Outstanding environmental achievement
Professor Richard Lazarus ’79 was honored with the American Bar Association’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy. The award was given to Lazarus in August for his significant leadership in improving environmental protection and sustainable development. One of the nation’s foremost experts on environmental law and a leading U.S. Supreme Court practitioner, Lazarus joined the Harvard Law School faculty this summer. He recently served as executive director of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, appointed by President Barack Obama ’91 to investigate the root causes of the Gulf oil spill.
Josh Reynolds
Warren throws hat in Senate race
Harvard Law School Professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren announced on Sept. 14 that she is running for the United States Senate seat held by Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown. Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel charged with overseeing the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. She went on to head the steering committee of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, serving as an assistant to the president and a special adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Warren faces several candidates, including City Year co-founder Alan Khazei ’87.
Prized corporate governance
Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84 was awarded an ICGN award for exceptional achievement in corporate governance field. He was honored for the volume and quality of his research around executive compensation and the relationship of governance to value and firm performance. Directorship Magazine also named him one of the 100 most influential governance professionals.
Glendon advises Romney in presidential bid
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ’75 named HLS Professor Mary Ann Glendon, along with Robert Bork and Richard Wiley, to co-chair his Justice Advisory Committee. Leading a committee of 63 other lawyers, including HLS Professor Allen Ferrell ’95, they will advise Romney’s campaign on constitutional and judicial matters, homeland security, law enforcement, and regulatory issues. Glendon served as President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the Vatican in 2007.
Talking about our Constitution
In celebration of Constitution Day, three HLS faculty members delivered talks to university audiences about the document central to the American legal system. At Howard University School of Law, Dean Martha Minow spoke on constitutional commitment and educational opportunity, reflecting on how the Constitution and Court have shaped desegregation law and school diversification efforts. Professsor Noah Feldman delivered an address at Harvard University focused on how the Constitution confers powers on the government and the ways in which it has been interpreted to justify “necessary” government action. Professor John Palfrey ’01 spoke at the University of Connecticut, where he discussed the First Amendment in the Digital Era and argued for the right to free speech on the Internet.
Fellowship of the Bar
Clinical Professor Deborah Anker LL.M. ’84 was recently elected to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. She was recognized for “upholding the highest principles of the legal profession and for outstanding dedication to the welfare of others.” Anker is director of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and has taught immigration law for more than 20 years.
Hanson’s blog wins media prize
The Situationist blog, run by the Project on Law and Mind Sciences at HLS, recently received the 2011 Media Prize awarded by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, an international organization of scholars devoted to social and personality psychology. HLS Professor Jon Hanson established The Situationist blog with Vermont Law School Professor Michael McCann LL.M. ’05 to share the work of the Project on Law and Mind Sciences.