May 2010

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  Minow, Sunstein and Tribe elected to American Philosophical Society

  Harvard Law School Professors Martha Minow, Cass R. Sunstein ’78, and Laurence Tribe ‘66 are among the new class of members elected to the American Philosophical Society.

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  Sports superagent Ron Shapiro ’67 on the secret to successful negotiation

  Sports agent Ronald M. Shapiro ’67 has a dream roster of clients that includes more baseball Hall of Famers than any other agent, including Cal Ripken Jr., Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, and such future Hall of Fame probables as 2009 American League MVP Joey Mauer, for whom Shapiro recently negotiated a $184 million contract with the Minnesota Twins.

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  Harvard Law students assist with Supreme Court brief on corporate Alien Tort Statute

  Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari in a major corporate Alien Tort Statute case, Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc. The Clinic served as counsel on behalf of international law scholars and jurists to argue that those who knowingly aid and abet egregious human rights violations can be held liable under customary international law.

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  Elhauge receives Jerry S. Cohen Award for best antitrust scholarship of 2009

  Harvard Law School Professor Einer Elhauge ’86 has been selected to receive the Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship for his article “Tying, Bundled Discounts, and the Death of the Single Monopoly Profit Theory” (123 Harvard Law Review 397, 2009).

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  Roe analyzes Senate financial reform bill in Wall Street Journal

   The following op-ed by Professor Mark Roe, “Derivatives Clearinghouses are No Magic Bullet,” appeared in the May 6, 2010, edition of the Wall Street Journal. Roe looks at the Senate financial overhaul bill, part of which is built around an emerging Washington consensus that a clearinghouse for derivatives could stem a financial crisis such as that which we just experienced.  Roe argues that while a clearinghouse can be a useful step in the right direction, it's incomplete, with other legal improvements needed to make it work well.

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  Coates testifies before House committee in support of Disclose Act (webcast)

  Harvard Law School Professor John C. Coates IV testified before the Committee on House Administration yesterday regarding the Disclose Act (H.R. 5175), legislation that was created in the wake of the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling.

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  Faculty scholarship: Benkler on blogospheres

  In April, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society announced a major research release: “A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right.” The study, based on research by HLS Professor Yochai Benkler ’94 and Berkman Research Fellow Aaron Shaw, examines the discursive practices of major U.S. political blogs on the left, right, and center during the summer of 2008.

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  Harvard Law School awards 27 fellowships for post-graduate public service work

  Harvard Law School has selected 26 graduating 3Ls and one recent graduate to receive fellowships enabling them to pursue public service work, Dean Martha Minow announced today.  

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  Students in Supreme Court Litigation Clinic assist in brief-writing and case summaries

  During the winter term, 10 Harvard Law students participated in the school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, led by Lecturers Thomas Goldstein, Amy Howe, and Kevin Russell—all of whom are leading Supreme Court practitioners and experts on appellate litigation. The clinic gave students the opportunity to spend the month of January in Washington, D.C., working on actual cases that would be heard before the Court.

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  Elizabeth Warren named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010

  Time Magazine has named Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Warren is listed in the Thinkers category of the annual TIME 100 issue naming the people who most affect our world.

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  Cohen on PBS: Why patients are going abroad for medical care (video)

  Assistant Professor I. Glenn Cohen ’03, co-director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, recently appeared on the PBS television show "Inside E-Street" to discuss his recent work on medical tourism. 

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  Fried in Boston Globe: Health care law’s enemies have no ally in Constitution

  The op-ed “Health care law’s enemies have no ally in Constitution” was written by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Fried. It appeared in the May 21, 2010, edition of the Boston Globe.

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  The Supreme Court limits life sentences for juveniles, citing Houston Institute brief

  On May 16, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Justice Anthony Kennedy ’61 wrote the opinion for a 6-3 Court, citing a brief submitted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at HLS, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

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  Class of 2010 Averages 553 Hours of Pro Bono Service Per Student

  Two graduating students who each contributed more than 2,500 hours of free legal services while at Harvard Law School will share this year’s Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award, while the Class of 2010 surpassed the HLS record for pro bono hours, performing a total of 329,934 hours, an average of 553 hours per student.

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  In Class Day address, Power urges graduates to "make hope and history rhyme" (video)

  Senior adviser in the Obama Administration and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power ’99 was the 2010 Class Day speaker at HLS. Power addressed a law school audience in Holmes Field on May 26, the day before Commencement, urging graduates to make the most of their law school degrees and of every moment of their lives.

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  Judith Murciano Wins Richardson Award

  Judith Murciano, fellowship director in the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising at Harvard Law School, received the Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Recognition Award during Class Day exercises.

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  Klarman receives 2010 Sacks-Freund Teaching Award (video)

  During Class Day exercises on May 26, Professor Michael Klarman received the Class of 2010’s Sacks-Freund Teaching Award in honor of his teaching ability, openness to student concerns, and contributions to student life at HLS.

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  Minow to the Class of '10: "We can build mechanisms of order and rescue …"

  As the 761 members of the Class of 2010, were about to start their journey onto the next step in their lives, Dean Martha Minow took a moment to talk to them about another journey.

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  Souter offers an experienced view of how judges should approach Constitutional interpretation

  In a Commencement Day speech to Harvard’s newest graduates, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter ’66 said Thursday (May 27) that judges have no choice but to interpret the U.S. Constitution beyond its plain language, and he criticized those who argue that its meaning “lies there … waiting for a judge to read it fairly.”