Student Spotlight: Akesh Shah ’25

Akesh Shah ’25 chose law in part because he found the reasoning in legal analysis similar to his study of philosophy as an undergraduate. At Columbia Law School, he has focused much of his intellectual attention on constitutional and property law issues, including writing his student note on the Fifth Amendment takings clause. Here, the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition finalist discusses his interest in the clause, his efforts to start an official soccer club on campus, and his strategy for managing stress during moot court.

Hometown: Andover, Massachusetts 

Before Columbia Law: B.A. in philosophy and political science, Boston University

At Columbia Law: Managing editor, Columbia Law Review; founder and president, Columbia Law School Soccer Club; research assistant to Kathryn Judge, Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law, Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law, and Alex Raskolnikov, Wilbur H. Friedman Professor of Tax Law; teaching assistant to professors including Maeve Glass ’09, associate professor of law, and David Pozen, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law

What’s Next: Shah will be joining a law firm before clerking for a federal judge in the Second Circuit.

What areas of the law do you find most interesting?

I would say my main interests are constitutional law and property law. I’m very interested in the takings clause—a rapidly evolving area, one that’s complicated and challenging for courts and also for scholars. My professors have been very helpful in guiding me to sources to look at and finding where the gaps are. I became interested in the field during my 1L summer job [at the New York City Law Department], where we were working on some rent control-related issues. 

Have any classes or professors been particularly influential?

Con Law and Property were obviously very important to me, and I was very interested in them. All of the professors I’ve TA-ed for and RA-ed for have been absolutely incredible to work with, and I’m very grateful to have had those experiences.

Tell us about the soccer club you formed on campus.

The soccer club has kind of been my pet project. When I got here, there was a small, informal group chat for students who played soccer. I wanted to make this a more official and visible part of the campus life generally. When I was a 1L, playing soccer helped me meet friends and adjust to law school life. I’m happy to see that the club now does this for many other students. We have a few hundred people in the group, and we usually get 20 or 30 people on Fridays to come play pickup. And we’ve also been scheduling games against other law schools, too.

What has surprised you about the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition?

I was surprised by how nervous I was during the first oral argument. I hadn’t really done anything like this before, so I wasn’t prepared for that. But after my first round—once I realized that, when I get up there, it’ll be stressful—I could mentally prepare ahead of time. And then I was able to manage my nerves much better.

What is your strategy for maintaining focus?

I don't have much of a “strategy.” The judges are busy asking me questions, and I’m busy trying to answer them. I’m not sure how I could think about anything else.

What do you enjoy more, brief writing or oral argument?

They’re very different, so I like them for different reasons and in different ways. If I could only do one, I would choose brief writing. I feel like I can be my best self in my writing because I have time to work on it, edit it, and go over it again and again. But oral argument is really fun; it’s spontaneous.