Gillian L. L. Lester (born October 30, 1964) is a Canadian legal scholar who served as the 15th Dean of Columbia Law School.

[2] Previously, Lester was acting dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law[3] where she had been a professor since 2006.

Soon after taking the job, Lester told The Chronicle of Higher Education she wanted to tweak the curriculum to turn more Columbia law students into "global actors" and "entrepreneurs" who could build careers in both the private and public sectors.

[8] Lester began her career in the legal academy in 1994 at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

[16][17] Her research has explored issues in the workplace and in public finance, distributive justice, and the design of social insurance programs.