Dining & Food

Events at Columbia Law School (CLS) are typically organized by Special Events, Faculty Affairs, Faculty Assistants, Center/Program Coordinators, or Administrative Department Staff. Third-party events are organized by the CLS liaison. For guidance on planning a successful event, see the Event Planning Guide

Select vendors from Approved Master Agreement Vendors
Gatherings of 30 or more attendees require a formal event contract: Event Contracts
Catered events with wait staff require a CU contract request: On-Site Catered Events

Organize Events

Indoor Eating and Drinking

Per University guidance, academic, research, administrative, social gatherings are allowed with no capacity restrictions. Eating and drinking on-site, indoors or outdoors, is permitted.

Reimbursement Guidelines

For purposes of academic enrichment, full-time faculty are encouraged to take students to lunch during the course of the semester or, as an alternative, may choose to host a semester-end gathering. These meals or events should not exceed $35 per person (excluding tips and tax) and should be limited to no more than 25 persons this semester. For more information related to meals or event planning, please email the Business Office at [email protected].

Please note that cash or cash equivalents (gift cards or certificates) of any amount are always considered taxable by the IRS. Gift cards (including for Grubhub and UberEats) are not eligible for reimbursement.

If you have any questions regarding the eligibility of expenses or requests for reimbursement, please contact the Law School Business Office at [email protected].

All food deliveries and drop-offs on campus do not require a contract, and payment is made against an invoice. A contract is required for events with 30 or more attendees.
For details, see Event Contracts

We strongly encourage selecting vendors from the Approved Master Agreement Vendors list, which have been vetted and approved by Columbia University.

Catered Events

Catered events held on-site are considered non-catalog purchases that require only a CU contract request. A Purchase Order (PO) is not required. For more information, see On-Site Catered Events.

Letters of Credit

CLS issues Letters of Credit to Local Preferred Vendors for the following reasons:

Refreshments for TA sessions and in-class Faculty-Student Events (P-Card payment)
Sit down events at Local Preferred Venues with 29 or fewer attendees (Invoice payment)
Faculty hosting events in their home (Invoice payment)
Alcoholic Beverages purchase at Local Preferred Vendors (Invoice payment)
Columbia Bookstore purchase (Invoice payment)

To request a Letter of Credit Template* from the Business Office, email [email protected] with the Subject: Letter of Credit Template and provide the following information: