948), counsel for the NAACP (1949-84), in which capacity he argued "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954); professor at Columbia Law School (1984-present)
* Yale Kamisar (1955), expert on criminal law and professor at the University of Michigan Law School (1965-present)
* Soia Mentschikoff (1937), drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code, professor at University of Chicago Law School, dean of University of Miami School of Law
* Lawrence Sager (1966), dean of University of Texas Law School (2006-present)
* Michael I. Sovern (1955), professor (1957-present) and dean (1970-79) at Columbia Law School, president of Columbia University (1980-93), and chairman of Sotheby's (2002-present)
* Herbert Wechsler (1931), professor at Columbia Law School (1933-1978) and director of the American Law Institute (1963-84); argued in front of the Supreme Court in the seminal libel case "New York Times v. Sullivan" (1964)
*Jens Ohlin (2005), Faculty at Cornell Law School
*Sanford H. Kadish (1948), Influential professor of Criminal Law at Boalt Hall School of Law
*Robert A. Kagan (1962), professor of Political Science and Constitutional Law at the University of California, Berkeley

Arts and Letters

* John Kendrick Bangs (1883-84)², writer and satirist associated with so-called "Bangsian fantasy"
* Charles Chaille-Long (1880), soldier, explorer of Africa, writer
* Oscar Hammerstein II², writer, producer, and director of musicals
* Isaac Hollister Hall (1865), famed Orientalist and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1885-96)
* William Ivins, Jr. (1907), curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1916-1946)
* Rod MacDonald (1973), singer/songwriter
* Brad Meltzer (1996), "New York Times" best-selling novelist, DC Comics author, and co-creator of the television series "Jack & Bobby'
* Edward Packard, children's author who developed the "choose your own adventure" style of storytelling
* Paul Robeson (1923), All-American athlete, actor, singer, and civil rights activist
* Nick Santora (1996), writer (Sopranos, Law & Order), producer (Prison Break) and novelist
* Charles Yu, writer

Business and philanthropy

* Dan Abrams (1992), general manager of MSNBC; formerly chief legal correspondent for NBC News and host of The Abrams Report
* Tom A. Alberg, co-founder of Madrona Venture Group
* William Waldorf Astor (1875), Anglo-American financier, son of John Jacob Astor, US Minister to Italy (1881-1885)
* Mark Attanasio (1982), investment banker and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers (since 2004, incumbent as of 2006)
* Roland W. Betts (1978), investor, film producer, lead owner in George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers partnership (1989-1998), and developer and owner of Chelsea Piers (since 1989, incumbent as of 2006)
* Douglas Black (1918), president of Doubleday (1946-63)
* Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot
* Alan N. Cohen (1954), chairman and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Corporation (1974-77), principal owner of the New Jersey Nets, and principal owner of the Boston Celtics (1983-2004)
* J. Barkclay Collins II (1969), general counsel for Hess Corporation (1984-present)
* Philippe Dauman (1978), President and CEO of Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks
* Henry Clay Folger (1881), president of the Standard Oil Company (1911-1923) and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library
* Ted Forstmann (1965), co-founder of Forstmann Little & Company, chairman and CEO of Gulfstream Aerospace (1990-1999), and member of Forbes 400 (1998-2003)
* Stephen Friedman (1962), chairman of Goldman Sachs (1990-1994), director of the National Economic Council (2002-2005), chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, incumbent as of 2006
* Jerome L. Greene (1928), real estate investor and namesake of Columbia's main building, Jerome L. Greene hall
* Edward S. Harkness (1928)³, Standard Oil Company heir, donated funds used to construct Butler Library at Columbia and most of the undergraduate dormitories at Yale and Harvard, as well as to Phillips Exeter Academy
* David W. Heleniak (1974), vice-chairman of Morgan Stanley
* Morton L. Janklow (1953), literary agent to Sidney Sheldon, Pope John Paul II, Danielle Steele, Ronald Reagan, and J.K. Rowling
* Michael Karlan (1992), founder of the nation's largest social and networking group, Professionals in the City
* Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. (1950), co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, member of the Forbes 400.
* Orin Kramer (1970), chair of the New Jersey Pension Fund
* James T. Lee (1899), prolific Manhattan real estate developer/magnate; grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
* H. F. Lenfest (1958), media proprietor and member of Forbes 400 (from 1999)
* Randy Lerner (1987), Chairman and CEO of MBNA (2002-2005), owner of the Cleveland Browns (since 2002, -present) and Aston Villa Football Club (since 2006, incumbent as of 2006), and member of Forbes 400 (since 2002, incumbent as of 2006)
* Russell E. Train (1948), founding trustee, CEO, president, and chairman of the World Wildlife Fund
* Michael Lynne (1964), president (1990-2001), co-CEO and co-chairman (since 2001, incumbent as of 2006) of New Line Cinema
* Douglas H. McCorkindale (1964), CEO (since 2000, incumbent as of 2006) and chairman (since 2001, incumbent as of 2006) of Gannett
* Bruce Ratner (1970), founder (1985), president, and CEO of Forest City Ratner; principal owner of the New Jersey Nets
* Lawrence R. Riccardi (1965), general counsel of IBM (1995-2002)
* Thomas Rogers, President and CEO Tivo
* Thomas Rothman (1980), co-chair of Fox Filmed Entertainment
* Herb Sandler, founder of Golden West Financial (1963), philanthropist, member of Forbes 400 (from 2003)
* Robert B. Shapiro (1962), CEO of Monsanto
* Robert Shaye (1964), founder, chairman/co-chairman and CEO/co-CEO of New Line Cinema (since 1967, incumbent as of 2006)
* Sid Sheinberg, president and COO of MCA
* Richard D. Simmons, president of the Washington Post Co. (1981-1991)
* David Stern (1966), commissioner of the National Basketball Association (since 1984, incumbent as of 2006)
* Franklin A. Thomas, president of the Ford Foundation (1979-1996)
* S. Robson Walton (1969), chairman of Wal-mart (1992, incumbent as of 2006) and member of the Forbes 400 (since 1992)
* Mark Weldon (1997), CEO of New Zealand Stock Exchange (since 2002, incumbent as of 2008)

Journalism

*Henry Demarest Lloyd, muckraking journalist
*Cynthia McFadden, ABC news anchor

Private legal practice

* George B. Case (1897), founder of New York law firm White & Case.
* Paul Drennan Cravath (1886), name partner of New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore (awarded first Municipal Law prize, and prize tutorship).
* William Nelson Cromwell (1878), founder of New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
* Walter J. Fried 1928, name partner of New York law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
* Ed Hayes (1972), defense attorney and Court TV anchor; basis for the character Tommy Killian in the Tom Wolfe novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities."
* Caroline Kennedy (1988), daughter of President John F. Kennedy
* William Kunstler (1948), civil rights activist, self-described "radical lawyer," and popular author.
* Daniel A. Neff (1977), Chairman of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
* Gary P. Naftalis (1967), co-chairman of the New York law firm Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel.
* Robert G. Morvillo, (1962), defense lawyer for Martha Stewart
* Charles F.C. Ruff (1963), Washington attorney who represented Anita Hill and President Bill Clinton
* Joseph Meyer Proskauer (1899), founder of New York law firm Proskauer Rose.
* Whitney North Seymour (1923), president of the ABA; chairman of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
* John Woodruff Simpson (1873), founder of New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
* David Sive (1948), pioneer in environmental law; founding partner, Sive, Paget & Riesel, PC.
* John H. Slate, Jr. (1938), name partner of New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
* John William Sterling (1893)³, founder of the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling; major donor to his undergraduate alma mater, Yale University; namesake of Yale's library, law building, and its most prestigious endowed chair.
* Francis L. Stetson (1869), early leader of New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.
* Frank Polk, name partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell
* Louis Weiss, Simon Rifkind, and John Wharton, name partners of New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
* Frank Weil, Sylvan Gotshal, and Horace Manges, founders of New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Activism

* Robert L. Carter (1941), civil rights activist, NAACP general counsel, in which capacity he argued "Brown v. Board of Education II" (1955); judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Li Lu (1996), leader of the Tiananmen Square Protests (1989), first student at Columbia to simultaneously receive B.A., M.B.A., and J.D. degrees
* Constance Baker Motley (1946), attorney for the NAACP (1945-64); Manhattan Borough president (1964-66); first African American woman appointed to the federal bench (1966-86)
* Paul Rapoport (1965), co-founder of New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center and Gay Men's Health Crisis
* Paul Robeson (1923), All-American athlete, actor, singer, and civil rights activist
* Charles Ruthenberg (1909), founder of the Communist Party of America (1919)
*Martin Heiss (1979), Advocate of Chinese Socialism

Athletics

* Mark Attanasio (1982), investment banker and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers (since 2004, incumbent as of 2006)
* Moe Berg (1930), light-hitting catcher for the Brooklyn Robins (1923), Chicago White Sox (1926-1930), Cleveland Indians (1931, 1934), Washington Senators (1932-34) and Boston Red Sox (1935-39); able to speak twelve languages; spy for the OSS; according to Casey Stengel, "the strangest man ever to play Major League Baseball"
* Roland W. Betts (1978), investor, film producer, lead owner in George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers partnership (1989-1998), and developer and owner of Chelsea Piers (since 1989, incumbent as of 2006)
* Alan N. Cohen (1954), chairman and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Corporation (1974-77), principal owner of the New Jersey Nets, and principal owner of the Boston Celtics (1983-2004)
* John Montgomery Ward (1883), played baseball for the Providence Greys (1878-82), New York Giants (1883-1889, 1893-94), Brooklyn's Ward Wonders (1890) and Brooklyn Grooms (1890-91); president of the Boston Braves (1911-1912); advocate for player's rights; member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (1964)
* Mark Weldon (1997), member of the New Zealand men's swim team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona

Notes

¹ "Studied law at Columbia University prior to the founding of the Law School."

² "Failed to complete the law degree."

³ "Received the LL.D."

References