Law School Honors
Law School Honors at Columbia Law School do not follow either of the two traditional methods of academic recognition at law schools around the country. Rather than grant latin honors (summa, magna, and cum laude), as at Harvard, or induct the top 10% of the graduating class into the Order of the Coif (i.e. Phi Beta Kappa for law students), as at NYU, Columbia instead bestows recognition in two grades unique to Columbia: Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar honors, and James Kent Scholar honors. In addition, whereas traditional honors designations are granted in consideration of a cumulative academic record spanning three years, Columbia's honors are given at the end of each year for that year only. Thus it's possible to achieve honors in just one, or many years, and of different grades in different years.
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholars
The Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar honors designation was established in 1946 in memory of Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, an alumnus of the law school as well as a former member of its faculty and dean of the school from 1910-1924.
Stone Scholar honors are awarded at the end of each year in recognition of "superior academic achievement" which is defined as having earned at least 15 graded law credits with no grade lower than B- and an academic average for the year at or above 3.410.[1] This is a somewhat curious definition as the law school claims that students don't have GPAs.
As a result of the law school's grading curve, Stone Scholar honors are generally awarded to 35 percent of the class (as low as 29 percent of 1Ls and as high as 45 percent of 3Ls).[2] This would make it roughly equivalent to cum laude honors.
James Kent Scholars
The James Kent Scholar honors designation was established in 1923, named for James Kent, the first Professor of Law on the Columbia faculty. Kent Scholar honors are significantly more difficult to achieve than Stone Scholar honors, and achieving them during the 1L year of the law school is considered a significant achievement.
Kent Scholar honors are awarded at the end of each year in recognition of "outstanding academic achievement" which is defined as having earned at least 15 graded law credits and either a GPA over 3.80, or no grade lower than an A+, A, or A- save one, and that exception being no lower than a B, and, after putting aside the lowest grade, at least half of which are A+ or A.[3]
Kent Scholar honors are generally awarded to the top 8 percent of each class (as low as 2 percent of 1Ls and as high as 11 percent of 3Ls).[4] This would make it roughly equivalent to magna cum laude honors.
Other Honors
The law school has a number of awards that it grants for excellence in particular subjects or skills. Two prizes of note, though, are the John Ordronaux Prize, which is usually granted to the student, male or female, with the highest academic average in the graduating class, and the Pauline Berman Heller Prize Fund, which recognizes the female student with the highest academic average in the graduating class, regardless of her overall rank.[5]
