Alumni Come Together to Celebrate, Reconnect, and Engage

October 24, 2025

More than 1,100 alumni and guests converged in New Haven, returning to Yale Law School to celebrate Alumni Weekend Oct. 17–19.

For three days, alumni reconnected with classmates and faculty, strolled the halls of Sterling Law Building, and enjoyed social events at the Law School, around Yale, and on the town. They also took time to honor fellow alumni and others who have served Yale Law School and to learn how the Law School community is meeting the moment on campus and in the world.

“Our annual Alumni Weekend celebration is a vivid reminder of those deep connections that transcend time and place,” said Frank Jimenez ’91, president of the executive committee of the Yale Law School Association. “It’s clear that we all share a deep affection for this special place and the people we met during our time in New Haven.”

Joe Tsai ’90

Law School celebrates generosity of Joe Tsai ’90

On Friday, the Law School honored Joe Tsai ’90 for his transformative philanthropic support and most recent challenge gift to inspire new donor support for The Tsai Leadership Program. In recognition of this new gift, the school has renamed the student lounge the Dr. Paul C. Tsai ’54 LLM, ’57 JSD Student Lounge, in honor of his father. The co-founder and chairman of global internet technology company Alibaba Group, Tsai has focused his past philanthropy at Yale Law School in two major areas. In 2016, his generous gift supported the continuing work of what is now called the Paul Tsai China Center, also named after his father. In 2021, he was a co-founder of The Tsai Leadership Program, which expands and modernizes Yale Law School’s curriculum to prepare students for traditional legal practice and the many nontraditional paths that its graduates pursue.

Addressing the group gathered in the Courtyard, Tsai remembered his father, whom he said taught him how to have a rich intellectual life. Tsai also shared how a legal education benefited him and can benefit students today regardless of their career path.

“It trains an attitude of putting resources together and helping whoever you’re working for to be successful,” Tsai said. “That’s about leadership.”

Yale Law School deans' panel — Four former Yale Law School deans shared some of their experiences

Panels examine timely issues

Across the weekend, alumni attended several conversations that tackled timely topics. Friday afternoon, “From the Heckler’s Veto to the Assassin’s Veto — A Discussion of the Latest Threats to Campus Speech” brought together experts on free speech and free expression from the Law School and beyond. Joe Cohn, who recently became executive director of Yale Law School’s Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech (CAFFS), moderated. Cohn was joined by David Boies Professor of Law Keith E. Whittington, the faculty director for CAFFS; Lee Rowland, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship; and Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

A panel Friday evening featured four former deans of Yale Law School: Judge and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Guido Calabresi ’58, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Heather Gerken, Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh, and Sterling Professor of Law Anthony T. Kronman ’75. In a conversation moderated by Tali Farhadian Weinstein ’03, the four former deans shared what they learned from their time at the helm.

Events on Saturday started early and ended late for alumni, beginning with the option to join a morning fun run or attend a networking breakfast with students. The day was filled with presentations, class activities, and class dinners and gatherings that went into the evening.

Alumni and guests filled Levinson Auditorium for the first panel of the day, on role of the Yale Law School community in protecting the rule of law. Professor Harold Hongju Koh, a former legal adviser of the State Department, moderated. Koh was joined by panelists Bruce Swartz ’79, a 30-year Justice Department veteran; Sonia Mittal ’13, a former federal prosecutor; Cecillia Wang ’95, National Legal Director for the ACLU; and Peter Keisler ’85 and Alan Raul ’80, who serve on the board of the Society for the Rule of Law, which aims to build a community of lawyers, law students, and others who shared a belief in the rule of law through public education.

The second panel of the morning featured four federal judges who discussed the challenges and complications of judging during turbulent times. Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law Cristina Rodríguez moderated the conversation with Judge Stephanos Bibas ’94, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg ’90, Judge Dabney Friedrich ’92, and Judge Dale Ho ’05.

group of smiling people — L to R: Harold Hongju Koh, Pamela S. Karlan ’84, Heather K. Gerken, Guido Calabresi ’58, Frank Jimenez ’91

Recognition of lawyers and leaders

The afternoon brought the Award of Merit presentation. Since 1957, the Yale Law School Association has bestowed the award — its highest honor — annually to graduates or faculty of Yale Law School who have made a substantial contribution to public service or to the legal profession. This year’s award went to Stanford Law School Professor Pamela S. Karlan ’84 and former Dean and Professor Emeritus of Law Heather K. Gerken. Each recipient was introduced by Professor Harold Hongju Koh.

Karlan, one of the nation’s leading experts on voting and the political process, is the Kenneth & Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest at Stanford and co-director of its Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.

In his remarks, Koh called her a “pathbreaking scholar, a pioneering litigator and a courageous public servant.”

In addition to her teaching and scholarship, her career has included service at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the California Fair Political Practices Commission, and in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gerken joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2006 and was named the School’s 17th dean in 2017. One of the country’s leading experts on constitutional law and election law, her work focuses on federalism, diversity, and dissent.

Under her leadership, Yale Law School expanded access to the legal profession, creating two pipeline-to-law school programs and bolstering the School’s commitment to need-based aid. In 2022, the School launched the first full-tuition scholarship for law students with the highest need, igniting a growing trend in legal education. She worked to broaden the curriculum through The Tsai Leadership Program, which includes a special initiative, the Crossing Divides Program, designed to foster discourse across the political and ideological spectrum and reinforce the core values of lawyering.

Gerken served as dean until earlier this year, when she was named the next president of the Ford Foundation.

“Bigger things are happening out there, and she has other institutions to lead, other battles to fight, and other populations to protect,” Koh said. “But today, for today, as she heads to her global future, let us just take this moment to say how proud we are to have watched this remarkable person grow from lawyer to leader to legend.”

Saturday afternoon’s events featured a variety of individual class activities that ranged from karaoke with the class of 1995, a conversation led by Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law Kate Stith with the class of 1965, and a discussion with Maurice R. Greenberg Visiting Professor of Law Philip C. Bobbitt ’75 and his reunion class. Younger classes gathered in the Courtyard for yard games, doughnuts, and ice cream.

In the evening, reunion classes headed to their individual class dinners at locations throughout Yale and New Haven, including at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Kline Tower, and local restaurants.