Briefs

An Act to Stabilize Neighborhoods

Groundbreaking legislation originally drafted by students from the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau to protect tenants from losing their homes after foreclosure was signed into law on Aug. 7 by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ’82, former president of HLAB. “An Act to Stabilize Neighborhoods,” passed unanimously by the Massachusetts Legislature in late July, is the most comprehensive law in the country for protecting people living in foreclosed properties. HLAB students drafted what is considered the heart of the bill, a critically important “just cause” section that prohibits banks from evicting a tenant from a foreclosed property unless the tenant fails to pay rent, harms the property or otherwise gives just cause for eviction. It is believed to be the first just cause law in the country pertaining specifically to tenants in foreclosed properties.

Frug wins architecture competition

The Canadian Centre for Architecture, in collaboration with the Cities Programme of the London School of Economics and Political Science, has announced the winner of the fourth international competition to give the James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City. The jury selected Harvard Law School Professor Gerald Frug ’63 as the 2010-2011 Stirling Lecturer, for his project titled “The Architecture of Governance.” Frug was recognized for the “excellence of his research and writings on urban governance and the relevance of his proposed lecture to the current debate on the future of the city in the 21st century.”

The Great Negotiator

Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation honored the former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, with the 2010 Great Negotiator Award. Prior to serving as Finland’s president, Ahtisaari was a central figure in the negotiation process that resulted in Namibian independence from South Africa in the late 1980s. In 2008, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a negotiator and mediator in a number of global crises.

Read & Ride

The Harvard Law School Green Living Program and Harvard Law School Library have teamed up this fall to launch Read & Ride BikeShare, a new program that provides free short- and long-term bike loans to all HLS community members. Using existing Hollis library checkout technology, patrons can check out a bike, helmet and bike lock for 3- or 24-hour loan periods.

BSA celebrates centennial

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Board of Student Advisers. The BSA, established initially for the purpose of ”encouraging among first-year students early and intelligent use of the law library and also for rendering the work of the law clubs more efficient,” is now in charge of the Ames Competition, and board members serve as mentors to the 1L class. To celebrate the centennial, former board members were invited to Harvard Law School for a two-day event in October, which included alumni panels, a fireside chat with Judges Reena Raggi ’76 and Jennifer Walker Elrod ’92, and a keynote address by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed ’82.

Eleven HLS Scotus clerks

Of the 39 law school graduates who are serving as clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court justices and retired justices in the 2010-2011 term, 11 come from Harvard Law School—the highest number from a single law school this year. Newly confirmed Associate Justice and former HLS Dean Elena Kagan ’86 hired three HLS graduates to serve as clerks for this year’s term. Sitting Supreme Court justices have four clerks each, for a total of 36. Each of the three retired justices also has a clerk.

HLS graduates serving as U.S. Supreme Court clerks for the 2010-2011 term: