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December 2010

Sachs and Kennedy debate “Stones of Hope” and the relationship between poverty and development (video)

On Nov. 19, Harvard Law School Professor Duncan Kennedy and Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University professor and special adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, discussed a new collection edited by HLS Professor Lucie White ’81 and Jeremy Perelman, S.J.D. ’11, before a large audience at HLS. That collection—“Stones of Hope: How African Activists Reclaim Human Rights to Challenge Global Poverty”—combines case studies from activists with theoretical essays on development to “tackle problems of disenfranchisement and poverty in the world,” said HLS Professor William Alford ’77, vice dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies, who introduced the discussion of the book.
Scott advises the Financial Stability Oversight Council on the Dodd-Frank Act

Hal S. Scott, the Nomura Professor and director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School and director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, co-authored two letters to the Financial Stability Oversight Council on two provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Bebchuk in Project Syndicate: Pricing corporate governance

In an op-ed for Project Syndicate, "Pricing Corporate Governance," Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk discusses how markets price the corporate-governance provisions of companies. He also details his findings from a recent study "Learning and the Disappearing Association between Governance and Returns" with HLS Visiting Professor of Law Alma Cohen and HLS Lecturer in Law and Economics Charles C.Y. Wang. Bebchuk is director of the Corporate Governance Program at Harvard Law School. He is co-author, with Holger Spamann, of "Regulating Bankers’ Pay."
In chair lecture, Wilkins discusses educating global lawyers (video)

Harvard Law School Professor David Wilkins ‘80 delivered a lecture, “Making Global Lawyers: Legal Education, Legal Paradox, and the Paradox of Professional Distinctiveness” on Oct. 19th to mark his appointment as the Lester Kissel Professor of Law.
Harvard Law School Law and International Development Society inaugural symposium focuses on post-disaster situations [Video]

Top practitioners, heads of state, academics, and theoreticians in international development came together with more than 200 students and community members for “Rebuilding After the Storm: The Role of Law in Development Post Natural Disasters,” the HLS Law & International Development Society’s inaugural symposium, held on Nov. 19, 2010.
Anne Healy ’12: Law and International Development

For three years prior to enrolling at Harvard Law School, Anne Healy '12 worked in the field of international development in East Africa, feeding her interest in governance issues and institutions. Today, she’s the co-president of the Harvard Law and International Development Society (known as LIDS), a home for students interested in working at the cutting edge of issues in law and development.
Harvard Law School hosts 2010 American Bar Association Regional Negotiation Competition

Sixteen teams from nine different law schools from throughout the Northeast took part in the ABA Regional Negotiation Competition held at Harvard Law School and organized by Harvard Negotiators on November 13–14, 2010. Approximately 35 judges, all practicing lawyers in the Boston area, evaluated the teams and chose the winners.
Five from Harvard Law School Awarded Skadden Fellowships (video)

Four Harvard Law School students and one recent graduate have been chosen to receive Skadden Fellowships to support their work in public service. This prestigious fellowship was awarded to 29 people this year.
Fried argues for constitutionality of the health care mandate (video)

On Nov. 18, as part of the 2010 National Lawyers Convention in Washington, D.C., HLS Professor Chares Fried participated in a debate on the constitutionality of the federal health care legislation—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—signed into law by President Barack Obama ’91 last March.
HLS Trial Advocacy Team Wins National Competition in Puerto Rico

Harvard Law School became the first-ever repeat-winner of the National Puerto Rico Trial Advocacy Competition. Returning as defending champions, the Harvard Law School Trial Team advanced to the semi-finals with the highest score and remained undefeated throughout the competition, edging out Georgetown Law in the final round to win first place.
Palfrey Proposes a New Digital Legal Information Environment for the Future (video)

In a November lecture marking his appointment as the Henry N. Ess III Professor at Harvard Law School, Professor John G. Palfrey ’01 called for a new legal information system "grounded in a set of open data."
The ripples of Brown v. Board

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow said she set out to write a book that acknowledged the limitations but celebrated the achievements of the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The result was “In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark," which was the cornerstone of a two-panel discussion at Harvard on Dec. 4.
Scott and Committee on Capital Markets Regulation issue report on 2010 performance of U.S. public equity markets

The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, an independent research organization directed by Harvard Law School Professor Hal Scott, reported on Dec. 9, 2010 that, during the first 3 quarters of 2010, the competitiveness of U.S. public equity markets in global markets showed slight improvement over 2009.
HLS dissertation on the formation of the modern Philippine state wins William Nelson Cromwell Prize

Anna Leah Fidelis T. Castañeda LL.M. ’96 S.J.D. ’09 was awarded the William Nelson Cromwell Dissertation Prize for her Harvard Law School S.J.D. dissertation: “Creating Exceptional Empire: American Liberal Constitutionalism and the Construction of the Constitutional Order of the Philippine Islands, 1898-1935.”
New Harvard Law Financial Aid Fund Honors Alumnus Richard H. Caldwell

Havard Law School and Andrews Kurth LLP have announced a new endowed financial aid fund in honor of the late Richard H. Caldwell ’63. The fund, which has grown to more than $200,000, will benefit HLS students who hail from Texas.
In their own words: Chayes fellows share stories of experiences abroad (audio)

This fall, more than 20 recipients of the 2010 Chayes International Public Service Fellowship gathered at the home of Antonia Chayes, widow of HLS Professor Abram Chayes '49, to share stories of their fellowship experience. Founded in memory of Chayes, the Fellowships allow HLS students to spend eight weeks working with governments of developing nations and those making difficult transitions to peace, stability, and democracy, and with inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations that support them.
Sitkoff essay on law reform in trusts and estates appears in JOTWELL

JOTWELL—the Journal of Things We Like (Lots)—published “Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up Law Reform in Trusts and Estates: Future Interests and Perpetuities” by HLS Professor Robert Sitkoff on Nov. 22.
A new book on transnational law honors Harvard Law’s Detlev Vagts

Cambridge University Press has published a festschrift paying tribute to Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Detlev Vagts ’51, expert on international law, whose career at HLS has spanned more than a half century.
In Memoriam: Former Providence City Solicitor Joe Fernandez '91

Joe Fernandez '91, a former Providence city solicitor, died Dec. 18, 2010, after a short illness. He was 46.
Scott, CCMR urge Senate and House committees to review pace of rulemaking under Dodd-Frank

In a Dec. 15 letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation urged the Committees to hold oversight hearings on the implementation through rulemaking of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Brotman appointed to U.S. Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy

Harvard Law School Lecturer on Law Stuart N. Brotman has been appointed to the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP).
Counsel for the situation: Coleman’s career celebrated (video)

William T. Coleman Jr. ’43 ('46), the venerable civil rights lawyer who served on the Brown v. Board of Education case, as counsel to the Warren Commission and as secretary of transportation in the Gerald Ford Administration, was a guest speaker at Harvard Law School on Dec. 1.
Bebchuk named 2010 ‘Governance Star’

Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ‘84, director of the Program on Corporate Governance, was selected as one of 2010’s top 10 “governance stars” by Global Proxy Watch, an international corporate governance newsletter.