November 24, 2014
Columbia Law School:
Select Global Initiatives
The Law School is home to a wealth of innovative global projects. No special assistance seems to be
required to access university level collaborations and infrastructure, as many projects already
incorporate these successfully. Projects are generally well aligned with the Law School’s overall
strategic and administrative planning priorities, in part because they are often channeled through one of
over twenty internationally-oriented Centers, Institutes and Programs. A sampling of international
initiatives at the Law School follows below.
1. Global Alliances
On an institutional level, the Law School’s global engagement is focused on “Global Alliance”
relationships with the University of Amsterdam; Paris I and Sciences Po; and Oxford University.
Similar strategic partnerships are now under development with Peking University and GV Direito in
Sao Paulo. These linkages encompass not only faculty and student exchanges, but serve as
platforms for deeper collaboration such as shared scholarship, workshops, and major conferences
around the world. Earlier this year, for example, with the assistance of Columbia’s Global Center in
Beijing, the Law School and Peking University convened academic, government and industry experts
for a conference on comparative legal issues related to shale energy.
2. Center for Global Legal Transformation
Prof. Katharina Pistor directs the Center on Global Legal Transformation which, among other
objectives, seeks to analyze how globalization affects the role of law as a mode of social ordering.
Among its projects is the Center’s Global Law in Finance Network (“GLawFiN”), which brings
together participants from Columbia, Oxford and Frankfurt Universities. Its 2014 Winter School on
Law and Finance, held at Columbia’s Global Center in Paris, attracted 25 doctoral students and other
scholars in law, economics, history and political economy. It was followed by a “Justice and
Finance” workshop with guest speakers from Frankfurt, Oxford, Manchester and McGill Universities.
Another multi-year, multi-partner project of the Center is “The Tragedy of Exclusion”, which
explores the implications of globalization’s impact on the governance of access to resources that are
essential for human life. “Teach-ins” and “Global Think-ins” are held around the world, and in 2014
included a two-day Global Think-in at Columbia University’s Global Center in Mumbai, and one-day
Global Think-in at the Global Center in Istanbul.
3. Global Corporate Governance Colloquia
Prof. Jeffery Gordon, Co-Director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate
Ownership, hosts an annual series of high-profile, internationally-oriented speakers. Recently
guests have included a former Head of State, a senior U.N. official, and a judge on the International
Court of Justice.
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For the coming year, Prof. Gordon has been instrumental in the formation of a new multi-party
“Global Corporate Governance Colloquia” (GCGC). The GCGC will bring together the best research in
law and finance relating to corporate governance through a yearly conference engaging 12 leading
universities in the Americas, Asia and Europe. The participating institutions are Columbia University,
Goethe University Frankfurt, Harvard University, the London Business School, the National
University of Singapore, Peking University, Seoul National University, Stanford University, the
Swedish House of Finance, Oxford University, the University of Tokyo and Yale University.
4. Center for Chinese Legal Studies
The Center for Chinese Legal Studies, under the direction of Prof. Benjamin Liebman, oversees a
faculty exchange and other partnership activities with Peking University; sponsors over a dozen
Visiting Scholars; and mentors Columbia Law students seeking professional opportunities in China.
This past year, it partnered with the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law to convene over
20 global scholars for an interdisciplinary workshop on the effects of China’s emerging model of
state capitalism on domestic institutions in that country.
In addition, Prof. Liebman recently teamed with colleagues from Columbia and elsewhere to create
two new curricular offerings. The first is a new seminar on the Law of the Sea, with a particular
focus on East Asia, which leverages the Law School’s existing expertise in international law, national
security, and China. The second, in partnership with Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy of India’s Azim
Premji University, is a new class exploring legal development in China and India. We understand this
to be the first effort of its kind anywhere and, together with the Law of the Sea seminar, may
become a platform for future workshops and other initiatives in this country and abroad.
5. Center for Japanese Legal Studies
The Center for Japanese Legal Studies, directed by Prof. Curtis Milhaupt, administers a faculty
exchange with Tokyo University and this past year sponsored a Japanese law speaker series that
included eight academic lectures and other events for the Law School community. Prof. Milhaupt
also mentors students interested in pursuing professional opportunities in Japan.
The Center leverages its outreach and programing through cooperative projects with other groups
across Columbia University and New York that foster intellectual engagement with Japan, such as
the Center on Japan and the Economy of Columbia Business School; the Consulate of Japan; and
NHK, the Japanese student group at the Law School. An important part of the Center’s work is
supporting the Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research, this country’s premier collection of
Japanese law materials. It does so, in part, by engaging with individuals and organizations in Japan,
including convening alumni who help sustain the library, the Center and the Law School.
6. Center for Korean Legal Studies
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Prof. Jeong-ho Roh directs the Center for Korean Legal Studies, which is the only academic research
entity in the United States dedicated to both South and North Korean law.
The Center recently won major funding for two milestone international collaborations: The first,
with the Korea Institute for Ocean Science and Technology, aims to establish a public policy institute
to study East Asian Ocean Law and Policy. The project will convene legal scholars, government
officials and civil society members from North America, Europe and Asia to address regional
maritime issue from a global governance perspective. A second partnership, with the Korea
Institute for National Unification, will create a public policy institute aimed at engaging with a global
audience on legal issues surrounding the topics of inter-Korean cooperation and unification.
7. European Legal Studies Center
The European Legal Studies Center, under the direction of Prof. Anu Bradford, undertakes a number
of annual initiatives including a popular speaker series that exposes Law School audiences to the
views of numerous preeminent academic, judicial, government, and other leading representatives
with a broad range of legal expertise. Recent speakers included the Governor of the National Bank
or Austria and the Legal Adviser in the European Commission’s Legal Service.
A new initiative this year was the EU Law Scholarship Roundtable, co-hosted with NYU, which drew
more than 15 leading academics from the U.S. and UK for a full day program on a wide range of EUrelated topics.
8. The Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law
Prof. Curtis Milhaupt directs the Parker School, whose co-sponsorship (with the Center for Chinese
Legal Studies) of a summer workshop on Chinese state capitalism and institutional development will
result in a volume scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press. In December, the Parker
School sponsored a conference on Brazilian capital markets that was held in Rio de Janeiro. Over
100 people, including many Columbia alumni, attended the event.
9. Human Rights Institute/Human Rights Clinic
The Human Rights Institute and the affiliated Human Rights Clinic are led by the team of Prof. Sarah
Cleveland, Prof. Sarah Knuckey and Executive Director Risa Kaufman. They are deeply engaged in
many areas, including counterterrorism, armed conflict and human rights.
The “Harmonizing Standards in Armed Conflict” project recently convened Foreign Ministry Legal
Advisors from ten governments to explore the application, to non-state armed groups, of legal rules
designed for conflicts between states. A future collaboration is planned between Columbia Law
School, Melbourne Law School, and possibly the War Studies Department of Kings College London
and the Australian Defense Ministry.
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Another project explores the standards that should be applied to protect the human right to privacy
in the context of digital surveillance. This spring, the Institute will host a closed training session for
about 20 lawyers form around the world who are engaged in advocacy related to data surveillance.