James S. Liebman is Chief Accountability Officer at the New York City Department of Education, on a leave of absence from his position as the Simon H. Rifkind Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.  Jim is the author of many articles, papers, and speeches on public education reform.  He has served as a member of the New York State Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on Educational Excellence and Equity and as a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Committee on Education and Law.  In 2002, he was the recipient of both the Law & Society Association Article Prize, and the National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers Champion of Justice Award and was a Soros Senior Justice Fellow. Early in his career, Jim served as law clerk to Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.  He also served as Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund where he specialized in school desegregation cases.  Jim joined the Columbia law faculty in 1985 and has served as Vice Dean. He graduated with a B.A. from Yale and a J.D. from Stanford University.