James S. Liebman

Jim is the Founder of CPRL and Simon H. Rifkind Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Before founding CPRL, from 2006 to 2009, he served as the Chief Accountability Officer at the New York City Department of Education where he created and led the Division of Accountability and Achievement Resources. Jim joined the Columbia law faculty in 1985. He was Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1979 to 1985, where he specialized in school desegregation litigation. Prior to that he served as a law clerk to Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1977 to 1978, and to Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1978 to 1979. Jim earned his BA from Yale University and his JD from Stanford University.