Latest from Harvard Law News Staff

Samantha Power ’99, who has served as an adviser to President Barack Obama ’91 on foreign policy and national security, won confirmation Thursday as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Newly confirmed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Tuesday pledged action on climate change during the Obama administration’s remaining years, saying the concern is as much economic as it is environmental.

In an award ceremony held in New York City last month, the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi) announced the winners of its the 2013 prize competition. The academic award went to Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. '80 S.J.D. 84, HLS Senior Fellow and Tel-Aviv University Professor Alma Cohen, and Harvard Business School Professor Charles Wang. The trio received the award for their study, "Learning and the Disappearing Association between Governance and Returns," which was published last month by the Journal of Financial Economics.

The Harvard Law School Library Blog, “Et Seq.,” frequently publishes historical documents and images from the law school’s archives. For a recent post, they showcased a historical image of the editorial board of Volume 51 of the Harvard Law Review celebrating a successful year outside of Austin Hall.

According to recent findings from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, teens are sharing more information about themselves on social media sites than they have in the past, but they are also taking a variety of technical and non-technical steps to manage the privacy of that information.

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.”

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.

“HLS Thinks Big,” an event inspired by the global TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talks and modeled after the university's “Harvard Thinks Big” event, was held at Harvard Law School on May 28. Four professors—Daniel Nagin, Glenn Cohen '03, Jeannie Suk '02, and James Greiner—presented on some of their recent work and research.

Less than two weeks after being confirmed by the Senate as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Gina McCarthy delivered an inaugural address at Harvard Law School on Tuesday, July 30.

Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic argues that the Alien Tort Statute applies to corporations From left: Assistant Clinical Professor Susan Farbstein ’04,…

Read more about what compelled Jonathan Nomamiukor ’13 to take a break from law school, his work with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic on the issue of fully autonomous weapons, and the mentorship he received from Clinical Instructor Bonnie Docherty.

Read more about what compelled Jonathan Nomamiukor ’13 to take a break from law school, his work with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic on the issue of fully autonomous weapons, and the mentorship he received from Clinical Instructor Bonnie Docherty.

“The Morphine Dream,” by Donald L. Brown ’89, with Gary S. Chafetz (Bettie Youngs Books). The title of this memoir is literal—and relates to Harvard Law School. While on morphine, recovering from an operation meant to restore his ability to walk after an accident, the author imagined he would graduate from the school. And walk across the country. His doctor thought he was delirious. After all, Brown had few prospects and only a ninth-grade education. But the dream did indeed come true; he tells the story of his long walk both literal and metaphorical.

Ernest Shackleton’s first journey to the Antarctic in the early 1900s ended in a very public failure. On his second journey, in a race to the South Pole, he turned back within 100 miles of his goal. In his third expedition, not only did he fail to traverse Antarctica, but his ship was destroyed by ice, stranding the crew on ice floes for more than a year. So why do law and business students and executives in legal and business organizations study Shackleton as an example of successful leadership?

Many Harvard Law School alumni have been extraordinarily successful, many have lived unusual lives, and not a few have done both—including Morgan Chu ’76, one of the most successful IP lawyers in the world, who, along with his wife, Helen, is endowing in perpetuity the dean’s chair at HLS. Dean Martha Minow will be honored as the inaugural Morgan and Helen Chu Dean’s Professor.