Recent Highlights

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  Obamacare’s point guard: A parley with DeParle

  Nancy-Ann DeParle ’83, whose nearly four years in the Obama White House included serving as deputy chief of staff for policy until this past January, is best known for her role in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. This spring at Harvard Law School, DeParle co-taught the seminar Selected Problems in Regulatory Policy with Cass Sunstein '78.

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  Clinical Voices: Chas Hamilton '13 on 'two trials and a graduation'

  During a two-week period that spanned from late May to early June, recent Harvard Law School Graduate Chas Hamilton '13 tried two cases before twelve-member juries in the Boston Housing Court. Here he reflects on the experience.

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  Harvard's Legal Aid Bureau: Celebrating a century of learning and service

  In the 100 years since its founding, Harvard's Legal Aid Bureau—the oldest student-run legal services program in the country—has helped thousands of clients. On Nov. 8 to 10, the Bureau will mark its centennial with a gala celebration at the law school which will feature keynote speakers and panel discussions on “Closing the gap: Evolving legal education and improving the clinical experience,” “Serving low-income communities across the three branches of government” and “Access to justice: Looking beyond legal services.”

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  Harvard Law School confers inaugural Public Service Venture Fund grants

  Sixteen public service visionaries and social entrepreneurs from Harvard Law School have been selected as the inaugural recipients of grants from the Public Service Venture Fund, a unique program which will award up to $1 million each year to help graduating Harvard Law students and recent graduates obtain their ideal jobs in public service—even if those jobs don’t yet exist. At the same time that it announced the recipients of the new Public Service Venture Fund, the Law School also announced the winners of three other fellowships for public service/public interest post-graduate work: the Skirnick Fellowships, the Kaufman fellowships, and the One Day's Work Fellowships.

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  Lena Silver ’13 wins pro bono service award

  Lena Silver ’13 is the winner of this year’s Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award, performing the highest number of pro bono service hours in the Class of 2013. During Silver’s time at Harvard Law School, she provided 2,270 hours of free legal services.

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  Students commissioned as JAG officers aboard USS Constitution

  On May 14, several members of the Harvard Law School community came together aboard the U.S.S. Constitution as three Harvard Law School students swore oaths to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States" as part of their commission as officers in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps.

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  Students mediate Harassment Prevention Orders

  Graduating HLS students help build a new court mediation program to meet demand for protection from harassment.

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  From a clinical to a judicial appointment: A Q&A with Gloria Tan

  In March, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ’82 nominated Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute clinical instructor Gloria Tan to a seat on the Massachusetts Juvenile Court. Tan came to CJI, which supervises third-year law students representing indigent criminal defendants in local district and juvenile courts, after serving as a public defender for the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston. When a spot opened up on CPCS's Youth Advocacy Project, Tan switched to working on juvenile cases and has spent her career doing so ever since. Tan was sworn in on May 3rd.

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  Gertner, Kaufman appointed to Advisory panel on Mass. federal court nominations

  U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has announced the appointment of an Advisory Committee on Massachusetts judicial nominations to solicit, interview, and comment on applications for federal District Court vacancies in Springfield and Boston. The Committee is comprised of distinguished members of the Massachusetts legal community, including Harvard Law School Professor Andrew Kaufman, and will be chaired by former District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, who is now a Professor of Practice at HLS.

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  HLS establishes new Veterans Legal Clinic

  The Board of Veterans’ Appeals denies a soldier’s claim for disability benefits for an injury to his lower extremities. But the decision is handed down while the soldier is serving in Afghanistan, and he doesn’t realize he has the right to appeal until after he returns from his deployment—after the appeal deadline has passed.  For students in Harvard Law School’s new Veterans Legal Clinic, the chance to argue that the appeal deadline should have been tolled and the case allowed to proceed on the merits is proving invaluable educationally and personally.

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  Six from Harvard Law School awarded Skadden Fellowships

  Six from Harvard Law School recently were chosen by the Skadden Foundation to receive two-year fellowships to support their work in public service. This year’s recipients include current students Haben Girma ’13, Hunter Landerholm ’13, Adam Meyers ’13 and Mara Sacks ’13, and recent graduates Robert Hodgson ’12 and Daniel Saver ’12.

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  Massachusetts sends Warren to U.S. Senate

  Harvard Law School Professor and Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren—bankruptcy expert, Wall Street reformer and consumer watch dog—has won a hard-fought race for the U.S. Senate against her Republican opponent, incumbent Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.

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  Alumni fare well in elections

  Harvard Law School graduates across the country won political victories in the 2012 elections. In addition to a victory by President Barack Obama '91in a close race with Republican candidate Mitt Romney J.D./M.B.A ‘75.  A Harvard Law School Professor and two HLS alumni won seats in the Senate, and 15 alumni are going to the House.

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  At HLS, Solicitor General Verrilli describes 'the greatest legal job one could ever have' (video)

  According to U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., the defining feature of his job—the most challenging, rewarding aspect—is grappling with what the position of the United States should be on an issue. At a talk on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at Harvard Law School, Verrilli explained that this task is harder than it might seem, involving a balancing of interests and making considered decisions on whether the U.S. should modify a previously held position.