Graduate Legal Studies | Columbia Law School
Visiting Columbia Law School
Visiting Columbia Law School
Tour Columbia University
Attend Law Classes
Directions to Columbia University and the Law School
Visiting Columbia Law School
Applicants and prospective students are welcome to visit Columbia Law School and the Office of Graduate Legal Studies (GLS) during regular office hours, generally, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. GLS is located on the sixth floor of William and June Warren Hall (WJW), 1125 Amsterdam Ave., on the corner of West 115th Street.
We will be happy to meet you and answer your questions; you do not need an appointment. Regrettably, because of the large number of applicants from all over the world, it is not logistically possible for interviews to be included as part of the selection process. As a substitute, the Admissions Committee depends upon the insights provided by your letters of recommendation and Personal Statement. In addition to providing the Committee with a more personal sense of your individual qualities, the Personal Statement affords you an opportunity to present any special information or factors that may prove useful to the Committee's deliberations.
Although we do not offer daily guided tours of the Law School, you may pick up a brochure to conduct a self-guided tour or download a copy of the self-guided tour brochure. We can also provide you with a pass to enter the Law School library.
Tour Columbia University
Visitors are welcome to tour the Morningside campus on their own or join a guided tour at 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The 1:00 p.m. guided tour is not specific to any academic program and does not include admissions information. Maps and other materials for self-guided tours are available in the Visitors Center, located in room 213 of Low Memorial Library. Low Library is the domed, national landmark building in the center of the University’s Campus Walk (which runs along West 116th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue). The Visitors Center is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except for major holidays. No registration is required to pick up a self-guided walking tour brochure; however, a current Columbia I.D. is required to enter all buildings except Low Library. You are welcome to explore any of the outdoor green space on campus. A virtual tour and podcast are available online.
For more information, see Visiting Columbia.
An Interactive Map of Columbia University's Morningside Campus is also available.
Attend Law Classes
A variety of first-year and upperclass courses are open to prospective students and visitors during the academic year, and we invite you to attend a sampling of subjects. Visitors can attend classes from mid-September to late November and from late January to the end of April; Columbia Law School does not offer classes during the summer. Please check the Law School's academic calendar to make sure that your visit does not fall during a scheduled holiday, vacation, or exam period. Courses are also not open to prospective students during the Law School's change of program (add/drop) period (typically the first two weeks of classes in a semester).
We ask that you arrive at the classroom a few minutes before the class is scheduled to begin and notify the professor that you will be observing class that day. Please ask the faculty member if there is a particular area or seat in the classroom where you should sit (some classes may have limited or assigned seating).
Note: The Office of Graduate Legal Studies is unable to anticipate class schedule changes, and faculty members may cancel classes without notice to our office. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience if this should occur.
Download the Spring 2013 Class Visitation Schedule
Directions to Columbia University and the Law School
Columbia Law School is located on the main campus of Columbia University. The main Law School building, Jerome L. Greene Hall, is located on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street in Manhattan. The Office of Graduate Legal Studies is located on the 6th floor of William and June Warren Hall, which is located at 1125 Amsterdam Avenue, on the corner of West 115th Street.
Five public bus lines (M4, M5, M11, M60, M104) and one subway line (the Broadway 1 Local) serve the Columbia University area. The Columbia University subway stop is 116th Street (on Broadway, one block west of the Law School).
Note: The Broadway 2/3 Express line does not stop at Columbia University. Please transfer for the 1 Local line at the 96th Street stop (uptown) for direct service to the 116th Street/Columbia University stop.