Latest from Harvard Law News Staff

Julius Genachowski ’91 will be nominated to head the Federal Communications Commission, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. If confirmed, he will take over the FCC’s work of regulating communications in the U.S.

In the wake of the Abu Ghraib revelations, the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005 that “we care very much about finding out what happened and holding people accountable.”

Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein ’78 will be appointed as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reported today.

Huzaifa Parhat, a fruit peddler, has been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay Detention Center for the last seven years. He is not a terrorist. He’s a mistake, a victim of the war against al Qaeda. An interrogator first told him that the military knew he was not a threat to the United States in 2002.

Since his election as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama ’91 has been tapping Harvard Law School alumni in putting together his team of top advisers and appointees. Numerous alumni have joined the Obama-Biden transition team and the incoming administration.

With the future of television soap operas looking grim, a group of actors participated in a day-long training with HLS’s Negotiation and Mediation Clinic to learn negotiation skills for dealing with networks during tough economic times and a changing daytime TV industry.

President-elect Barack Obama ’91 has nominated Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan ’86 to be the 44th solicitor general of the United States. The appointment was announced by the Obama Transition Team today.

The following op-ed, “City of Cold Shoulders,” by HLS Visiting Professor Walter Dellinger, appeared in the Jan. 6, 2009, edition of The New York Times.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ’83 is the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Kaine will be responsible for preparing for the 2010 midterm elections, and raising money for the party. He plans to work at the party part-time until 2010, when his term as governor is up and he can take over the DNC full-time.

Harvard Law School student Clara J. K. Long ’11 and her Boston-based film crew won a new international media award for their documentary series “Border Stories,” which strives to show the “human face” of the U.S.-Mexico border region.

On Tuesday, December 2, the Harvard Law School Forum sponsored a lecture by Valerie Caproni, General Counsel to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein ’78 is highlighted in the Jan. 5, 2009, issue of Newsweek magazine as one of four thinkers “whose philosophies seem to have captured the intellectual moment.”

W. Mark Lanier, the plaintiffs attorney who won a $253 million judgment against pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. over the fatal effects of its painkiller Vioxx, spoke to Professor Jon Hanson’s Torts class on November 19 at the law school.

Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein ’78 is featured amongst the top three public intellectuals for 2008 in the Christmas/January issue of Prospect magazine. Sunstein earned the “bronze” placement on the list, along with Nudge co-author Richard Thaler.

Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman’s essay, “Orthodox Paradox,” was selected for inclusion in this year’s anthology, The Best American Spiritual Writing.

For Harvard Law School, 2008 was a record-setting year. The faculty grew to an all-time high, and the five-year fundraising campaign set the standard for law schools everywhere. As 2008 draws to a close, here are some highlights — including a slideshow — of a very busy law year in the life of HLS, from A(lstott) to Z(ittrain)...

For the second straight year, six Harvard Law School students and recent graduates have been chosen to receive Skadden Fellowships to support their work in public service. This marks the seventh consecutive year that HLS students and recent graduates have won more of the prestigious Skadden fellowships than their competitors from other law schools.