October 2011

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  Eugene Volokh, of The Volokh Conspiracy, discusses slippery slope arguments (video)

  Eugene Volokh, professor at UCLA School of Law, well known to some law students for his blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, gave a lecture on slippery slope arguments at an event sponsored by the Harvard Law School Federalist Society on September 20th.  He was joined by Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, who provided a response.

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  Environmental Law experts review cases before the Court (video)

  On September 28, the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Program and Environmental Law Institute hosted a Supreme Court Review and Preview to discuss the implications of recent Supreme Court decisions on the field of environmental law. Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow introduced the event, and emphasized the Supreme Court’s role in the formation of environmental policy in the United States.

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  At HLS, former investigator questions the relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical industry

  In the first lecture of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics series, Paul Thacker, an investigative journalist and former U.S. Senate Finance Committee staffer, said that big pharmaceutical dollars not only own physicians but also many prominent medical school faculty who are paid to lobby for drugs.
  

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  Derrick Bell (1930-2011)

  Derrick Bell, a distinguished legal scholar, prolific writer and tireless champion for equality, died Wednesday, Oct. 5. Over the course of his five-decade career, he worked to expose the persistence of racism and challenged his students, readers and critics with his uncompromising candor and progressive views.

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  Constitution Day: At Howard, Minow reflects on diversity in education, constitutional law

  On Sept. 19, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow gave a lecture at Howard Law School in Washington, D.C., in commemoration of Constitution Day – an annual, national celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

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  Thirteen Harvard Law grads are U.S. Supreme Court clerks for 2011-2012

  Of the 39 law school graduates serving as clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court justices and retired justices in the 2011-2012 term, 13 hail from Harvard Law School—the highest number from a single law school this year.

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  A partner offers some advice to new lawyers

  According to attorney and author Grover E. Cleveland, young lawyers should be reassured by assignments that require all-nighters. “If a senior lawyer left work on your desk and went to sleep, that means that you’ve successfully earned her trust,” he said. Cleveland offered this and other nuggets of wisdom at “Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: Thriving in the First Two Years of Law Practice,” an event jointly sponsored by the Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession and Office of Career Services on October 4.

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  GLAD's Bonauto assesses litigation of the Defense of Marriage Act

  At “Challenging and Litigating DOMA's Constitutionality”— an event that was co-sponsored by the Harvard Law School American Constitution Society, Lambda, and the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Journal—Mary Bonauto, the Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), spoke about litigating the Defense of Marriage Act in federal courts in the wake of the Department of Justice's recent decision to stop defending the law.

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  Palfrey discusses Network Neutrality at the Open World Forum (video)

  Professor John Palfrey ’01 was a keynote speaker at the Open World Forum, held September 22-24, in Paris, France. The Open World Forum brings together 160 experts from around the world to discuss technological, economic and social initiatives.

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  Social Media can thwart repressive regimes’ dynamics, says Berkman fellow

  Zeynep Tufekci, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, argued that social media have the power to "upset the erstwhile stable dynamics of repression under durable authoritarian regimes" at a luncheon talk sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Tufekci, who is also a fellow at the Berkman Center, studies the interaction between technology and social, cultural and political dynamics.

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  Youth Empowerment and Leadership: An Evening with former president of India, A.P.J Abdul Kalam (video)

  It was hard to see him though the cheering crowd when he first walked in, a small, amiable-looking man. By the end of the session, he had gotten his message across about the importance of global leadership and youth empowerment. He was even able to get a room full of people to recite poetry with him. He is Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India.

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  HLS students advocate before Mass. high court in closely watched foreclosure case

  Just two months after landing a major victory in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of homeowners fighting eviction, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) was back before the high court last week seeking more protections for people with homes in foreclosure. The court’s decision, expected to come down in several months, could lead to greater accountability for lenders trying to foreclose.

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  At HLS, Kathleen Morris makes the case for local constitutional law (video)

  In a lecture co-sponsored by the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and the Federalist Society, San Francisco City Attorney Kathleen Morris made the case for local constitutional law, which would overturn a century of Supreme Court precedent. She was joined by HLS Professors David Barron and Gerald Frug, and Stanford Law Professor Richard Ford.

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  Hausers donate $40 million to Harvard University

  Harvard University has announced that Harvard Law School alums Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser have given the University $40 million to support excellence and innovation in learning and teaching at Harvard.

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  Current marijuana policy encourages discrimination, says Congressman Barney Frank at HLS (video)

  At an event sponsored by the Harvard Law School American Constitution Society on October 18, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) ’77 spoke about proposed legislation that would end the federal ban on marijuana, as well as the need for drug policy reform at the federal level and why marijuana policy is an issue better handled by the states.

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  Digital Public Library of America announces $5 million in funding, new collaboration at conference

  The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) – a national project coordinated by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society to provide access to digital collections from libraries, museums, and archives in the United States – announced $5 million in new funding and a new collaboration at its first conference on Oct. 21. The conference was webcast live from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

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  Heron ’12 presents oral argument in environmental law case

  Environmental Law & Policy Clinic student Rachel Heron ’12 presented a 3-hour oral argument on a motion for summary judgment in an important, precedent-setting administrative proceeding concerning the right of renewable energy companies to conduct business and install solar energy systems in Massachusetts. 

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  Food Law Society co-sponsors TEDx conference on food policy (video)

  The Harvard Food Law Society recently co-sponsored “TEDxHarvardLaw,” a full-day conference held on Oct. 21, focused on food policy and public health, and the legal and policy approaches to increasing the supply and demand of healthy foods. The campus-wide event was independently organized and co-sponsored by 18 different HLS organizations under the auspices of TEDx, a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

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  Representing the NFL Players Association: a Harvard Law School panel discussion

  In a panel discussion sponsored by HLS Lecturer on Law Peter Carfagna ’79 and Harvard Law School's Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, “Negotiating with The League: Representing the NFLPA,” Peter Kendall, a retired NFL player who was involved in the league’s summer contract renegotiations offered an insider’s account of the collective bargaining victory that preserved this fall's season.