Story Archive

Since 1964, Columbia Law School’s most prestigious award, the Medal for Excellence, has been presented at the annual Winter Luncheon to alumni and past or present faculty members who exemplify the qualities of character, intellect, and social and professional responsibility that the Law School seeks to instill in its students.​

Long before intersectionality became a watchword, Florynce Kennedy ’51 identified the confluence of race and gender discrimination, bringing to second-wave feminism a Black voice that was impossible not to hear. But first, she took on Columbia Law School.

For Valentine’s Day, four alumni couples share their love stories and wedding photos.

The aviation disaster litigator won justice from Libya for the bombing of Pan Am 103 and wants the same for 9/11 families.

The Association of American Law Schools honors Kimberlé W. Crenshaw and Richard Briffault for excellence in legal education. Kimberly Mutcherson ’97 and Jack Weinstein ’48 are also among the 2021 honorees.

In 1888, Hong Yen Chang officially became the first Chinese American lawyer in the United States. In January 2021, Columbia Law School’s Center for Chinese Legal Studies will be named in honor of Chang (张康仁 中国法律研究中心).

In 2020, Columbia Law alumni wrote about presidential conspiracies, Asian American identity, hacking for good, and how to get what you want.

The first Black woman to graduate from Columbia Law School was a pathbreaking litigator and jurist.

His novel Interior Chinatown tackles issues of Asian American identity in culture and law.  

The surprise star of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries tells Columbia Law students to hold on to their humanity and “figure out what you can get done in the world we live in.”