Founded in 2003 by its inaugural chair, Dean Emeritus David M. Schizer, with the support of then Dean David Leebron, the Charles Evans Gerber Transactional Studies Center is an innovative program that brings transactions to Columbia Law School and the teaching of transaction-based skills to the classroom.

The Charles Evans Gerber Transactional Studies Center has three principle goals: Curricular innovation, in order to help students to better understand the world of business law; enhancing multi-disciplinary scholarship; and developing scholars with an expertise and interest in transaction-related studies.