About the Leadership Initiative

Columbia Law School offers an innovative and pathbreaking leadership program that equips students from the time they enter law school to cultivate the lawyer leadership skills they will need to succeed and thrive at every stage of their professional development and in a wide variety of professional and civic settings. 

Successful lawyers can influence, negotiate, facilitate, and strategize. They have the capacity to engage in difficult conversations and complex challenges, often in collaboration with others. Students participating in the Leadership Initiative at Columbia Law School will learn those lawyer-leadership competencies and graduate prepared to change the world for the better.

This groundbreaking lawyer-leadership initiative is supported by a generous founding grant from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. With the support of the firm, the Law School has developed an integrated series of courses, workshops, fellowships, grants, and mentorship opportunities that allow for in-depth learning in innovative ways.