Foreword
Many of us have trouble believing that we have been out of law school for forty-five years. We’re not sure why our perception of time differs from reality, but we do know that HLS ’80 alums have pursued a fascinating variety of occupations and endeavors. Our multifaceted class includes the following people:
- A recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” (in 2024)
- An actor who shared the screen with Tom Hanks
- Four HLS professors
- A university president and several law school deans
- A general counsel for the NFL
- Several civil rights attorneys
- At least seven judges (federal and state)
- A chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee
- A counsel to the US Senate
- Several mayors—of small towns and the fourth largest city in the US
- At least three leaders of litigation departments at major law firms
- Several entrepreneurial lawyers who started their own firms—in Paris, the US Virgin Islands, Arizona, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Texas, and elsewhere
- An author of sixteen novels, five children’s books, and one nonfiction reference book
- Several other novelists, as well as playwrights, poets, biographers, history-book authors, and at least one Substack newsletter writer
- A tax lawyer who became a minister (and at least two other ministers)
- A theater fan who endowed a Shakespeare visiting artist program at a university
- A dog breeder who has been successful at the prestigious Westminster Dog Show
- An ambassador to a European country
- At least four experts in international law at major universities
- An adventurer who has visited more than one hundred and seventy-five countries, including every former Soviet republic
- A professional-level Lindy Hop dancer nationally known in swing-dance circles
- Political commentators on radio and television
- A radio host of jazz programs
- At least two teachers at K–12 schools
- A consultant who specializes in executive coaching and leadership development
- Mediators and arbitrators
- Angel investors, venture capitalists, and investment bankers
- Several people who retired from the same law firm they started in
- At least fifteen class couples
Find out more in the pages that follow.
In Memoriam
We pay tribute and hold dear the memories of our classmates who have passed away. Although they are no longer with us, their enduring presence will forever hold a cherished place in our hearts and within the Harvard Law School community.
Records of the Class
Click the button below to view your password-protected class records – a collection of your classmates’ contact information and their stories – about life, career, family, hobbies, and more.
Please note: Passwords are case-sensitive. Also, this PDF is designed for reading only and cannot be printed.
Class Remembrances
Richard B. Bernstein
Howard Abrams remembers:
Professor Areeda called on a student in contracts class who responded that she was unprepared. The professor said in no uncertain terms that she should see him after class. Richard immediately raised his hand and when called on asked if all students who were unprepared should remain after class. Perhaps twenty-five students started walking toward Professor Areeda after class, and he was so flustered that he told everyone to leave. It was an act of courage by Richard I will never forget.
H. Miles Cohn
Karen A. Wyle remembers:
My friend Miles was a Texan who looked like an East Coast graduate student. He was at times self-conscious about not fitting various Texas stereotypes. One chilly evening, we were part of a group that went out for Chinese food. He hadn’t brought a jacket and was trying to act as if the cold didn’t bother him. At the restaurant, he ordered (or tasted—I don’t remember) hot and sour soup that seemed a little hot for his taste, but he kept denying it was too hot. As we walked home, there was silence at one point, abruptly broken when Miles exclaimed: “It IS cold. The soup WAS hot.”
Robert Jay Ehrlich
Howard Abrams remembers:
He was a wonderful guy and a good friend during law school. When in the fall of our third year I had no place to live, he took me in.
Ralph Dreyfus Gants
Harold Hongju Koh remembers:
Our beloved classmate, Ralph Gants, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, died of a heart attack during COVID. He is memorialized in this volume of the Boston College Law Review, including in a tribute by Scott Gilbert HLS ’80, Larry Tu HLS ’81, and me.
On behalf of the bar, I presented memorial remarks about Ralph before the Mass Supreme Judicial Court. We miss him.
Phillip C. Umphres remembers:
Ralph was in my 1L section, and I remember him as brilliant. Many years later, when my daughter-in-law was sworn in to the Massachusetts Bar, Ralph was Chief Justice of the Mass Supreme Court and presided over the ceremony. He did a wonderful job welcoming the new lawyers to the fold. He died shortly after the event, which was a huge loss to the community of law and to society in general. Why do the good ones have to die before their time?
Dolly Tai-Ian Lo
Charles D. Toy remembers:
Same 1L section. A year later, she urged me to take on the leadership of the Asian Law Students Association (and then lobbied to get me elected). After HLS, she welcomed me and my wife (who graduated a year behind her from Wellesley) to Taiwan and engineered my first offer of a job in Asia (which I did not accept). Full of life and boundless energy, gone too soon.
Sylvester Turner
Charles D. Toy remembers:
Same 1L section. Fearless but a gentleman. Steely yet soft-spoken. A leader and an example to the rest of us. Gone suddenly and only at the beginning of a new chapter.