Our Visit to Columbia Law School: A Photo Essay

We spent a fair amount of time at Columbia Law School last week. We attended their moot court finals, gave a talk sponsored by the Federalist Society, and enjoyed ourselves at their Law Revue (more on that — including a video clip — later).
Here are a few photographs we took while up at CLS. If you’re a Columbia student or alum (the people most likely to find these pictures interesting), or if you’re on the fence about whether to vote for Columbia in ATL March Madness, check out the pics after the jump.

We were impressived by the CLS physical plant, which struck us as modern and well-designed. But one student we spoke to dismissed it as “suburban office park.”

The gates leading into the main campus of Columbia University, at West 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It’s a beautiful campus; if you’re ever in the area, you should definitely check it out.

Waiting for the Harlan Fiske Stone moot court finals to begin. The room was filled with anticipatory buzz.

The Chesin family, including Scott Chesin — a CLS graduate now at Mayer Brown in New York — and his younger brother, Eric Chesin, one of the moot court finalists.

For the petitioner: David Gringer and Patrick Somers.

For the respondent: Geoffrey Reed and Eric Chesin.

Matthew Schwartz, one of Justice Alito’s current law clerks, and the fabulous Martha Ann Alito.

Here’s a close-up of Mrs. Alito, so you can see her funky and fashionable eyeglasses. The rims are encrusted with colored rhinestones.
We complimented Mrs. Alito on her eyewear, and she explained that these glasses were missing for two years. Their mischievous cat had dragged them under the couch!
(Does that mean that nobody regularly vacuums the space under the Alito couch? What are law clerks for?)

After our talk, members of the Columbia Federalist Society took us out to dinner at the delightful Mama Mexico (excellent guacamole, prepared tableside). Left to right: treasurer Michael Podberesky; president Amanda Steele; incoming president Nate; PR chair Brandon Caire; and your undersigned blogger (with a little of the “Asian flush,” thanks to the frozen margaritas).
Based on how fun this crew was, we’re guessing they hail from the libertarian rather than social conservative wing of the Society. Thanks for a great time, guys!
Earlier: At the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Finals
Wherein We Embarrass Ourselves at the Moot Court Finals

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