Latest from HLS News Staff

South African President Jacob Zuma has nominated Sandile Ngcobo LL.M. ’86 to become the country’s new chief justice, responsible for leading South Africa’s judiciary.

On Wednesday, August 12 beginning at 11 a.m., Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice will hold an open event on Martha’s Vineyard entitled, “Striking the Right Balance: Addressing Our Individual and Collective Responsibilities to Families and Communities.”

President Barack Obama ’91 has nominated Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow, along with John Levi '72 LL.M. '73 and Gloria Valencia-Weber '86, to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, a bi-partisan, government-sponsored organization that provides civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. The nominations require approval by the Senate.

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Center for Research in Computation and Society (CRCS), based at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), have joined their fellowship programs for the 2009-2010 academic year. This collaboration will intensify both Centers’ exchanges across the University and stimulate multidisciplinary research efforts in areas ranging from ethics to economics.

Last year, Matthew F. Wells ’09 traveled through Sierra Leone visiting more than two dozen artisanal diamond mines, under the auspices of the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School.

The Program on Negotiation has announced that Sean McDonnell ’09 has won the Roger Fisher and Frank E.A. Sander Prize for his paper “Fighting With Faith: The Role of Religion in Dealing With Modern Conflict.”

The following op-ed by HLS Professor Lani Guinier and Columbia Law Professor Susan Sturm, “America’s Best Colleges: Merit by the Numbers” appeared in the August 5, 2009, edition of Forbes. Guinier and Sturm are the co-authors of “Who’s Qualified: A New Democracy Forum on the Future of Affirmative Action” (Beacon Press, 2001).

Benjamin Ferencz ’43, known for his role as chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg Trials and for his work promoting an international rule of law and the creation of an International Criminal Court, has been awarded the prestigious Erasmus Prize. The prize is given to individuals who have made “especially important contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe.”  

The following op-ed by Harvard law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’81 S.J.D. ’84, “Regulate financial pay to reduce risk-taking,” appeared in the August 3, 2009, edition of the Financial Times. It builds on his June 11 testimony before the financial services committee of the US Congress and his white paper, co-authored with Holger Spamann, on Regulating Bankers’ Pay

Martha Minow, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, begins her tenure as new dean of the Faculty of Law today, July 1. Harvard University President Drew Faust announced on June 11 that Minow would become the 12th dean of HLS.

This year, Harvard Law School alumni continued to make an impact in a variety of ways. Most notably, HLS alumni have filled the halls of…

The following book review co-authored by Harvard Law School Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 and University of Chicago Law School Professor Eric Posner ’91, entitled “Outcomes, outcomes,” will appear in the forthcoming August 12, 2009, edition of The New Republic. In the article, Vermeule and Posner discuss the book, “The Constitution in 2020.”

On July 29, HLS Professor John C. Coates testified during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.  In the hearing titled “Protecting Shareholders and Enhancing Public Confidence by Improving Corporate Governance,” Coates offered his recommendations for corporate governance reform.

Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84, director of HLS’s Program on Corporate Governance wrote “Let the Good Times Roll Again?” for his July column for Project Syndicate, an international association of 425 newspapers in 150 countries. His recent article draws on his testimony before the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his white papers “Equity Compensation for Long-Term Performance” and “Regulating Bankers’ Pay.”

On July 28, HLS Professor Hal Scott testified before the Senate Banking Committee at hearings held by committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., addressing how the insurance sector could be better regulated.

The following op-ed “Race and Reality in a Front-Porch Encounter” by HLS Professor Lani Guinier appeared in the July 30, 2009 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 discussed the social structures that keep the internet “safe from chaos” at this year’s TED Global Conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design). The conference, which took place at Oxford, brought together intellectual leaders from around the world to discuss its theme, “The Substance of Things Not Seen.”

On Friday July 24, President Barack Obama ’91 announced that the United States will sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, joining more than 100 other nations. The Harvard Law School Project on Disability played a prominent role in the negotiations leading up to the convention, which is the first global human rights treaty of the 21st century.

President Barack Obama ’91 nominated Ketanji Jackson ’96 to fill a spot on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson would be one of seven voting members of the commission, which oversees the sentencing guidelines used by federal judges and advises Congress on criminal law.

The following op-ed “The Fed Can Lead on Financial Supervision” co-written by HLS Professor Hal Scott appeared in the July 24, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Scott, the director of HLS’s Program on International Financial Systems, co-wrote the op-ed with R. Glenn Hubbard, dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and John Thornton, chairman of the Brookings Institution.

Harvard Law School was well represented in the inaugural Qatar Law Forum in late May—an unprecedented gathering of legal luminaries from some 35 nations, including 12 chief justices, the presidents of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and prominent legal officials, legal educators and practitioners. (Watch video from the forum.)