Latest from HLS News Staff

On March 10, Harvard Law School will convene leading academics and policymakers for a conference exploring U.S. regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Titled New Prospects for Climate Change Regulation, the day-long event will feature a range of participants, including U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Today, the law school's Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center will host a workshop for the City of Boston’s Main Streets Program. BMS works to revitalize local commercial districts throughout Boston. Three students -- Duston Barton, 2L; Joyce Hsieh 3L; and Lerato Molefe, 3L -- will give presentations to program directors about legal issues related to non-profit federal and state compliance.

Professor Charles Ogletree was recently named the first ever recipient of the Rosa Parks Award, given by the city of Boston. Mayor Thomas Menino presented the award as part of the city's African American Achievement Awards for black history month

Members of Harvard Law School's Prison Legal Assistance Project, a clinical program that represents state prisoners in a variety of proceedings, recently participated in rewriting Massachusetts law governing state prison discipline.

After 20 years as Harvard Law School's Associate Dean for Development, Scott Nichols will conclude his service on April 30 to become Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs at Boston University.

This weekend, HLS's Human Rights Journal will host its annual conference, which will focus on UN reform and human rights. The event is particularly timely given that, this year, the UN is slated to undergo the biggest reforms since its creation. The event will take place on February 25, 2006 in Pound Hall on the HLS campus.

The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau has elected a new board of directors, with Kimberly Harbin, 2L, taking the helm as president. Joining Harbin on the new board are 2Ls Jean Kosela, Julie Park, Paul Pineau, Humayun Khalid, Mira Edmonds, Vivian Chum, Libby Brown and Jonathon Bashford.

Last weekend, a group of about 20 Harvard Law School Democrats traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet alumni and other lawyers with a variety of experience in government and politics.

The following article by John Palfrey and Rebecca MacKinnon, Censorship Inc., was published in the February 27, 2006 issue of Newsweek: Executives of some of the world's most powerful companies squirmed in their seats last week as U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (Democrat of California), a Holocaust survivor, lectured them about their role in helping China censor the Internet. "These companies tell us that they will change China," he told them. "But China has already changed them."

Last weekend, third-year students Amar Mehta and Sabastian Niles took first place in the American Bar Association National Negotiation Championship. From a pool of 200 teams, Mehta and Niles were selected to represent the United States at the International Negotiation Competition in July.

First-year student Elizabeth Barchas recently won the Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholarship, an award given to students who aspire to become foreign correspondents. From a pool of more than 175 applicants from 65 different schools, Barchas and twelve students were chosen by a panel of leading journalists.

Professor Roger Fisher and Lecturer Daniel Shapiro were recently honored for their book "Beyond Reason" by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. The institute presented the authors with the book prize in a ceremony held in New York last month to recognize outstanding scholarship and practice in alternative dispute resolution.

This January, twenty-five Harvard Law School students volunteered a week of their winter break to provide free legal and humanitarian assistance to area residents and community organizations in Southeast Louisiana.

It has been only a few minutes since Pranvera Recica LL.M. 2006 finished her corporations exam, and she suddenly realizes she is exhausted. Collapsing onto a chair at the Hark on a December afternoon, she explains that she's had no more than two to three hours of sleep each of the past few nights, and she is looking forward to getting back to her dorm room for a nap.

Assistant Professor Kenneth Mack is challenging conventional wisdom in his new article, "Rethinking Civil Rights Lawyering and Politics in the Era Before Brown," published in a recent issue of The Yale Law Journal.

John Palfrey '01, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, was recently appointed clinical professor of law, a new position that recognizes his leadership in developing programs that give students real-world experience in cyberlaw litigation, client counseling, research and related issues. Here, Palfrey speaks with contributor Elaine McArdle about his work.

Arthur Taylor von Mehren, the Story Professor of Law Emeritus, died on January 16th at the age of 84. In addition to educating thousands of Harvard Law students over the course of a 50-year teaching career, von Mehren was a pioneer in comparative and international law. He helped to develop new thinking on a range of legal issues including international jurisdictions, commercial arbitration and comparative constitutional law.

Lucian Bebchuk, director of HLS's Program on Corporate Governance, was named as one of this year's "100 most influential people in finance" by Treasury and Risk Management magazine. The list recognizes leaders in corporate finance, ranging from CEOs to regulators to academics.