Latest from Harvard Law News Staff

In a Jan. 18 op-ed in The New York Times, “China’s Currency Isn’t Our Problem,” HLS Assistant Professor Mark Wu assesses the impact of the value of China’s currency, the renminbi, on the the American economy.

A bi-partisan ABA Administrative Law Section task force, co-chaired by HLS Professor Charles Fried, issued a report recommending significant changes to federal lobbying laws. The proposed changes would broaden disclosure required by those involved in lobbying campaigns, address fundraising participation by lobbyists and strengthen enforcement of current law.

Former clerks of the International Court of Justice shared their experiences with Harvard Law School students in December at “Behind the Scenes at the World Court: International Court of Justice Clerk Panel,” a panel discussion sponsored by the Harvard International Affairs Council the Harvard International Law Journal, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Debevoise & Plimpton.

Harvard Law School Professor William Alford ’77 received an honorary degree from the University of Geneva in December 2010, recognizing him as “an eminent person of contemporary international law … whose reputation extends far beyond the borders of the United States.” Other recipients in 2010 included the Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, José Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, and several distinguished European intellectuals. (See the complete list.)

Professor Charles Fried joined NPR's On Point to discuss Congress's unprecedented decision to read aloud the full text of the U.S. Constitution as the year's first order of business.

In the spring of 2007, HLS Professor David Wilkins ’80 asked the members of his seminar to envision their futures. One student foresaw a federal judicial appointment. Another wanted to make partner at a prominent law firm. Also in the class was Daron Roberts ’07, who had a different sort of answer. He wanted to be head coach at a national football powerhouse.

In 2009, HLS Professor Yochai Benkler ’94 and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society were commissioned by the FCC to do a study on broadband deployment throughout the world.

Benjamin Kaplan, the Royall Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and a former justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, died Aug. 18, 2010.

Since early 2010, Rita Hauser ’58 and Roel Campos ’79 have been serving on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, appointed by President Barack Obama ’91.

Paul S. Miller ’86, a leader in the disability rights movement, died Oct. 19, at age 49. Miller was on the faculty of the University of Washington and was also an adviser to President Barack Obama ’91.

The focus of the Harvard Law School Association over the next two years will be building awareness and engagement among alumni on a global basis. My mantra is “One World, One HLSA.”

In his first tour of duty in Iraq, in 2007, Marine Capt. Courtney Walsh LLM ’11 was one of two defense attorneys who represented Marines in Al Anbar Province charged with a range of infractions, from disciplinary violations to serious crimes tried in a court-martial.

William T. Coleman Jr. ’43 ('46), the venerable civil rights lawyer who served on the Brown v. Board of Education case, as counsel to the Warren Commission and as secretary of transportation in the Gerald Ford Administration, was a guest speaker at Harvard Law School on Dec. 1.

Harvard Law School Lecturer on Law Stuart N. Brotman has been appointed to the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP).

Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ‘84, director of the Program on Corporate Governance, was selected as one of 2010’s top 10 “governance stars” by Global Proxy Watch, an international corporate governance newsletter.

In a Dec. 15 letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation urged the Committees to hold oversight hearings on the implementation through rulemaking of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Joe Fernandez '91, a former Providence city solicitor, died Dec. 18, 2010, after a short illness. He was 46.

Cambridge University Press has published a festschrift paying tribute to Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Detlev Vagts ’51, expert on international law, whose career at HLS has spanned more than a half century.