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June 2011

Feldman named columnist for Bloomberg View

It was officially announced on April 29 that HLS Professor Noah Feldman will become a regular contributor to Bloomberg View, the new opinion section of Bloomberg News, which debuted in late May on Bloomberg.com. Feldman, who is a regular contributor to The New York Times, has been named as part of an expanded, 14-person roster of columnists that also includes Harvard University Professor of Economics Edward L. Glaeser and Meghan O’Sullivan, professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Commencement 2011 (slideshow)

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Harvard Law School celebrated the class of 2011, conferring a total of 790 degrees—585 J.D.s, 195 LL.M.s, and 10 S.J.D.s during an afternoon ceremony in front of Langdell Library. HLS takes a look back at the day in pictures.
Harvard Law School and Sciences Po Launch Student/Faculty Exchange Program

Harvard Law School and Sciences Po Law School (SPLS) have launched a wide-ranging program that includes exchanges of faculty and students, both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral, and co-sponsorship of joint conferences on U.S. and European legal issues.
Harvard faculty and fellows contribute most of the ‘Top Ten Corporate and Securities Law Articles’ of 2010

This year’s list of “Top Ten Corporate and Securities Articles” based on an annual poll of corporate and securities law academics includes six articles authored or co-authored by Harvard Law faculty and fellows. The top ten articles, selected from a field of more than 440 pieces, will be reprinted in an upcoming issue of the Corporate Practice Commentator.
Feldman, Landau and Sheppard recommend constitutional reforms for Honduras

HLS Professor Noah Feldman and a team of HLS affiliates have authored a report at the request of the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation of Honduras (TRC), examining the constitutionality of the actions in Honduras that resulted in the 2009 military coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office. In the report, the authors offer recommendations for constitutional reform for the Central American country.
Two HLS Students Receive Rappaport Fellowships

Two Harvard Law School students have been selected as Rappaport Fellows in Law and Public Policy and will spend the summer working with top local policymakers on issues that affect residents of Greater Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Zittrain announced as FCC Distinguished Scholar

Jonathan Zittrain, HLS professor of law and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has been appointed as the Federal Communications Commission’s Distinguished Scholar, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced May 31.
HLS professors receive honorary degrees, deliver commencement addresses

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and Professors Elizabeth Warren, Laurence Tribe ’66, Nancy Gertner, and Noah Feldman all received honorary degrees at college and law school commencement ceremonies this spring.
Vicki C. Jackson appointed Professor of Law at Harvard

Vicki C. Jackson, a leading expert on U.S. constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and federal courts, will join the Harvard Law School faculty this summer as a tenured professor. She will be Harvard Law School’s first Thurgood Marshall Professor of Constitutional Law.
A celebration of Class Day 2011 (video)

On May 25, the Class of 2011 gathered to celebrate their accomplishments and share reflections of their Harvard Law School experience. As part of Class Day festivities, the graduating class hailed their Class Day speaker, actor Alec Baldwin, and honored Professor Jon Hanson as the recipient of this year's Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence.
Vermeule on 'Constitutional Redemption' in TNR

In a Jun. 8 review in The New Republic, Harvard Law School Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 discusses a new book by Jack M. Balkin, titled “Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World” (Harvard University Press, 2011).
Minow on the convergence between law and education (podcast)

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow was recently interviewed on the Harvard EdCast, a weekly podcast presented by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Host Matt Weber described her as the "quintessential spokesperson” for law and education due to her scholarship in both fields; in addition to her role in legal education, she is also a graduate of and lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Suk honored by the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York

The Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York recently honored Harvard Law Professor Jeannie Suk ‘02 with its annual Trailblazers award. In 2010, Suk became the first Asian-American woman to receive tenure at Harvard Law School.
Lessig Gives Keynote Speech at ABA Techshow (video)

Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, gave the keynote speech at the American Bar Association Techshow on Monday, April 11th. The speech, titled “Code is Law: Does Anyone Get This Yet?” focused on regulatory change concerning Internet copyright issues.
Tribe in The Wall Street Journal: Why Wounded Warriors Sleep in Dumpsters

The following op-ed, Why Wounded Warriors Sleep in Dumpsters, written by Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe ’66 and Bobby Shriver, appeared in the June 9 edition of The Wall Street Journal. An expert on Constitutional Law, Tribe was appointed Carl M. Loeb University Professor in 2004. His most recent book is The Invisible Constitution (Oxford University Press 2008). He recently served as senior counselor for access to justice in the U.S. Justice Department.
Lawyering, parenting and writing about it — a ‘motherlode’ of perspectives [video]

While she recently received an onslaught of attention for the strict parenting techniques depicted in her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” during a recent panel discussion, Amy Chua ’87, promoted the idea that “there are so many ways of producing happy, healthy, strong children.”
Scott testifies before House Committee on Financial Services

On Thursday June 16, HLS Professor Hal Scott is testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in a hearing entitled “Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context."
HLS’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute releases new report on METCO’s positive track record

Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (CHHIRJ) and the Pioneer Institute have jointly published the first comprehensive review in nearly a decade of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), the nation’s second-longest running voluntary school desegregation program.
Zittrain in NYT: Encourage more hackathons

In a June 15 article in the Opinion section of The New York Times, Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 discusses the current state of computer science education, and suggests an alternative approach to teaching that focuses more on the “bigger picture” than “rote work without much prospect for intellectual growth.”
Reginald F. Lewis Foundation Gifts $1.5 Million to Harvard Law School

The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation has made a gift of $1.5 million to Harvard Law School to continue the Reginald F. Lewis Fellowships, an 18-year-old program that has offered fellowships annually to law graduates who have demonstrated a strong interest in law scholarship and teaching.
Educational equality for foster care children: HLS hosts a town hall (video)

Children in foster care experience daunting challenges of stability and security in the school system, according to participants in the program “On the Road to Educational Equality,” held at Harvard Law School on May 24.
At Berkman Center symposium, experts explore the line between public and private in today’s interconnected world

On June 9 and 10, Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society hosted “Hyper-Public: A Symposium on Designing Privacy and Public Space in the Connected World.” The event united computer scientists with ethnographers, architects, historians, artists, and legal scholars in discussions about the line between public and private spaces in the digital world.
LL.M.s give back through music

The two were an unlikely duo: Stanislas Adam was a concert violinist from Belgium, and Caetano Altafin Cunha was the founder of a nonprofit for underprivileged children with special needs in Brazil. But after one conversation during Harvard Law School’s LL.M. orientation week in August, the two decided to combine their diverse interests and organize a charity concert to raise funds for Cunha’s initiative, the Library Tree Project.
Symposium explores legacy of the 19th century social reformer Wendell Phillips (video)

Abolitionist Wendell Phillips, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1833, was a nationally know celebrity during his lifetime. On the bicentennial of his birth, a symposium held at HLS June 2-4, cosponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, focused on the life and legacy of the social reformer, and the questions they raise for those working for social justice today.
IHRC files amicus curiae brief with U.S. Supreme Court

On June 17, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari in a major corporate Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.
Roe in Project Syndicate: How capitalist is America?

In his June 20 opinion piece in Project Syndicate, “How capitalist is America?,” Harvard Law School Professor Mark Roe '75 looks into the question of ‘how capitalist’ the United States is, and explores the idea of U.S. capitalism not only within a global context, but within a corporate one, as well. The article is the latest in a monthly series for the publication, titled The Rules of the Game.
From medical tourism to medical migration: HLS conference looks at the globalization of health care (video)

On May 20 through 21, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School convened an international, multidisciplinary conference providing legal and ethical analysis of one of the broadest reaching developments in health care of the last 20 years: its globalization.
Vermeule on Slate.com: Libyan Legal Limbo

“Libyan Legal Limbo,” an op-ed by Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 and University of Chicago Law Professor Eric Posner ’91, appeared June 27 on Slate.com.
Goldsmith on "On Point:" Libya and the power of the president (audio)

Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith was a guest on National Public Radio’s On Point on June 28, discussing presidential war powers and Congressional authority in relation to the United States’ current military action in Libya.
Winners of the 2011 Dean’s Award for Excellence honored in ceremony at HLS

On June 28, HLS Dean Martha Minow presented the 2011 Dean’s Award for Excellence to seven individuals and one team of staff members at an awards ceremony in Ames Courtroom.
Feldman's "Scorpions" wins 2011 Scribes Award

HLS Professor Noah Feldman’s “Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices” (Twelve, 2010) was selected as the best legal book of the year by Scribes, the American Society of Legal Writers, winning its 2011 Book Award.