Columbia Law School has landed a big name to teach next semester: Former FBI Director James Comey, who will teach a spring semester seminar called  Lawyers and Leaders  as a  Leader in Residence  at the law school

Sloan, Karen

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Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive

Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership Research Centers & Programs 2020 James Comey to Teach at Columbia Law Karen Sloan Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/initiative_organizational_character_leadership  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Karen Sloan, James Comey to Teach at Columbia Law, N.Y.L.J., December 3, 2020 (2020). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/initiative_organizational_character_leadership/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Research Centers & Programs at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact scholarshiparchive@law.columbia.edu. 12/3/20, 11:42 AMJames Comey to Teach at Columbia Law | New York Law JournalPage 1 of 2https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/12/03/james-comey-to-teach-at-columbia-law/?printer-friendly#James Comey to Teach at Columbia LawComey will teach a spring semester seminar called "Lawyers and Leaders" as a "Leader inResidence" at the law school.By Karen Sloan | December 03, 2020Former FBI Director James Comey testifies about his firing by President Donald Trump during a SenateIntelligence Committee hearing on June 8, 2017. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALMColumbia Law School has landed a big name to teach next semester: Former FBI Director James Comey.! Click to print or Select 'Print' in your browser menu to print this document.Page printed from: https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/12/03/james-comey-to-teach-at-columbia-law/NOT FOR REPRINT12/3/20, 11:42 AMJames Comey to Teach at Columbia Law | New York Law JournalPage 2 of 2https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/12/03/james-comey-to-teach-at-columbia-law/?printer-friendly#The school announced Tuesday that Comey will be a “Leader in Residence” as part of the school’s ReubenMark Initiative, which each year brings two corporate executives, law !rm leaders, and high-levelgovernment workers to campus to teach, advise students, and participate in law school programming.Comey is being joined by former Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch, who will again teach a springsemester seminar called “The Role of General Counsel in the Modern Economy.” (Stretch, who leftFacebook in 2019, was also a Leader in Residence at Columbia last spring.)The Columbia post is also a return of sorts for Comey, who spent several months in 2013 as a seniorresearch scholar and fellow in national security law at the Manhattan school before his FBI appointmentby President Barack Obama. He’s not an alum of the school, however. Comey got his law degree from theUniversity of Chicago Law School.Comey led the FBI from 2013 to 2017, and in 2016 received the ire of Democrats for reopening theinvestigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails when she was the Secretary of State, just weeksbefore the presidential election. Trump !red Comey in May 2017 after he ended that investigation andopened one over potential Russian interference in the election. Mere days after his !ring, Comeyarranged for a memo he had drafted after early meetings with Trump, which describe Trump attemptingto get him to pledge loyalty and pressuring Comey to back o" an investigation of Trump associate MichaelFlynn, to be leaked to the press.During a lunchtime talk (https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/james-comey-urges-students-enter-public-service) held at Columbia Law in February, Comey said he regretted how that memo was leakedand said he should have done it himself. Comey also spoke about his handling of the Clinton emailinvestigation, telling students the decision to reopen the inquiry was the best of several bad options.“I hope to God it had no impact on the election,” Comey said during that talk. “It was a terrible decision. Itwas just better than the alternative, which was simply awful.”Comey also urged students to pursue public service careers during his visit earlier this year. He heldseveral high-level posts within the U.S. Department of Justice during the administration of George W.Bush, but left the department in 2005 to take a series of general counsel roles in the private sector,including at Lockheed Martin and Bridgewater Associates. Beginning in January, he will teach a seminarcourse at Columbia called “Lawyers and Leaders.”Comey is due to release his second book, titled “Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust,” inJanuary.Copyright 2020. ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.

James Comey to Teach at Columbia Law

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James Comey to Teach at Columbia Law

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