Administration and Staff
William Alford
is the Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies, Director of East Asian Legal Studies and the Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law. He is the author of To Steal a Book is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization (Stanford University Press, 1995) and scores of articles concerning Chinese law and legal history, U.S.-East Asian relations, international law, the legal profession, and other subjects. Professor Alford earned his undergraduate degree at Amherst and holds graduate degrees from Yale (in Chinese and History), the University of Cambridge (in law), and Harvard Law School. He has served as a consultant to various entities of the U.S. government, the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, Special Olympics, corporations, foreign governments, law firms and NGOs, and been a dispute resolution panelist under the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Foreign Law, and the Académie internationale de droit comparé; an Honorary Professor of Renmin University and Zhejiang University (PRC), and an Honorary Fellow of the American Studies Institute of the Department of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; has served on the Executive Committee of the US Committee on Legal Education Exchange with China (CLEEC), and as Director of the China Center for American Law Study (in Beijing); is on the roster of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission arbitrators; is on a number of editorial boards; and is the recipient of numerous academic awards.
Jeanne Tai
is the Assistant Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies. Jeanne previously served as the Graduate Program's Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. A native of Hong Kong, Jeanne holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Chinese History from Barnard College in New York City and a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. Under the auspices of the U.S. Committee for Legal Education Exchange with China (CLEEC), she spent 18 months in China during 1985-86 as an Exchange Scholar, conducting research into Chinese industrial relations and labor law while also lecturing on U.S. administrative law and labor law at various universities, including Beijing University, Fudan University in Shanghai, and the Southwest University of Politics and Law in Chongqing. Jeanne's other professional experiences include practicing law for four years in the New York and London offices of Sullivan & Cromwell; pro bono and consulting work for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now known as Human Rights First); and teaching modern Chinese literature in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Jeanne has published two anthologies of translations of contemporary Chinese fiction, and has contributed essays and translations of modern Chinese poetry and fiction to several other anthologies. She maintains an active interest in literary, cultural, and legal developments in East Asia.
Responsibilities: As the Graduate Program’s senior administrator, Jeanne has overall responsibility for academic programs, admissions, financial aid, and policy matters. She also is a resource for students with questions about scholarly work, courses, student life and careers in the law.
Nancy Pinn
the Director of Administration and Student Affairs, joined the Graduate Program in August of 2001. Originally from New Jersey, Nancy holds a J.D. degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from the Washington University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a B.A., in English, from Tufts University. Before joining the Graduate Program, Nancy worked as counsel for Alpine Electronics, Inc., at the company's corporate headquarters in Japan, as Assistant Vice President and Associate Counsel at State Street Bank and Trust Company, and as an attorney for edocs, Inc., a software company in Natick, Massachusetts. Having studied and worked in Japan, Nancy enjoys practicing her foreign language skills (particularly Japanese, French and some Spanish), and maintains a strong interest in all things international. Nancy is admitted to the practice of law in New York and New Jersey.
Responsibilities: Nancy is responsible for administrative matters and for the academic affairs (course requirements, registration, writing requirements, exam information), overall coordination and general student life issues for the Graduate Program population.
Sarine Der Kaloustian
is the Graduate Program’s Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. She obtained her LL.B. and LL.M. degrees at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal and is a member of the Quebec Bar. Prior to joining the Graduate Program, Sarine served as Program Director for the Global Public Service Law Project at NYU Law School where she was in charge of managing the LL.M. program in Public Service Law. In that capacity, she also coordinated two international summer courses on public service lawyering held respectively in Beirut, Lebanon and Budapest, Hungary. Sarine maintains a special interest in human rights and humanitarian law. She spent four years in the Middle East working for local NGOs and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut, Lebanon. In addition to English, Sarine is fluent in French, Armenian, and Arabic.
Responsibilities: Sarine’s responsibilities include managing the admissions process, financial aid, visa documentation, and student billing matters. She is also a resource for students with general questions about student life and careers in law.
Jane Fair Bestor
is the Special Assistant to the Graduate Program. She earned her first two degrees (a B.A. and an M.A. in anthropology) at McGill University before taking her Ph.D. (in anthropology) at the University of Chicago. For her M.A. thesis she carried out fieldwork in Iranian Baluchistan on the incorporation of a regional system of peasants and nomads into the Iranian state. Her Ph.D. research was an archival study of dynasty and state formation in Italy between 1250 and 1500, with a focus on the House of Este. As a Liberal Arts Fellow at Harvard Law School from 1993-1994, she studied the anthropology of law and the history of the formation of the ius commune from civil, canon, and feudal law. The results of this research have appeared in articles on succession and marital transactions in Past & Present, Comparative Studies in Society and History, the Rivista internazionale di diritto commune and elsewhere. Jane has recently completed a book manuscript on succession and state formation in Italy.
Responsibilities: Jane runs the LL.M. Writing Workshop, advises LL.M. students on admission to the S.J.D. program, and advises S.J.D. students on their study plans, dissertations, and other writing projects. She is available to help all students in the Graduate Program with general issues of research and writing and on getting by as a graduate student in general.
Heather A. Wallick
is the Admissions and Financial Aid Officer for the Graduate Program. Originally from Connecticut, Heather holds a J.D. degree from the New England School of Law (formerly Portia Law School) and a B.A., in International Relations with a concentration in Security Studies, from Boston University. Before joining the Graduate Program, Heather worked as an Immigration Law Specialist with the law firm Hale & Dorr (now known as Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP), focusing on the area of Business and Family Immigration. She is admitted to the practice of law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In her spare time, Heather enjoys practicing her foreign language skills (particularly Spanish, French, Italian, and basic German) and performing with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus.
Responsibilities: Heather works closely with the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid on matters relating to the admissions process, financial aid, visa documentation, and student billing. She also welcomes general questions from students, researchers and scholars about social life in Cambridge and Boston.
Valentina Perez
is the Coordinator for the Graduate Program’s Admissions and Financial Aid Office. Valentina studied Anthropology at Harvard College, where she was a member of the Harvard University Band, manager of the Harvard softball team, and a percussionist for various undergraduate theatrical productions. After college, Valentina worked as a field archaeologist on prehistoric sites in the southwestern United States and also started a web design company specializing in small business solutions. Currently, Valentina enjoys the perks of not worrying about wildlife in the workplace and the comfort of a climate-controlled office. When out of the office her hobbies include karate, swimming, reading in the sun, and collecting interesting rocks.
Responsibilities: Valentina coordinates the admissions and financial aid application processing for the LL.M Program. She can answer general questions about Harvard, the Law School, and living in Cambridge, as well as questions more specific to the Graduate Program, including admission requirements and application procedures for the LL.M. and the Visiting Scholar/Visiting Researcher Programs.
Curtis Morrow
is a Staff Assistant for the Graduate Program’s Administration and Student Affairs office. Hailing from the Adirondacks, Curtis relocated to Boston after graduating from Skidmore College in upstate New York. Prior to joining the Graduate Program, Curtis had worked in the non-profit sector with the disabled, for the government at the Justice Department, and in the private sector at Genzyme Biosurgery. In his spare time, Curtis has run the Boston Marathon as a bandit, succeeded in having bicycle racks installed in the North End, and developed a penchant for extravagant living.
Responsibilities: Curtis can answer questions about the LL.M. Program, LL.M. student life and academics, the Visiting Scholar/Visiting Researcher Program and activities, student schedules, the J.D. Host program, and more generally about the Law School and the Graduate Program.
Christopher Nepple
is a Staff Assistant for the Graduate Program’s Admissions and Financial Aid Office. Chris studied Biblical and Theological Studies and Theatre at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he served as a Student Senator and played for the tennis team. He has worked as a camp counselor and drama instructor at Camp Lebanon in Upsala, Minnesota and has backpacked across the continental United States on Greyhound.
Responsibilities: Chris can answer questions about admission requirements and application procedures for the LL.M. and S.J.D. Programs. He also maintains the electronic and archived files, and serves as the assistant to the Graduate Program Assistant Dean.