HLS ranks #1 with law firm recruiters
U.S. News & World Report rated Harvard Law School number one in its first ranking of best law schools, based on a survey of hiring partners and recruiters at the country’s top law firms. The survey took into account the reputation of and recruiters’ assessment of academic quality for each school.
The power of an appointment
The Uniform Law Commission has formed a new drafting committee to prepare a Uniform Act on Powers of Appointment and has named Robert H. Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law at HLS, as a committee member. An expert in trusts and estates, Sitkoff serves under gubernatorial appointment as a uniform law commissioner for Massachusetts.
A friend of the court
HLS Professor Charles Fried joined former elected officials in an amicus curiae brief filed in McComish v. Bennett, on Feb. 22. In the brief, Fried claims the Supreme Court should support Arizona’s issuance of funds to candidates for office whose opponents spend more than a threshold “trigger” amount against them. Fried also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier in February, arguing for the constitutionality of the health care mandate.
Minow delivers Ginsburg Lecture
Dean Martha Minow delivered the annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law, sponsored by the New York City Bar Association, on Feb. 7. The title of the talk was “Gender and the Law Stories: Learning from Longstanding Debates.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’56-’58 introduced Minow. The annual lecture was created by the New York City Bar Association in 2000 to recognize Ginsburg’s groundbreaking contributions to the advancement of women’s rights and her achievements as a lawyer, professor and judge.
Greenwald receives leadership award
For the third year in a row, Robert Greenwald, director of Harvard Law School’s Health Law & Policy Clinic, was awarded a Positive Leadership Award from the National Association of People with AIDS. At the awards reception in Washington, D.C., in February, Frank Oldham, president and CEO of NAPWA, quipped that this year the award should be considered a lifetime achievement award for Greenwald, a national leader in AIDS policy, in order to make room for others to receive it in the future.
Gordon-Reed appointed to commission
HLS Professor Annette Gordon-Reed ‘84 was appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ newly established Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, a national commission charged with bolstering teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences. Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust will also take part in the initiative. The aim of the 42-member commission is to present actions that the represented institutions can take to maintain national excellence in each member’s respective field. Their findings will serve as a companion to a forthcoming report on the future of the research university and ways to strengthen American scientific enterprise.
What would Hamilton do?
Former Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael McConnell delivered the biennial Vaughan Lecture at HLS on Feb. 28. A distinguished scholar who held numerous academic posts before serving as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit until 2010, McConnell is a former visiting professor at HLS. He is now on the faculty at Stanford Law School, where he is director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. View lecture video.
Reich named law review president
The Harvard Law Review elected Mitchell Reich ’12 as its 125th president. Before attending HLS, Reich graduated from Yale College with a B.A. in classics and political science. Reich, a native of New York, is the first openly gay editor elected to lead the Review.
An outstanding scholar
In February, Harvard Law School Professor David B. Wilkins ’80 received the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, given annually to a member of the academy who has engaged in outstanding scholarship in the law or in government.