HLS News January 2006

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  Kosovar student uses legal skills to help her war-torn homeland

  It has been only a few minutes since Pranvera Recica LL.M. 2006 finished her corporations exam, and she suddenly realizes she is exhausted. Collapsing onto a chair at the Hark on a December afternoon, she explains that she's had no more than two to three hours of sleep each of the past few nights, and she is looking forward to getting back to her dorm room for a nap.
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  Mack urges new look at the history of civil rights lawyering

  Assistant Professor Kenneth Mack is challenging conventional wisdom in his new article, "Rethinking Civil Rights Lawyering and Politics in the Era Before Brown," published in a recent issue of The Yale Law Journal.
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  An op-ed by Professor Bebchuk: The SEC: Beyond Disclosure

  Tuesday's Securities and Exchange Commission vote in favor of expanded disclosure of executive pay arrangements is a necessary and very useful step. But we should harbor no illusion that it would be sufficient by itself to fix the problems of U.S. executive compensation.
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  An op-ed co-written by Professor Minow: Guess who's coming to dinner?

  The airstrike in Damadola, Pakistan, on Jan. 13 is yet another example of how the Bush administration's policies are harming the interests of the United States. The short-term and long-term harm to the US military is clear. The seemingly botched job, with five children among those killed, increases the risk of revenge to US soldiers should they be captured. The credibility of the military is shaken because it seems that those planning the operation did not know who was coming to dinner
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  Examining cyberlaw: A conversation with John Palfrey

  John Palfrey '01, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, was recently appointed clinical professor of law, a new position that recognizes his leadership in developing programs that give students real-world experience in cyberlaw litigation, client counseling, research and related issues. Here, Palfrey speaks with contributor Elaine McArdle about his work.
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  An op-ed by Professor Lucian Bebchuk: How Much Does the Boss Make?

  Investors should applaud the SEC's vote yesterday to propose an expansion in disclosure requirements for executive pay. While there is room for reasonable disagreement on the merits of prevailing pay arrangements, there can be little disagreement on the quality of disclosure practices. These are highly inadequate.
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  Professor Arthur von Mehren, 1922 - 2006

  Arthur Taylor von Mehren, the Story Professor of Law Emeritus, died on January 16th at the age of 84. In addition to educating thousands of Harvard Law students over the course of a 50-year teaching career, von Mehren was a pioneer in comparative and international law. He helped to develop new thinking on a range of legal issues including international jurisdictions, commercial arbitration and comparative constitutional law.
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  Dershowitz on confusing the causes and effects of terrorism

  The following op-ed by Professor Alan Dershowitz, "Terrorism: Confusing cause, effect," was published in The Boston Globe on January 16, 2006: Whatever anyone might think of the artistic merits of Steven Spielberg's new film ''Munich," no one should expect an accurate portrayal of historical events.
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  Bebchuk named to list of 100 most influential in finance

  Lucian Bebchuk, director of HLS's Program on Corporate Governance, was named as one of this year's "100 most influential people in finance" by Treasury and Risk Management magazine. The list recognizes leaders in corporate finance, ranging from CEOs to regulators to academics.
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  Fried and Tribe testify in Alito hearings

  This morning, Harvard Law Professors Charles Fried and Laurence Tribe appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of a panel of legal experts testifying on the nomination of Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court.
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  Professor Dershowitz forecasts on Alito as a justice

  The following essay by Professor Alan Dershowitz, What Kind Of Justice Will Alito Be?, appeared in Forbes on January 13, 2006: Almost all justices vote almost all of the time in accordance with their own personal, political and religious views. That is the reality, especially on the Supreme Court, where precedent is not as binding, and where cases are less determined by specific facts than by broad principles.
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  Professor Heymann: Bush must honor the rule of law

  The following op-ed by Professor Philip Heymann, Bush must honor the rule of law, originally appeared in The Boston Globe on January 12, 2006: Based on his constitutional powers and the authorization for the use of military force granted by congressional resolution after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has declared himself free to ignore any law that he thinks limits his ability to fight terrorism.
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  Professor Hanson on the Supreme Court's 'drifters'

  When Justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor left the bench last year, conservatives were in an anxious mood: though pleased at the prospect of shifting the Supreme Court to the right, they were worried by the record of past Republican appointments. The refrain in conservative commentary, repeated with special intensity during the Harriet Miers affair, was: Not another Souter. Not another Kennedy. Not another O’Connor.
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  HLS amicus brief wins legal writing award

  The amicus brief submitted by more than 40 members of the HLS faculty in the case Rumsfeld v. FAIR was recently named one of the best legal writings of 2005. The awards were presented by the legal publication Green Bag, and the HLS brief was one of two chosen under the category of briefs and motions.
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  Professor Fried on putting Alito in context

  Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s opponents have seized upon two memorandums he wrote when he was a junior lawyer in the office of the solicitor general: one on the Thornburgh case, which dealt with Roe v. Wade, and the other on Mitchell v. Forsyth, which addressed the attorney general's personal liability for wiretaps found to violate the Constitution.
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  Professor Fried: The case for surveillance

  Professor Charles Fried writes: I am convinced of the urgent necessity of such a surveillance program. I suppose but do not know -- the revelations have been understandably and deliberately vague -- that included in what is done is a constant computerized scan of all international electronic communications.