HLS News 2004

• Women's Refugee Project: Family Is a Protected Unit

  The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic's Women Refugees Project has submitted an amicus curiae brief in the case of Thomas v. Ashcroft. The brief urges the court to allow asylum in the United States based upon family membership. The case, which was heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, involves a woman whose family was subjected to attacks and whose lives were threatened because of racist actions taken by her father-in-law.

• Article on 'Freeze-outs' Creates Wall Street Buzz

  A recent article by Professor Guhan Subramanian '98 has people in the M-and-A world talking -- and the article has yet to be published. Although it has a decidedly academic title, "Post-Siliconix Freeze-Outs: Theory, Evidence, and Policy," Subramanian’s paper has received significant coverage in legal and business trade journals such as The American Lawyer, The Deal and Corporate Control Alert.

• From Veritas to Semper Fi: HLS Student Reports for Duty

  Scott Smith was living in Ames Hall in early 2003 when he got a call that sent him to his room to pack his things and leave school immediately. "I had 48 hours to report for duty," said Smith, who was then a captain in the Marine Reserves. "I was packing all my stuff and people kept coming by my room, saying, 'Where are you going?' When I said I was mobilized, they were shocked."

• Did the Internet Change Politics in 2004?

  On Dec. 10, leaders of the internet campaigns for President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry will debate the influence of the web in the 2004 election. This discussion is part of a three-day conference—Votes, Bits and Bytes—hosted by Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society to take a skeptical look at whether online technologies have changed political participation, citizenship, and governance, both in the United States and worldwide.

• Statement by Dean Elena Kagan on the Solomon Amendment

  On the basis of yesterday's decision by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals enjoining the enforcement of the Solomon Amendment, Harvard Law School will return to its prior policy on employers' use of our Office of Career Services (OCS)...

• Editors of Indian Law Handbook Convene

  A team of Indian law experts met recently at Harvard Law School to finalize updates to Felix Cohen's landmark "Handbook of Federal Indian Law." Scholars consider the Cohen handbook--published in 1941--to be the leading text on federal Indian law. Cohen wrote the first edition while serving as an assistant solicitor in the Interior Department during the Roosevelt administration.

• Bebchuk on Making Directors Accountable

  After a decade of soaring to unprecedented levels, executive compensation is the subject of an intense debate. In their just published "Pay without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation," HLS Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. '80 S.J.D. '84 and UC Berkeley School of Law Professor Jesse Fried '92 explore the causes and consequences of flawed compensation arrangements.

• Should Software Developers Pay When Users Violate Copyrights?

  On Tuesday, Nov. 16, the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology will host a debate between spokespeople from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Recording Industry Association of America regarding the legitimacy of contributory copyright infringement liability for sellers of software and devices that consumers can use to violate copyright law.

• HLS Grad Gonzales Nominated for Attorney General

  President Bush has nominated Harvard Law graduate Alberto Gonzales to be the next U.S. attorney general, the nation's top law enforcement officer. A member of the HLS class of '82, Gonzales has served as the White House counsel for the past four years. If confirmed by the Senate, Gonzales will be the 10th Harvard Law graduate to serve as attorney general.

• Olin Center Hosts Law and Economic Program for Spanish Students and Academics

  Last month, Harvard Law School's John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics and Business hosted a week-long law and economics program for Spanish law students and academics. The program attracted 30 attendees, all from Spain, and included courses on torts, fairness versus efficiency, litigation, risk, contracts, corporate governance, bankruptcy, antitrust, and crime and law enforcement.

• Alumni Score Victories in Congressional Races

  Harvard Law alumni from both political parties won elections yesterday to gain or retain seats in the U.S. House and Senate.

• Hay to Direct Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play 'Proof'

  On November 5, Harvard Law School will kick off four performances of David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Proof." Performances will be held on Nov. 5, 6, 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall. Tickets, which are $6 for the general public and $5 for students, can be purchased at the door or reserved ahead of time by emailing hay@law.harvard.edu.

• Richard Holbrooke Receives the Great Negotiator Award

  Richard Holbrooke was the premier architect of the 1995 peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and a skillful negotiator credited with resolving the bitter dispute over dues owed in arrears by the United States to the United Nations. Last night, at a dinner held in his honor, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations received the prestigious 2004 Great Negotiator Award, presented by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

• HLS Convenes Global Finance Experts

  From Oct. 22 to Oct. 24, leaders of the financial systems of the United States and Japan convened in Portsmouth, NH to discuss issues affecting the global financial system. The occasion was the seventh annual Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for Japan and the United States, sponsored by the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, in cooperation with The International House of Japan.

• Negotiation Conference Examines Israeli Settlements

  Just days before the Israeli government submitted to the Knesset—Israel’s 120-member parliament—draft legislation to authorize the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation held a two-day conference titled, “Past, Present, and Future of the Jewish West Bank and Gaza Settlements: The Internal Israeli Conflict.”

• Bebchuk's Book on Executive Compensation Focus of Conference

  On October 15, a new book on executive pay and corporate governance by HLS Professor Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried, Harvard Law School class of 1993, will be the focus of symposium at Columbia Law School.

• Military Commissions and the Global War on Terrorism

  On Wednesday, October 13, Colonel Will A. Gunn, chief defense counsel for the Office of Military Commissions, will speak on "Military Commissions and the Global War on Terrorism: The Chief Defense Counsel's Perspective." Col. Gunn's remarks will begin at 6 p.m. in the Langdell South classroom.

• Dukakis to Speak on 2004 Election

  On Wednesday, October 13, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis will reflect on his experience working with Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and offer his thoughts on the 2004 election. The speech, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Austin West classroom.

• Memorial Service for Archibald Cox

  On Friday, October 8, a memorial service will be held for Professor Emeritus Archibald Cox, the famed Watergate special prosecutor and former solicitor general, who died in May. The service, which is open to the public, will begin at 2 p.m. in Harvard's Memorial Church.

• Kuehl Presented with Cox, Richardson, Coleman Award

  At a ceremony on Oct. 4, Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan presented the Cox, Richardson, Coleman Award to California State Senator Sheila Kuehl. Named for three of Harvard Law School's most distinguished graduates, Archibald Cox, Elliot Richardson and William Coleman, the award honors graduates for distinguished service in government.

• Prof. Mnookin and PON Managing Director Hackley on Negotiating with Terrorists

  Professor Robert Mnookin and PON Managing Director Susan Hackley write: "Talking to terrorists is different from giving in to them. Sometimes it may be good practice to know what they are thinking, or, as a line in 'The Godfather' goes, it is important to 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer.'"

• Harvard Law School Announces New Professorship Dedicated to Accounting and Statistics

  James S. Reid, Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio has made a gift to Harvard Law School to endow a professorship dedicated to the teaching of accounting, statistics and related subjects. Income generated from the gift--which totals $3 million and includes funds given by Reid, John D. Drinko and others who were encouraged to contribute--will support the salary, benefits and research endeavors of a tenured Harvard Law professor.

• Students and Faculty Connect in First-Year Reading Groups

  This semester, many first-year students at HLS are reading more than the typical load of cases and books on legal doctrine. The newly minted 1Ls are signing up for new first-year reading groups that cover everything from cyberlaw to the laws of war. Designed in part to foster student-faculty interaction in the 1L year, the new program consists of faculty members holding reading groups in their spare time with about a dozen students who sign up for specific subjects.

• Clinical Program in Human Rights Expanded to Meet Student Demand

  A recent surge in student demand for human rights clinical work has led to a major expansion of the HLS Human Rights Program's Clinical Advocacy Project. Beginning this year, students will have greater opportunities to do hands-on, advocacy work in the human rights field.

• HLS Student Seeks to Reform Presidential Debates

  When the 2004 presidential debates begin this month, few will be watching more closely than George Farah '05. Indeed, he's worried that most American voters will be dozing before the first question is asked or, worse, "voting with their remotes" by clicking over to something more entertaining, like major league baseball.

• Professor Arthur Miller on His Teaching Career and the State of the Legal Profession

  A member of the HLS faculty since 1971, Professor Arthur Miller '58 discusses his teaching career, the state of the legal profession and "My Cousin Vinny."

• Three Professors Join Tenured Faculty

  The Harvard Law School faculty has added three tenured professors to their ranks, a move that will broaden the school’s coverage of different subject areas and bring increased depth and diversity to existing subjects. The additions include two new hires and the promotion of an HLS assistant professor.

• Ogletree statement concerning corrections in All Deliberate Speed

  I write to express my profound apologies for serious errors I made during the final days of the research and production process for my recent book -- errors which resulted in several paragraphs from another book appearing in my own, without quotation marks or other attribution. The errors were avoidable and preventable, and I take full and complete responsibility for them.

• Harvard Law School Chooses Architect for Northwest Corner

  Harvard Law School has chosen Robert A.M. Stern Architects as the principal design firm to prepare a planning framework for the Law School campus and to provide the architectural design for the initial development on the School’s northwest corner.

• Wall St. Journal Op-Ed: Professor Tribe on the Supreme Court and Rights of Detainees

  In the July 1, Wall Street Journal, Professor Laurence Tribe writes: "With luck, the world's understanding of America will be shaped as well by what our Supreme Court, in three landmark decisions rendered this Monday, declared about the rights of those whom U.S. military authorities detain -- whether at Abu Ghraib, in Guantanamo or in a naval brig in South Carolina."

• Scott Testifies Before Committee on Financial Services

  Harvard Law School Professor Hal S. Scott, director of the school's Program on International Financial Systems, testified on June 17 before U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Service on the United States and the European Union informal Financial Markets Regulatory Dialogue.

• HLS Professors Urge Congress to Review Interrogation Policy, Hold Executive Branch Accountable

  A group of more than 450 professors of law, international relations, and public policy--led by Harvard Law School faculty members--today sent a letter calling on Congress to hold accountable, through impeachment and removal if appropriate, civilian officials from the top of the Executive Branch on down for policies developed at high levels that have facilitated the recent abuses at Abu Ghraib.

• Global Finance Experts to Gather in China

  From June 11 to 13, leaders of the financial systems of the United States and China will gather in Beijing to discuss issues affecting the financial relationship between the two countries. The occasion is the inaugural Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for China and the United States, organized by the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems and the China Development Research Foundation.

• Stuntz Receives Teaching Award; Shabecoff Receives Staff Honor

  On Wednesday, June 9, Professor Bill Stuntz will receive the 2004 Sacks-Freund Teaching Award. The presentation will occur at the Class Day ceremonies beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the steps of Langdell Hall. In addition, the staff appreciation award will be given to Alexa Shabecoff, assistant dean for public interest advising.

• Berkman Center Brief Influences Music Industry Lawsuit

  Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society recently submitted an amicus brief that has played a pivotal role in a recent lawsuit regarding music downloading. The case, Capitol Records, et al. v. Alaujan, et al., joins 55 suits filed in Boston by the recording industry against individuals accused illegal file-sharing on peer-to-peer networks.

• Professor Emeritus Archibald Cox Dead at 92

  Professor Emeritus Archibald Cox, the famed Watergate special prosecutor and former solicitor general, died yesterday in his home in Brooksville, Maine. He was 92.

• Human Rights and Immigration Advocates Hail Inter-American Commission Decision

  The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has affirmed the fundamental right of all asylum seekers--including those interdicted on the high seas--to seek and receive asylum. The Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, along with the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, filed the action with the Inter-American Commission on behalf of Haitian refugees in March.

• Bagenstos Scores Supreme Court Victory

  Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Tennessee v. Lane that states can be sued under provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harvard Law School Assistant Professor Samuel Bagenstos drafted the plaintiff’s brief for the case, which involved a paraplegic man who had to abandon his wheelchair and crawl up the stairs of the state courthouse to attend his own arraignment.

• Meltzer Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

  Professor Daniel Meltzer has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, an interdisciplinary society of scholars based in Cambridge, Mass. A scholar of the American legal and political system, Meltzer joins 19 other current HLS professors who have been selected to become academy fellows in previous years.

• Q & A: Professor Ogletree on the Brown v. Board Decision

  Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. '78, whose new book "All Deliberate Speed" explores the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, discusses the landmark case, public education in America and the change in HLS from the time he was a student.

• HLS Researcher: High School Players Benefit by Turning Pro Early

  High school players that declare for the NBA draft are likely to earn millions more over the course of their careers than had they gone to college, according to a new study by Michael McCann, a Harvard Law School visiting researcher. McCann, a member of Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett's legal team, also finds that these players are the most successful group of players in the NBA.

• Bebchuk Named Guggenheim Fellow

  Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk has been named a 2004 Guggenheim fellow. The award, which honors "exceptionally impressive achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment," will help Bebchuk write a book on the need to empower corporate shareholders.

• iLaw to Tackle Internet Challenges, Controversies and Opportunities

  Five of the most distinguished faculty in cyberlaw will convene at Harvard from May 13 to 15 to teach about the challenges, controversies and opportunities that today’s Internet has created.

• Webcast: Discussion of David Kennedy's Book on the 'Dark Sides of Virtue'

  On April 21, a panel of legal scholars, including Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan and Professors Bill Alford, Ryan Goodman and Duncan Kennedy, explored issues raised in Professor David Kennedy's new book, The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism. A webcast of the discussion is now available on the HLS Webcast page.

• International Coalition Organized to Monitor Internet Censorship

  An international team of academics from Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto has begun monitoring worldwide Internet censorship and surveillance.

• HLS Student Takes on the Presidential Debates

  Rather than providing insight into the candidates' views, the presidential debates are intentionally designed to limit the danger to the major party candidates, according to a new book from second-year Harvard Law student George Farah.

• HLS Wins U.S. Moot Court Championship

  Harvard Law School recently captured the U.S. championship of the 2004 Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, defeating the University of Georgia and Columbia University in elimination rounds. The HLS team consisted of second-year students Naomi Loewith and Hugo Torres, first-year student Erica Fung, and third-year student Nathaniel Stankard.

• 'The Crucible' to Open Tonight

  Starting tonight, April 20, Harvard Law School will kick off five productions of The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s provocative 1953 play about the Salem witch trials. Professor Bruce Hay will direct a cast of Harvard students in a version of the play that will incorporate a scene not often used in previous productions. Tonight's opening performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Ames Courtroom.

• Ogletree Appointed Director of New Harvard Institute

  Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., the Jesse Climenko professor of law and vice dean for Clinical Programs at Harvard Law School, has been appointed director of the new Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

• Learning & Mentorship Project Makes an Impact

  LAMP, a school-based mentoring program that matches law students with local high school students, is a result of that commitment. The basic goal of LAMP is to reverse the trend of underachievement particularly, but not exclusively, among students of color.

• Islamic Legal Studies Program to Explore Islamic Law in Modern Indonesia

  On April 17 and 18, the Islamic Legal Studies Program will present a conference on Islamic Law in modern Indonesia as part of its year-long focus on Indonesia and the application and understanding of Islamic law there. The conference, which will begin at 9 a.m. in Pound 101, is free for Harvard affiliates. There is a $25 registration fee for the general public.

• Williston Competition Winners Honored

  The winners of Harvard Law School's 51st annual Williston competition were recognized in a reception in Pound Hall on Tuesday, April 6. The competition, sponsored by the Board of Student Advisers, offers first-year students the opportunity to practice negotiation and contract drafting. Forty-two teams of two students participated in the competition.

• Harvard To Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

  Harvard University is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the case, Brown v. Board of Education, with a weeklong series of lectures and panel discussions sponsored by Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, beginning Monday, April 12 through Saturday, April 17. Events are free and open to the public, and will be held on the campus of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.

• HLS Wins National Trial Advocacy Competition

  Last week, a team of Harvard Law students won first place at the 14th annual National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago. The competition, which is co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association and John Marshall Law School, was held on April 1-3.

• Dershowitz on the Tyco Mistrial

  Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Professor Alan Dershowitz considers the Tyco mistrial. "The mistrial declared in the Tyco case reflects at once a vulnerability and a strength of our jury system…. Had this case been tried in one of the several states that have abolished the unanimity requirement -- a 9-3 verdict is acceptable in some of those states -- there probably would have been a conviction days before the mistrial was declared. But New York has retained the unanimity requirement..."

• Berkman Center Study Considers iTunes' Future

  Though iTunes has offered a promising model for selling music online, the service could face obstacles as it considers expanding beyond U.S. markets, according to a new study from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

• Olin Center Hosts Conference on Law and Economics

  Harvard Law School's John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business recently hosted a conference at which authors presented their chapters for a forthcoming two-volume Handbook of Law and Economics. The Handbook, which will be edited by HLS Professor Steven Shavell and A. Mitchell Polinsky of Stanford Law School, is part of a prestigious series of handbooks in economics under the overall editorship of Stanford University Professor Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate in economics.

• Alford Advocates for Special Olympics in China

  Showing that pro bono work knows no national boundaries, Harvard Law School Professor Bill Alford is engaged in the development of the Special Olympics movement in China. Recently, this work took Alford to Beijing, where, with Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and CEO Tim Shriver, he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao to discuss ways to enhance opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities in the world's most populous nation. That meeting was followed by the signing of an agreement to hold the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai.

• Bebchuk Testifies in Favor of SEC Rule Change

  Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk recently testified before the Securities and Exchange Commission as it considers whether to adopt a rule proposal to permit shareholders to place candidates on the company ballot in certain situations.

• Panel to Explore Disability Rights, Legislation

  Leaders in the field of disability will speak about whether disability rights fit into the traditional civil rights paradigm, how recent government action has affected the situation of people with disabilities, and a variety of other topics during the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Panel on Disability at Harvard Law School. The panel, which will take place in Austin East on March 23 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will bring together speakers from several different disciplines to reflect on current pressing issues in the disability community.

• 'The Crucible' to be Performed in Ames Courtroom

  On April 20, Harvard Law School will kick off five productions of The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s provocative 1953 play about the Salem witch trials. Professor Bruce Hay will direct a cast of Harvard students in a version of the play that will incorporate a scene not often used in previous productions.

• New Program to Examine the Legal 'Industry'

  To better understand the transformation of legal practice from a profession traditionally made up of small independent firms to a multi-billion dollar global business, Harvard Law School has established the Program on Lawyers and the Professional Services Industry, the first program of its kind in the nation.

• Student Group Seeks to Clear Path to the Ballot

  In an effort to prevent the confusion and mistakes that marked the 2000 election, a group of Harvard Law School students have launched a project to ensure that 2004 presidential election voters are given proper access to the ballot. The new group, Just Democracy, plans to recruit and place more than 1,000 law students with expertise in election law at what they believe could be high-risk polling places around the nation.

• Symposium on Filibusters and Minority Caucuses

  Two panels of academic experts, practitioners and activists from across the nation will gather for the Harvard Law School Journal on Legislation’s Spring Symposium on March 15, 2004, at 1:30 p.m. in the Austin West auditorium at Harvard Law School. The event is free and open to the public

• Conference on the Asian Pacific American Movement

  On March 12 and 13, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at Harvard Law School and the Asian American Policy Review at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government will be hosting the 10th Annual National Asian Pacific American Conference on Law & Public Policy. The conference, entitled "Border Crossings: Globalizing the Asian Pacific American Movement for the 21st Century," will feature the presentation of the inaugural Yuri Kochiyama Award for Social Justice to life-long human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, who will also give the keynote address.

• HLS Library Unveils Legal Portraits Exhibit

  The Harvard Law School Library has announced the opening of a new exhibition entitled "The Legal Portrait Project Online." The exhibition is the culmination of an 18-month project to catalog, digitize and make available the law school's 4,000-item portrait collection of lawyers, jurists, and legal thinkers dating from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century. The exhibition, which is on display in the Caspersen Room of the library, is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until March 31.

• Blunkett on Human Rights and the Terrorist Threat

  On Monday, March 8, British Home Secretary and Member of Parliament The Right Honorable David Blunkett will give an address entitled, "Human Rights and the Terrorist Threat: Defending the Democratic State and maintaining Liberty--Two Sides of the Same Coin." The speech, which is sponsored by the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies, will begin at 5 p.m. in the Ames Courtroom.

• WLJ to Host Conference on Emotion and the Law

  On Saturday, March 6, the Harvard Women's Law Journal will hold a conference exploring the role of emotion in the law. The conference, which is free and open to the public, will feature a keynote address by Professor Kathryn Abrams of the Boalt School of Law and four panel discussions focusing on different aspects of the intersection of emotion and law. Registration for the daylong conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. in Pound 102.

• BLSA to Host 'Aggressive Advocacy' Conference

  The Harvard Law School Black Law Students Association and Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. are hosting members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the 21st annual BLSA spring conference entitled "Aggressive Advocacy: Our Role in the Courtroom, the Corporation, and the Halls of Congress Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education." The three-day conference will begin on March 5.

• Harvard Law Review Elects New President

  The Harvard Law Review has elected second-year student Thiru Vignarajah as its 118th president. Vignarajah was elected from a slate of ten candidates.

• Halley to Hold Workshops on Crucial Texts

  Beginning today, February 12, Harvard Law School Professor Janet Halley will hold a series of workshops to reexamine notable--and often controversial--books. Entitled "Book Trouble 2004," these discussions will explore the role specific books play in the development of people's professional roles, historical crises, social alliances and social movements.

• Berkman Center Launches 'AudioBerkman' Project

  The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School has launched a new project, AudioBerkman, which will spotlight controversial issues related to the Internet, technology and the law. With one click, listeners can hear what industry experts and decision makers have to say about the subjects that are making news in cyberspace.

• HLS Clinic Files Brief for Women Seeking Asylum

  The Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater Boston Legal Services is filing a friend of the court brief this week asking the U.S. attorney general and the Department of Homeland Security to treat women refugees seeking asylum protection fairly and consistently with its own rules and precedents. The clinic is submitting the brief in the case of Rodi Alvarado, a woman who is facing deportation back to Guatemala after suffering 10 years of human rights violations by her husband from which the Guatemalan government did not protect her. The brief, endorsed by more than 100 scholars, law professors and organizations, maintains that the violence and Guatemalan government’s failure to protect is grounded in Alvarado’s gender and her status as a married woman.

• Student Wins Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship

  Third-year Harvard Law School student O. Grace Bankole has been selected as a 2004 Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow. The fellowship funds lawyers, advocates and organizers who initiate litigation, public education, grassroots organizing and advocacy projects that will have a measurable impact on a host of criminal justice issues. Bankole intends use the two-year fellowship to create a program, Families Empowering Families, that will provide intensive legal and advocacy training to friends and families of Louisiana’s incarcerated children.

• Student Group Urges Investigation of Missing Sikhs

  Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights, a student group that works closely with the law school’s Human Rights Program, has recently filed a friend of the court brief with the Indian National Human Rights Commission regarding the disappearance of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab by the Indian government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The brief argues that international law requires the government to investigate thoroughly all allegations of disappearances and to accept and consider a wide variety of evidence in making its determinations.

• Amanda Leiter Named First Beagle Fellow

  Amanda Leiter has been named the first recipient of the Beagle/Harvard Law School fellowship. A 2000 graduate of HLS, Leiter will begin her fellowship at the conclusion of her current clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

• Faculty Submit Brief on Military Recruiting

  Yesterday 54 members of the Harvard Law faculty filed a friend of the court brief in support of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, the Society of American Law Teachers and other plaintiffs in their challenge to the Solomon Amendment as enforced by the Department of Defense. In 2002, the Department of Defense had threatened to withdraw federal funding from universities that did not provide access to law students by military recruiters.

• Tribe Submits Brief in Support of Gay Marriage

  Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe today submitted a friend of the court brief urging the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to reject calls for a civil union law. The brief argues that the court's language in its recent decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health was unambiguous in its conclusion that state law could no longer prohibit gay marriages. Additionally, the brief contends that an advisory opinion allowing that prohibition to remain in effect but allowing "civil unions" instead would harm the court's credibility and hurt its ability to preserve the rule of law. Ninety of the nation's most distinguished constitutional scholars and legal historians signed the brief.

• Glendon on SJC Gay Marriage Ruling

  The alternative, roughly stated, is this: Reaffirm and clarify the current marriage statute to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Include within the re-enactment express legislative findings, stating clearly the rational bases for reserving the status of marriage to one man and one woman. We believe that the SJC, by its own language and the limited nature of its reasoning in Goodridge, invites just this response as an alternative to recognizing same-sex marriages.