List of Yale Law School alumni

Law and government

United States government

Executive branch

U.S. Presidents">List of Presidents of the United States">U.S. Presidents

• Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001
• Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States, 1974–1977

  U.S. Attorneys General">United States Attorney General">U.S. Attorneys General

• Herbert Brownell Jr., 62nd U.S. Attorney General, 1953–1957
• Homer Stille Cummings, 55th U.S. Attorney General, 1933–1939
• Nicholas Katzenbach, 65th U.S. Attorney General, 1965–1966
• Peter Keisler, acting U.S. Attorney General, 2007
• Edward H. Levi, 71st U.S. Attorney General, 1975–1977
• Wayne MacVeagh, 36th U.S. Attorney General, 1881
• Michael B. Mukasey, 81st U.S. Attorney General, 2007–2009
• Edwards Pierrepont, 33rd U.S. Attorney General, 1875–1876
• Alphonso Taft, 34th U.S. Attorney General, 1876–1877

  U.S. Solicitors General">United States Solicitor General">U.S. Solicitors General

• Drew S. Days, III, 40th U.S. Solicitor General, 1993–1996
• Walter E. Dellinger III, Acting Solicitor General, 1996–1997
• Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General, 2010–2011
• Thomas D. Thacher, 21st U.S. Solicitor General, 1930–1933
• Seth P. Waxman, 41st U.S. Solicitor General, 1997–2001

  Other cabinet and cabinet-level officials">Cabinet of the United States">cabinet and cabinet-level officials

• Clifford Alexander Jr., 13th Secretary of the Army, 1977–1981
• Alex Azar, 24th Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2018-present
• John R. Bolton, 25th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2005–2006
• John Bryson, 37th Secretary of Commerce, 2011–2012
• Hillary Clinton, 67th Secretary of State, 2009–2013
• Greg Craig, 33rd White House Counsel, 2009–2010
• Lloyd Cutler, 25th White House Counsel, 1994
• John Danforth, 24th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2004–2005
• Richard Danzig, 71st Secretary of the Navy, 1998–2001
• Henry H. Fowler, 58th Secretary of the Treasury, 1965–1968
• Gordon Gray, 2nd Secretary of the Army, 1949–1950
• Carla Anderson Hills, 5th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1975–1977
• John King Jr., Secretary of Education, 2015–2017
• Victor H. Metcalf, 2nd Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 1904–1906; 38th Secretary of the Navy, 1906–1908
• Robert Reich, 22nd Secretary of Labor, 1993–1997
• Stanley Rogers Resor, 9th Secretary of the Army, 1965–1971
• Robert Rubin, 70th Secretary of the Treasury, 1995–1999
• Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, 1996–2000, 2011–2014
• Alphonso Taft, 31st Secretary of War, 1876
• Cyrus Vance, 57th Secretary of State, 1977–1980
• Christopher A. Wray, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2017–present
• Eugene M. Zuckert, 7th Secretary of the Air Force, 1961–1965

  Legislative branch (U.S. Congress">Congress of the United States">U.S. Congress)

Senators">United States Senate">Senators

• Raymond E. Baldwin, U.S. Senator, 1946–1949
• Thomas F. Bayard, Jr., U.S. Senator, 1922–1929
• Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator, 2009–present
• Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Senator, 2011–present
• Cory Booker, U.S. Senator, 2013–present, 36th mayor of Newark, New Jersey, 2006–2013
• James L. Buckley, U.S. Senator, 1971–1977
• Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator, 2001–2009
• Chris Coons, U.S. Senator, 2010–present
• John A. Danaher, U.S. Senator, 1939–1945
• John Danforth, U.S. Senator, 1976–1995
• David Davis, U.S. Senator, 1877–1883
• Thomas J. Dodd, U.S. Senator, 1959–1971
• Peter H. Dominick, U.S. Senator, 1963–1975
• Charles Goodell, U.S. Senator, 1968–1971
• Gary Hart, U.S. Senator, 1975–1987
• Josh Hawley, U.S. Senator, 2019–present
• Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator, 1949–1963
• Alfred B. Kittredge, U.S. Senator, 1901–1909
• Joseph Lieberman, U.S. Senator, 1989–2012
• Augustine Lonergan, U.S. Senator, 1933–1939
• Brien McMahon, U.S. Senator, 1945–1952
• Trusten Polk, U.S. Senator, 1857–1862
• Julius Rockwell, U.S. Senator, 1854–1855
• Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator, 1981–2011
• Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator, 1979–1985
• Harris Wofford, U.S. Senator, 1991–1995

  Representatives">United States House of Representatives">Representatives

• Lewis Beach, U.S. Representative, 1881–1886
• Carroll L. Beedy, U.S. Representative, 1921–1935
• Jackson Edward Betts, U.S. Representative, 1951–1973
• Jonathan Brewster Bingham, U.S. Representative, 1965–1983
• Clay Stone Briggs, U.S. Representative, 1919–1933
• C. Pope Caldwell, U.S. Representative, 1915–1921
• Charles T. Canady, U.S. Representative, 1993–2001
• James Colgate Cleveland, U.S. Representative, 1963–1981
• Sam Coppersmith, U.S. Representative, U.S. Representative, U.S. Representative, 1993–2005
• Allen Ertel, U.S. Representative, 1977–1983
• Elizabeth Esty, U.S. Representative, 2013–2018
• Richard P. Freeman, U.S. Representative, 1915–1933
• Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., U.S. Representative, 1953–1975
• Foster Furcolo, U.S. Representative, 1949–1952
• Edwin W. Higgins, U.S. Representative, 1905–1913
• Peter Hoagland, U.S. Representative, 1989–1995
• Colin M. Ingersoll, U.S. Representative, 1851–1855
• Donald J. Irwin, U.S. Representative, 1959–1961
• Stephen Wright Kellogg, U.S. Representative, 1869–1875
• Franklin F. Korell, U.S. Representative, 1927–1931
• William Lemke, U.S. Representative, 1932–1936
• John Lindsay, U.S. Representative, 1959–1965
• Dwight Loomis, U.S. Representative, 1859–1863
• Allard K. Lowenstein, U.S. Representative, 1969–1971
• John Miller, U.S. Representative, 1985–1993
• Bruce Morrison, U.S. Representative, 1983–1991
• Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congressional delegate, 1991–present
• Miner G. Norton, U.S. Representative, 1921–1923
• George M. O'Brien, U.S. Representative, 1973–1986
• Diane Pappas, U.S. Representative, 2018-
• Tom Perriello, U.S. Representative, 2009–2011
• Aaron F. Perry, U.S. Representative, 1871–1872
• William Scranton, U.S. Representative, 1961–1963
• David Skaggs, U.S. Representative, 1987–1999
• J. Joseph Smith, U.S. Representative, 1935–1941
• Wint Smith, U.S. Representative, 1947–1961
• John Spratt, U.S. Representative, 1983–2011
• Joseph E. Talbot, U.S. Representative, 1942–1947
• Frank Tejeda, U.S. Representative, 1993–1997
• John Q. Tilson, U.S. Representative, 1909–1913, 1915–1932
• William H. Upson, U.S. Representative, 1869–1873
• Stuyvesant Wainwright, U.S. Representative, 1953–1961
• Mel Watt, U.S. Representative, 1993–present
• Washington F. Willcox, U.S. Representative, 1889–1893
• David Wu, U.S. Representative, 1999–2011
• Dick Zimmer, U.S. Representative, 1991–1997

  Judicial branch

Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court justices]]

• Samuel Alito, Associate Justice, 2006–present
• Henry Billings Brown, Associate Justice, 1891–1906
• Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice, 2018-present
• David Davis, Associate Justice, 1862–1877
• Abe Fortas, Associate Justice, 1963–1969
• Sherman Minton, Associate Justice, 1949–1956
• George Shiras Jr., Associate Justice, 1892–1903
• Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, 2009–present
• Potter Stewart, Associate Justice, 1958–1981
• Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, 1991–present
• Byron White, Associate Justice, 1962–1993

  Federal Court judges

Federal courts of appeals">United States courts of appeals">courts of appeals

• Robert P. Anderson, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1964–1978
• Herschel Arant, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1939–1941
• Edward Roy Becker, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1998–2003; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1998–2003
• William Duane Benton, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2004–present
• Stephanos Bibas, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2017–present
• Wilbur F. Booth, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1925–1932
• José A. Cabranes, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1994–present
• Guido Calabresi, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1994–2009
• Charles Edward Clark, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1939–1963
• Eric L. Clay, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1997–present
• Richard Clifton, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2002–present
• R. Guy Cole Jr., Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1995–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2014–present
• Steven Colloton, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2003–present
• Richard Cudahy, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1979–1994
• Conrad K. Cyr, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1989–1997
• William A. Fletcher, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1998–present
• Susan P. Graber, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1998–present
• Morton Ira Greenberg, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1987–present
• Pamela Harris, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2014–present
• David Hamilton, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2009–present
• A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1977–1993
• Stephen A. Higginson, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2011–present
• Carroll C. Hincks, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1954–1964
• Andrew D. Hurwitz, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2012–present
• Robert Katzmann, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1999–present
• Brett Kavanaugh, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2006–present
• Carolyn Dineen King, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1979–present
• Kermit Lipez, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1998–2011
• Scott Matheson Jr., Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2010–present
• William Ernest Miller, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1970–1976
• Jon O. Newman, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1979–present
• Barrington Daniels Parker Jr., Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2001–2009
• Cornelia T.L. Pillard, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2013–present
• Jill A. Pryor, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2012–present
• Stephen Reinhardt, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1980–present
• Roger Robb, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1969–1982
• Oliver Seth, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 1962–1984; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 1977–1984
• Richard G. Taranto, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2013–present
• Albert Tate Jr., Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1979–1986
• William H. Timbers, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1971–1981
• William Kneeland Townsend, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1902–1907
• Patricia Wald, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979–1999; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1986–1991
• George Thomas Washington, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1949–1965
• Ralph Winter, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1981–present

  Federal district courts">United States district court">district courts

• Ronnie Abrams, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2012–present
• William Acker, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, 1982–1996
• Roy K. Altman, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 2019-present
• Cecilia Altonaga, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 2003–present
• Harold Baer Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1994–present
• James E. Boasberg, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2011–present
• Paul D. Borman, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1994–present
• Howard C. Bratton, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 1964–1987; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 1978–1987
• Philip A. Brimmer, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, 2008–present
• Ellen Bree Burns, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1978–1992; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1988–1992
• Edward Cahn, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1974–1998
• Charles Hardy Carr, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1962–1966; Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1966–1973
• Paul Charlton, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, 1911–1913
• Frank C. Damrell Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1997–2008
• Joseph A. Diclerico Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, 1992–2007; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, 1992–1997
• Jan DuBois, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1988–2002
• Warren William Eginton, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1979–1992
• David A. Faber, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, 1991–2008
• Eldon E. Fallon, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, 1995–present
• A. Joe Fish, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 1983–2007; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 2002–2007
• Dabney L. Friedrich, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2017–present
• Jesse Furman, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2012–present
• Nina Gershon, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1996–2008
• Nancy Gertner, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1994–2011
• Gerhard Gesell, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1967–1993
• James Tyrone Giles, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1979–2008
• Charles Haight, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1976–1995
• Jean Constance Hamilton, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1990–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1990–present, 1995–2002
• A. Andrew Hauk, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1966; Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1966–1982; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1980–1982
• Truman McGill Hobbs, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1980–1991; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1984–1991
• Marvin Katz, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1983–2010
• Bruce William Kauffman, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1997–2009
• Samuel Pailthorpe King, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 1972–1984
• John A. Kronstadt, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 2011–present
• Morris E. Lasker, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1968–1983
• Victor Marrero, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1999–2010
• Frank Hampton McFadden, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, 1969–1982
• Richard Wellington McLaren, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1972–1976
• Louis F. Oberdorfer, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1977–present
• James Francis Thaddeus O'Connor, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1940–1949
• J. Paul Oetken, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2011–present
• James Perry Platt, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1902–1913
• Thomas Collier Platt Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1974–2001
• Louis H. Pollak, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1978–1991
• Michael Ponsor, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1994–2011
• Michael Shea, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 2012-present
• Oliver Perry Shiras, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, 1882–1903
• Dominic J. Squatrito, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1994–2004
• Leonard P. Stark, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 2010–present
• Edwin DeHaven Steel, Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1958–1969
• Sidney Stein, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1995–2010
• Richard J. Sullivan, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2007–2019;
• Robert Sweet, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1978–1991
• Robert Taylor, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1950–1984; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1961–1969
• Charles Henry Tenney, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1963–1979
• Edwin Stark Thomas, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1913–1939
• Alvin Thompson, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1994–present
• Myron H. Thompson, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1980–1998; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1991–1998
• Stefan R. Underhill, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1999–present
• William H. Walls, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1994–2005
• Henry Travillion Wingate, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, 1985–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, 2003–present
• Caleb Merrill Wright, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1955–1973; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1957–1973
• William H. Yohn Jr., Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1969–1980
• Robert Carmine Zampano, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1964–1994

  Other courts

• J. Rich Leonard, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 1992–present
• Albert Levitt, Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands, 1935–1968
• William Josiah Tilson, Judge for the United States Court of International Trade

  State government

Governors

• Jerry Brown, 34th and 39th Governor of California, 1975–1983, 2011–2019
• Foster Furcolo, 60th Governor of Massachusetts, 1957–1961
• Bibb Graves, 38th Governor of Alabama, 1927–1931
• Henry Baldwin Harrison, 52nd Governor of Connecticut, 1885–1887
• William W. Hoppin, 24th Governor of Rhode Island, 1854–1857
• William J. Mills, 19th Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1910–1912
• Gina Raimondo, 75th Governor of Rhode Island, 2015–present
• Raymond P. Shafer, 39th Governor of Pennsylvania, 1967–1971

  State politicians

• Peter H. Behr, member of the California State Senate, 1970–1978
• Asa S. Bloomer, member of the Vermont House of Representatives, 1937–1945, and Speaker of the House, 1943–1945; member of the Vermont Senate, 1947–1963, and President Pro Tem, 1949, 1955, 1959–1963
• James M. Brown, Attorney General of Oregon, 1980–1981
• Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley, Connecticut State Senator, 1838-1840, Connecticut State Representative, 1834-1838
• John A. Busterud, California State Assembly, 1956–1962
• Kimberly B. Cheney, Attorney General of Vermont, 1973–1975
• Robert E. Cooper Jr., Attorney General of Tennessee, 2006–2014
• Robert Del Tufo, Attorney General of New Jersey, 1990–1993
• Nelson Antonio Denis, member of the New York State Assembly from the 68th district, 1997–2001
• Matthew Denn, lieutenant governor of Delaware, 2009–present
• John R. Dunne, member of the New York Senate from the 6th district, 1966–1989
• Daniel C. Esty, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, 2011–2014
• Shirley Adele Field, member of the Oregon House of Representatives, 1956–1960, 1962–1966
• Tom Foley, Secretary of Labor and Industry of Pennsylvania, 1991–1994
• Ammi Giddings, member of the Connecticut Senate, 1858–1864
• Harrison Goldin, member of the New York Senate, 1966–1973
• Cyrus Habib, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Washington, former State Senator from Washington state, 2014–2016, former member of the Washington House of Representatives, 2012–2014
• L. W. Housel, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1900–1902
• Michael Johnston, member of the Colorado Senate from the 33rd district, 2009–present
• Daniel Kagan, member of the Colorado House of Representatives, 2009–present
• Jeff King, member of the Kansas Senate from the 15th district, 2011–present
• Kris Kobach, 31st Secretary State of Kansas, 2001–present
• John Latta, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, 1875-1879
• Frederick Lippitt, member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, 1961–1983
• Edward Meyer, member of the Connecticut Senate, 2005–present
• Robert W. Naylor, member of the California State Assembly for the 20th district, 1978–1986; chair of the California Republican Party, 1987–1989
• Charles R. Nesbitt, 9th Attorney General of Oklahoma, 1963–1967; Secretary of Energy of Oklahoma, 1991–1995
• Larry Obhof, Majority Whip of the Ohio Senate from the 22nd district, 2011–present
• Edwin Archer Randolph, the first African-American to graduate from the law school, Randolph served in both houses of the Virginia Legislature
• James Paull, president of the West Virginia Senate, 1943–1945
• Jamie Pedersen, member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 43rd district, 2007–present
• Charles B. Perry, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, 1929
• Stephen Sachs, Attorney General of Maryland, 1979–1987
• Shirley Adelson Siegel, Solicitor General of New York, 1979-1982
• Bryan Townsend, member of the Delaware Senate, 2012–present
• Francis W. Treadway, 30th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, 1909–1911
• Anthony Van Wyck, member of the Wisconsin State Senate 1864–1865, 1868–1869
• John Wesley Wescott, Attorney General of New Jersey, 1914–1919

  State judges

• William B. Chandler, III, Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery, 1985–1996
• Rick Haselton, Chief Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals, 2012–present; Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals, 1994–2012
• Ernest A. Inglis, Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1953–1957; Associate Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1950–1953
• Jeffrey W. Johnson, Judge, California Court of Appeal, 2009–present
• Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 2011–present
• William M. Maltbie, Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1930–1950; Judge, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1925–1930
• Monica Márquez, Associate Justice, Colorado Supreme Court, 2010–present
• Margaret H. Marshall, Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1999–2010 ; Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1996–1999
• Marshall F. McComb, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 1955–1977
• George W. Wheeler, Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1920–1930
• J. Craig Wright, Associate Justice, Ohio Supreme Court, 1985–1996

  City government

• Jane Bolin, judge for the New York City Domestic Relations Court, 1939–1979; also the first African–American woman to serve as a judge in the United States
• George Williamson Crawford, second black graduate of the Law School and Corporation Counsel of the City of New Haven
• Bruce Harris, mayor of Chatham Borough, New Jersey, 2012–present
• Robert J. Harris, mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1969–1973
• John Lindsay, 103rd mayor of New York City, New York, 1966–1973
• Robert M. Morgenthau, New York County District Attorney, 1975–2009
• Charles Phelps Taft II, mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1955–1957

  U.S. diplomatic figures

• Winthrop G. Brown, 16th U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, 1964–1967
• William Smith Culbertson, president of the United States Tariff Commission, 1922–1925
• Richard N. Gardner, U.S. Ambassador to Spain, 1993–1997; U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1977–1981
• Ulric Haynes, 6th U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, 1977–1981
• David Huebner, 17th U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, 2009–present
• Eugene M. Locke, 9th U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, 1966–1967
• Robert McCallum Jr., 23rd U.S. Ambassador to Australia, 2006–2009
• John O'Leary, 48th U.S. Ambassador to Chile, 1998–2001
• Sargent Shriver, 44th U.S. Ambassador to France, 1968–1970; also the driving force behind the Peace Corps
• R. Douglas Stuart Jr., 22nd U.S. Ambassador to Norway, 1984–1989
• Peter Tufo, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, 1997–2001

  Other U.S. political figures

• Mark D. Agrast, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs of the United States Department of Justice, 2009–present
• Meade Alcorn, chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1957–1959
• Dillon Anderson, 2nd National Security Advisor, 1955–1956
• Joe Andrew, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1999–2001
• David B. Barlow, U.S. Attorney for the district of Utah, 2011–present
• Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Rubén Berríos, Puerto Rico senator at large, 1972–1976, 1984–1988, 1993–1996
• Matthew Berry, Republican primary challenger in Virginia's 8th congressional district election, 2010
• Boris Bershteyn, Associate White House Counsel, 2010–present
• William L. Borden, executive director of United States Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1949–1953
• Beth Brinkmann, Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, 1993–2001
• Antonia Handler Chayes, 14th Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1979–1981
• William Thaddeus Coleman III, 17th General Counsel of the Army, 1994–1999
• Mathea Falco, 1st Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 1979–1981
• Roswell Gilpatric, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1961–1964
• Fred T. Goldberg Jr., Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1989–1992
• Stephen Hadley, 21st National Security Advisor, 2005–2009
• Coleman Hicks, General Counsel of the Navy, 1979–1981
• Steven S. Honigman, General Counsel of the Navy, 1993–1998
• Jerry MacArthur Hultin, 27th Under Secretary of the Navy, 1997–2000
• Reed Hundt, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1993–1997
• Rashad Hussain, 2nd Special Envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, 2010–present
• Ro Khanna, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce
• Harrison Loesch, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, 1969–1972
• Malcolm A. MacIntyre, 5th Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1957–1959
• Burke Marshall, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, 1961–1964
• Joe Miller, Republican Senate candidate from Alaska, 2010
• Roderic L. O'Connor, 2nd Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs, 1957–1958
• Stephen A. Oxman, 19th Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, 1993–1994
• Troy A. Paredes, commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008–2013
• Michael Pertschuk, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, 1977–1981
• Randal Quarles, 15th Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, 2005–2006
• Eugene Rostow, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, 1966–1969
• Kevin K. Washburn, 12th Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior, 2012–2015
• Neal S. Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, 2009–present
• R. James Woolsey Jr., 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1993–1995
• Adam Yarmolinsky, political appointee who served in numerous capacities in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations
• David Yassky, member of the New York City Council from the 33rd District, 2002–2009

  Non-United States government

Non-United States political figures

Heads of state or heads of government

• Karl Carstens, 5th President of Germany, 1979–1984
• José P. Laurel, 3rd President of the Philippines, 1943–1945
• Salvador Laurel, 10th Vice President of the Philippines, 1986–1992; 5th Prime Minister of the Philippines, 1986
• Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi 2014–present; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi, 2011–2012

  Other political figures

• Ron Atkey, member of the House of Commons of Canada, 1972–1974, 1979–1980
• Kwesi Botchwey, Minister of Finance of Ghana, 1982–1995
• Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice of Canada, 2003–2006
• Francisco Afan Delgado, Senator of the Philippines, 1951–1957
• Philip S. Deloria, founder and 1st Secretary-General of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples
• Eoghan Fitzsimons, Attorney General of Ireland, 11 November to 15 December 1994
• David Howarth, Member of Parliament for Cambridge, 2005–2010
• Shunmugam Jayakumar, Senior Minister of Singapore, 2009–2011
• Antonio La Viña, Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines
• Stavros Lambrinidis, Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2009; Vice President of the European Parliament, 2009–2011; 23rd Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, 2011; European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, 2012–present
• Jovito Salonga, 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines, 1987–1992
• Lebbeus R. Wilfley, 1st Attorney General of the Philippines, 1901–1906
• Michael Yaki, commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2005–2016

  Non-United States judicial figures

International court judges

• Rosalyn Higgins, English judge, 1995-2009, and president, 2006-2009, of the International Court of Justice
• Philip Jessup, American judge for the International Court of Justice, 1961–1970
• Shigeru Oda, Japanese judge for the International Court of Justice, 1976–2003

  National court judges

• Luís Roberto Barroso, Judge for the Supreme Court of Brazil, 2013–present
• Leo Barry, Justice for the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2007–present
• Daryl Dawson, Justice of the High Court of Australia, 1982–1997
• Todd Ducharme, Judge for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
• Wan Exiang, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, 1998–2003
• Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Stephan Harbarth, President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 2020-present
• Gérard La Forest, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, 1985–1997
• Johnnie Lewis, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia, 2006–present
• Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines

  International organization figures

• Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights
• Johan C. Verbeke, head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia

  Notable attorneys

• Floyd Abrams, attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel who has had a substantial influence on constitutional law in the United States through the argument of important cases
• Douglas Arant, attorney in Birmingham, Alabama
• Michael F. Armstrong, attorney
• Francis N. Bangs, founding partner of Bangs & Stetson, a precursor to the modern firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell
• Thomas D. Barr, prominent lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore
• Bouvier Beale, attorney and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill
• Dana Berliner, public interest attorney at the Institute for Justice
• Hunter Biden, founding partner of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP; son of Vice President Joe Biden
• David Boies, chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner
• Ralph Cavanagh, environmental attorney and co–director of the Air/Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council
• William Coblentz, attorney and power broker who played an important role in California politics in the years after World War II
• Julien Davies Cornell, attorney noted for his defense of Ezra Pound following Pound's indictment for treason
• J. Richardson Dilworth, attorney for the Rockefeller family
• Peter E. Fleming Jr., criminal defense attorney
• Bob Giuffra, partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
• Charles Halpern, co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy, the first public interest law firm in the United States
• Whitfield Jack, attorney in his native Shreveport, Louisiana; United States Army colonel in World War II under General Matthew Ridgway, and United States Army Reserve major general
• David Kendall, attorney who advised President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal and Clinton's subsequent impeachment proceedings
• George Kern, partner of Sullivan & Cromwell
• Ernest Knaebel, 11th Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court, 1916–1944
• Arthur Kramer, founding partner of Kramer Levin
• Dawn Johnsen, attorney twice nominated by President Barack Obama to head the Office of Legal Counsel
• Mark I. Levy, appellate attorney who argued 16 cases before the Supreme Court
• Arthur Mag, legal counsel to Harry S. Truman
• Bessie Margolin, labor attorney who argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court
• Arvo Mikkanen, attorney nominated by President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
• Jesselyn Radack, ethics adviser to the Department of Justice who disclosed that the FBI committed an ethics violation in their interrogation of John Walker Lindh
• Robert Raymar, attorney nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Stephen Shulman, attorney most notable for representing Egil Krogh during the Watergate scandal
• Paul M. Smith, attorney at Jenner & Block who argued many notable cases including Lawrence v. Texas
• Leonard Weinglass, notable criminal defense attorney and constitutional law advocate
• Andrea R. Wood, senior counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
• Gregory Howard Woods, general counsel of the United States Department of Energy
• Arnold M. Zack, notable arbitrator and mediator of labor management disputes

  Public policy leaders

• John P. Hannah, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Carla Anderson Hills, 5th chairwoman of the Council on Foreign Relations
• Bruce J. Katz, vice president of the Brookings Institution
• Bayless Manning, 1st president of the Council on Foreign Relations

  Academia

University presidents and other administrators

• Michelle Anderson, President of Brooklyn College, and a scholar on rape law
• Nancy Y. Bekavac, president of Scripps College, 1990–2007
• Alfred Benjamin Butts, chancellor of the University of Mississippi, 1935–1946
• Gerhard Casper, president of Stanford University, 1992–2000
• Hiram Chodosh, president of Claremont McKenna College, 2013-present
• Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, 2009–present
• William R. Greiner, president of the University at Buffalo, 1991–2004
• Robert S. Harrison, chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees
• Ira Michael Heyman, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, 1980–1990
• Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, 1929–1945; chancellor of the University of Chicago, 1945–1951
• Joseph S. Iseman, acting president of Bennington College, 1976
• Thomas H. Jackson, president of University of Rochester, 1994–2005
• Marvin Krislov, president of Oberlin College, 2007–present
• Ted Landsmark, president of the Boston Architectural College, present
• Frederick M. Lawrence, president of Brandeis University, 2011–present
• Edward H. Levi, president of the University of Chicago, 1968–1975
• Wallace Loh, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, 2010–present
• Linda Lorimer, vice president of Yale University; president of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, 1986–1993
• Cyrus Northrop, president of the University of Minnesota, 1884–1911
• Russell K. Osgood, president of Grinnell College, 1998–2010
• Louis H. Pollak, federal judge and dean of Yale Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Ariel Porat, president of Tel Aviv University
• Robert Prichard, president of the University of Toronto, 1990–2000
• Michael H. Schill, president of the University of Oregon, 2015-
• Clayton Spencer, president of Bates College, 2012–present
• Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University, 1988–2007
• Louis Vogel, president of Panthéon-Assas University, 2006–2012

  Legal academia

Law school deans

• T. Alexander Aleinikoff, dean of Georgetown University Law Center, 2004–2009
• Nicholas Allard, Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School
• Michelle Anderson, dean of City University of New York Law School, 2006–2016
• Evan Caminker, dean of the University of Michigan Law School, 2003–2013
• Nora Demleitner, dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, 2012–2015
• John Hart Ely, dean of Stanford Law School, 1982–1987
• Robert Klonoff, dean of Lewis & Clark Law School, 2007–2014
• Anthony T. Kronman, dean of Yale Law School, 1994–2004
• Saul Levmore, dean of the University of Chicago Law School, 2001–2009
• Paul Mahoney, dean of the University of Virginia School of Law, 2008–2016
• Earl F. Martin, dean of Gonzaga University School of Law, 2005–2010
• Michael Meltsner, dean of Northeastern University School of Law, 1979-1984
• Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School, 2009–present
• Jennifer Mnookin, dean of UCLA Law School, 2015—present
• Russell D. Niles, dean of New York University School of Law, 1948–1963
• Robert Post, dean of Yale Law School, 2009–2017
• Wendell Pritchett, Chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden, Interim Dean and Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Provost of the University of Pennsylvania
• Norman Redlich, dean of New York University School of Law, 1974–1988
• Richard Revesz, dean of New York University School of Law, 2002–2013
• Michael H. Schill, dean of UCLA Law School and University of Chicago Law School
• David Schizer, dean of Columbia Law School, 2004–2014
• Aviam Soifer, dean of the William S. Richardson School of Law, 2003–present
• William Treanor, dean of Georgetown University Law Center, 2010–present
• Frans Vanistendael, dean of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1999–2005
• Kevin K. Washburn, dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, 2009–2012
• Joan Wexler, Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School

  Legal scholars

Constitutional law

• Bruce Ackerman, professor at Yale Law School and author of Social Justice in the Liberal State, 1987–present; regarded as one of the most frequently cited legal academics in the United States
• Akhil Amar, professor at Yale Law School
• Vikram Amar, professor at the University of California Davis School of Law
• C. Edwin Baker, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1981–present; considered one of the country's foremost authorities on the First Amendment
• Charles Black, professor at Yale Law School, 1956–1987
• Philip Bobbitt, professor at Columbia Law School and author of , 2007–present
• Noah Feldman, professor at Harvard Law School, 2007–present; scholar on Islamic law and the intersection of religion and politics
• Paul W. Kahn, professor at Yale Law School
• Kermit Roosevelt III, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2002–present
• Reva Siegel, professor at Yale Law School, 1994–present
• Carol M. Swain, Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University
• Charles Alan Wright, professor at University of Texas School of Law, 1995–2000; considered to be one of the foremost authorities in the United States on constitutional law
• Kenji Yoshino, professor at New York University School of Law, 2006–present; focused on anti-discrimination law, civil and human rights law, and law and literature

  Criminal law

• Barbara Babcock, professor at Stanford Law School, 1972–present
• Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard Law School, 1964–present; also a prolific attorney, jurist, and legal commentator and author of The Case for Israel
• Don Kates, professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and author of numerous books on gun control
• Mark Osler, professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, clemency advocate, and critic of capital punishment

  Civil and human rights law

• David D. Cole, professor at Georgetown University Law Center
• Lani Guinier, professor at Harvard Law School, 2001–present; also the first tenured female African–American professor at Harvard Law School and well-known civil rights activist
• Christof Heyns, professor at the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa at the University of Pretoria
• Randall Kennedy, professor at Harvard Law School
• Andrew Koppelman, professor at Northwestern University, 2007–present
• Catharine MacKinnon, professor at the University of Michigan Law School, 1989–present; feminist scholar focused on sexual harassment and pornography
• Tobias Barrington Wolff, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; notable for his legal advocacy on same-sex marriage and other LGBT-related issues
• Nadine H. Taub, professor at Rutgers Law School-Newark, c-founder with Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the school's Women's Rights Litigation Clinic and Women's Rights Law Reporter.

  Intellectual property

• Lori Andrews, professor at Chicago–Kent College of Law
• Susan P. Crawford, professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
• Lawrence Lessig, professor at Harvard Law School, 2008–present; professor at Stanford Law School, 2000–2008, where he founded its Center for Internet and Society, candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
• Eben Moglen, professor at Columbia Law School and founder of the Software Freedom Law Center

  International law

• Harold J. Berman, professor at Harvard Law School, 1948–1985; professor at Emory Law School, 1985–2007
• George Bermann, professor at Columbia Law School, 1975–present
• Rosa Brooks, professor at Georgetown University Law Center, 2011–present
• Steve Charnovitz, professor at George Washington University Law School, 2004–present
• Jerome Cohen, professor at New York University School of Law, 1990–present
• Jack Goldsmith, professor at Harvard Law School; also head of the Office of Legal Counsel 2003–2004
• David O'Keeffe, Professor of European Law at University of Durham, 1990–1993; professor of European Law at University College London 1993–2005;, emeritus professor of European Law at University of London 2005–present; part-time European administrative law judge
• John Yoo, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, 1993–present; primarily known for authoring the Torture Memos

  Jurisprudence

• Peter Berkowitz, professor at George Mason University School of Law, 1999–2007; senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, 2007–present
• Jules Coleman, professor at Yale Law School
• Arthur Corbin, professor at Yale Law School and one of the progenitors of legal realism
• Jan Deutsch, professor at Yale Law School
• Richard Epstein, professor at New York University Law School, 2010–present; considered one of the most influential legal thinkers in the United States
• Duncan Kennedy, professor at Harvard Law, 1976–present; founder of the critical legal studies movement
• Karl Llewellyn, professor at Columbia Law School, 1925–1951; professor at the University of Chicago Law School, 1951–1962; leading proponent of legal realism

  Other legal scholars

• Matthew Adler, law professor
• Ian Ayres, professor at Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management, 1994–present
• David C. Baldus, professor at the University of Iowa College of Law
• Boris Bittker, professor at Yale Law School, 1946–2005
• Peter A. Bradford, professor at Vermont Law School and former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Tomiko Brown-Nagin, professor at Harvard Law School
• Stephen Carter, professor at Yale Law School, 1982–present
• John C. Coffee, professor at Columbia Law School
• Arthur Linton Corbin, professor at Yale Law School, 1903–1943
• Omar Dajani, professor at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific
• Harlon L. Dalton, professor at Yale Law School
• Stuart L. Deutsch, professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, 1999–2009
• Bill Dodge, professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law
• Elizabeth Emens, professor at Columbia Law School, 2005–present
• Cynthia Estlund, professor at New York University School of Law
• Bill Felstiner, professor at Cardiff University, 1995–2005; specializes in law and sociology
• Claire Finkelstein, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Nicole Garnett, professor at Notre Dame Law School, 1999–present
• Richard Garnett, professor at Notre Dame Law School, 1999–present
• Michael Gottesman, professor at Georgetown University Law Center
• Daniel Halberstam, professor at the University of Michigan Law School
• Clarence Halbert, co–founder of William Mitchell College of Law
• Kermit L. Hall, legal historian and member of the Assassination Records Review Board
• Philip Hamburger, professor at Columbia Law School
• Samuel Issacharoff, professor at New York University School of Law
• Michael I. Krauss, professor at George Mason University School of Law, 1987–present
• Ethan Leib, professor at Fordham Law School
• Louis Loss, professor at Harvard Law School, considered the intellectual father of modern securities law
• Jonathan R. Macey, professor at Yale Law School
• Robert T. Miller, professor at the University of Iowa College of Law
• Eric L. Muller, professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law
• H. Jefferson Powell, professor at George Washington University School of Law, 2010–present
• Jedediah Purdy, professor at Duke University Law School
• Charles A. Reich, professor at Yale Law School and author of The Greening of America
• Glenn Reynolds, professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law
• Deborah Rhode, professor at Stanford Law School
• Daniel Richman, Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
• Fred Rodell, professor at Yale Law School
• Joel Rogers, professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School
• Chris William Sanchirico, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Brett Scharffs, professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University, 1997–present
• Wesley Alba Sturges, professor at Yale Law School
• Eleanor Swift, professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law
• Donald F. Turner, professor at Harvard Law School
• Mark Tushnet, professor at Harvard Law School
• Steven Walt, professor at the University of Virginia School of Law
• Matthew Waxman, professor at Columbia Law School
• Mark S. Weiner, professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark
• Charles Whitebread, professor at the University of Southern California Law School
• Steven Wilf, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law
• Michael Wishnie, professor at Yale Law School
• Theodore Salisbury Woolsey, professor at Yale Law School
• Katra Zajc, professor at the University of Ljubljana

  Other scholars

• Peter Berkowitz, professor of political science at Harvard University, 1990–1999
• Scott Boorman, professor of sociology at Yale University
• Lawrence Douglas, professor at Amherst College
• Murray Gerstenhaber, mathematician and lawyer, professor at the University of Pennsylvania
• Yehudah Mirsky, professor at Brandeis University
• Austin Sarat, professor of political science at Amherst College
• Ian Shapiro, professor of political science at Yale University
• Ruth Wedgwood, professor of international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
• Michael Woodford, professor of economics at Columbia University
• Kyu Ho Youm, professor of journalism at the University of Oregon

  Activism

• Jasper Alston Atkins, civil rights activist and the first black editor of the Yale Law Journal
• D'Army Bailey, civil rights activist and founder of the National Civil Rights Museum
• Mark Barnes, attorney and AIDS activist
• Craig Becker, labor attorney and a member of the National Labor Relations Board, 2010–2011
• Cornell William Brooks, civil rights activist, attorney, and former President & CEO, NAACP
• Kathleen Neal Cleaver, prominent member of the Black Panther Party
• Bill Drayton, founder of, a global social entrepreneurship organization
• Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund
• Robert Gnaizda, co-founder of the Greenlining Institute
• Seth Green, founder of Americans for Informed Democracy
• Michael Harrington, chairman of Democratic Socialists of America, 1982–1989
• Kenneth Hecht, public interest attorney and advocate for improved access to affordable, nutritious food
• Louis Clayton Jones, civil rights activist and founder of the National Conference of Black Lawyers
• Van Jones, environmental activist, civil rights activist, and attorney; founder of Green For All
• Henry T. King, prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, 1946–1947
• Gay McDougall, civil rights activist and executive director of Global Rights, 1994–2006
• Michael Meltsner,civil rights litigator First Asst.Counsel NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 1961-1970
• Creighton Miller, founder of the National Football League Players Association labor union
• Lisa Richette, child welfare activist
• Catherine Roraback, civil rights attorney best known for representing the plaintiffs in the landmark 1965 Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut
• Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, 1993–present
• Linda Rottenberg, founder of Endeavor
• Andrew Shapiro, founder of GreenOrder, an environmental sustainability consulting firm
• James Speth, attorney and environmental activist
• Gregory Stanton, founder and president of Genocide Watch, 1999–present
• R. Douglas Stuart Jr., founder of the America First Committee, the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II, while a student at Yale Law
• Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, 2011–present
• William Taylor, civil rights activist
• Maxim Thorne, senior vice president of the NAACP

  Business

• Lon Babby, President of the Phoenix Suns
• Jeff Ballabon, senior vice president of CBS News; also an Orthodox Jewish lobbyist and the founder of Coordinating Council on Jerusalem
• Alfred Wellington Carter, prominent landowner in Hawaii
• Dick Cass, president of the Baltimore Ravens
• Sam Cohn, co-founder of International Creative Management and talent agent to Paul Newman, Woody Allen, and Meryl Streep, among others
• E. Virgil Conway, chairman and CEO of the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority
• Michael R. Eisenson, co-founder, managing director, and CEO of Charlesbank Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm based in Boston and New York City
• Charles E. Fraser, real estate developer
• Arthur Frommer, publisher of Frommer's travel guidebook series
• Tom Glocer, CEO of Thomson Reuters and Reuters
• Najeeb Halaby, businessman and father of Queen Noor of Jordan
• Joel Hyatt, co-founder of Current TV with Al Gore
• Eli Jacobs, financier and owner of the Baltimore Orioles, 1989–1993
• William M. Jennings, executive in the National Hockey League and president of the New York Rangers
• Victor S. Johnson, Jr., president of Aladdin Industries
• John Koskinen, non-executive chairman of Freddie Mac, 2008–2011
• Michael E. Levine, airline executive
• Larry Lucchino, president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox
• J. Howard Marshall, oil magnate, known for his marriage to Anna Nicole Smith
• Mark McCormack, founder of IMG, an international sports and media company
• Robert Pozen, vice chairman and president of Fidelity Investments
• Ken Stern, CEO of National Public Radio
• John Butler Talcott, industrialist and founder of the New Britain Museum of American Art
• Brooks Thomas, CEO of Harper & Row
• Raymond S. Troubh, independent financial consultant who served as a general partner at Lazard, 1961–1974; interim chairman of Enron, 2002–2004
• Hubertus van der Vaart, Dutch businessman and co-founder and chairman of SEAF
• Fay Vincent, 8th Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1989–1992
• John P. Wheeler III, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
• Tim and Nina Zagat, co-founders and publishers of Zagat
• John E. Zuccotti, real estate developer and namesake of Zuccotti Park

  Film, theater, and television

• Lisa Bloom, anchor of Lisa Bloom: Open Court on Court TV
• La Carmina, Canadian fashion blogger, author, journalist, and host on CNNGo
• Jeff Greenfield, senior political correspondent for CBS Evening News
• Yul Kwon, host of American Revealed on PBS and winner of
• Hans A. Linde, correspondent for CBS Evening News
• D. G. Martin, host of North Carolina Bookwatch on UNC-TV
• Gene Sperling, writer on The West Wing
• Ben Stein, actor and host of Win Ben Stein's Money

  Writers

• Renata Adler, novelist, staff writer for The New Yorker, and film critic for The New York Times
• Joseph Amiel, attorney and writer of popular fiction
• Aditi Banerjee, co-author and editor of Invading the Sacred
• Chesa Boudin, progressive writer
• Lan Cao, author of the 1997 novel Monkey Bridge and 2014 novel The Lotus and the Storm
• Stephen Carter, novelist
• Ken Chen, poet
• Nelson Denis, editorial director of El Diario/La Prensa, author of War Against All Puerto Ricans
• Heidi W. Durrow, novelist
• Robin Goldstein, food and wine critic
• Adam Haslett, short story writer
• Julie Hilden, novelist
• Laura Chapman Hruska, novelist and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Soho Press
• Jamil Jivani, author of Why Young Men
• Bruce Judson, author of business and public policy books
• Edward Lazarus, author of the 1998 non-fiction book Closed Chambers
• He Li, Chinese-language poet
• Walter Lord, author of the 1995 book A Night to Remember, considered a definitive account of the Titanic disaster
• Daniyal Mueenuddin, short story writer
• David Orr, poet
• Matthew Pearl, novelist
• Daniel Pink, author
• Gretchen Rubin, author of the 2009 book The Happiness Project
• David Stewart, non-fiction writer
• Alina Tugend, columnist for The New York Times
• J. D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy
• Clement Wood, poet
• Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of the 1994 memoir Prozac Nation
• Monica Youn, poet

  Media and journalism

Commentators

• Michael Barone, conservative political analyst, pundit, and journalist; principal author of The Almanac of American Politics
• Lanny Davis, political commentator and author of
• Van Jones, political analyst for CNN
• Jonathan Kay, editor-in-chief of The Walrus
• Mark Levine, progressive political pundit and radio host

  Journalists

• Emily Bazelon, staff writer, The New York Times Magazine, former senior editor of Slate
• Bob Cohn, executive editor of Wired, 2001–2008
• Nelson Antonio Denis, editorial director of El Diario/La Prensa, former member of the New York State Assembly
• Ronan Farrow, contributor to The New Yorker and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Craig Forman, foreign correspondent and bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal
• Jack Fuller, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and president of the Tribune Company
• Linda Greenhouse, Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times
• Patrick Radden Keefe, staff writer for The New Yorker, appointed as a Guggenheim Fellow in 2006
• David Lat, founder and managing editor of Above the Law, a blog about the legal profession
• Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times
• Victor Navasky, editor of The Nation, 1978–1995; publisher of The Nation, 1995–2005; chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review, 2005–present
• Viveca Novak, political correspondent for Time
• Charlie Savage, reporter for The New York Times
• Luiza Savage, Washington bureau chief, Maclean's magazine

  Military

• Alfred Terry, general of the Union Army during the American Civil War

  Sports

• Rodney Aller, masters skier
• Al Hessberg, college football player
• William G. Norton, college football coach
• Fay Moulton, Olympic sprinter and college football player
• Jim O'Rourke, Major League Baseball player and manager
• Tom Shevlin, four-year track star ; All-American end and captain; post-grad volunteer coach of football team
• Ted St. Germaine, professional football player in the National Football League

  Other

• T. Bill Andrews, abstract impressionist painter, author, federal ALJ
• Dyke Brown, founder of The Athenian School
• Richard Green, psychiatrist specializing in homosexuality and transsexualism
• Daniel Greer, rabbi and founder of the Yeshiva of New Haven
• Pat Robertson, televangelist and founder of Regent University
• Vanessa Selbst, professional poker player
• Sherman Day Thacher, founder of The Thacher School
• Iwan Tirta, fashion designer

  Non-graduates

• Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the Confederate States; U.S. Senator from Louisiana
• Henry Billings Brown, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1890–1906
• Henry Louis Gates, professor of history at Harvard University
• Alexander T. Hawthorn, Confederate States Army general
• Michael Medved, author, film critic, and radio talk show host
• David Milch, television writer and producer
• Robert B. Silvers, co-founder and editor of The New York Review of Books

  Fictitious alumni

• Arthur Branch, character on the TV series Law & Order
• Rebecca Bunch, character on the TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Alexis Davis, character on the TV series General Hospital
• Montgomery Burns, character on the TV series “The Simpsons”
• Greg Foster, character on the TV series The Young and the Restless
• Amy Gardner, character on the TV series The West Wing
• Josh Lyman, character on the TV series The West Wing
• Jordan McDeere, character on the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• Selina Meyer, character on the TV series Veep
• Wayne Palmer, character on the TV series 24
• Bruce Wayne, alter ego of Batman, as disclosed in Detective Comics 439