Martha Minow

Crystal Yang ‘13, a scholar specializing in criminal law and consumer finance, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July.

“We searched the world for each and every one of you—and you have exceeded our hopes,” Minow told the Class of 2014, which included 576 J.D.s; 167 LL.M.s; and 7 SJDs.

“Religious Accommodation in the Age of Civil Rights,” a conference held at Harvard Law School April 3–5, brought together a group of distinguished legal scholars to discuss a broad range of controversies that have developed in recent years as marriage equality and anti-discrimination laws have prompted some religious organizations and private companies to assert claims of religious liberty and exemption from compliance with the law.

Dean Martha Minow of the Law School follows E.O. Wilson in the Harvard Gazette's Experience series, interviews with Harvard faculty covering the reasons they became teachers and scholars, and the personal journeys, missteps included, behind their professional success.

Kristen A. Stilt, a leading expert on Islamic Law and society, will join the faculty of Harvard Law School beginning September 2014, with an appointment as Professor of Law.

Harvard Law School has announced that Bertram Fields, one of the nation’s most renowned entertainment lawyers, has made a gift of $5 million to Harvard Law School to endow the Bertram Fields Professorship of Law. Fields, a native of Los Angeles, California, received his law degree from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1952.

Harvard Law School Professor of Practice Nancy Gertner has been selected as a recipient of the 2014 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established by the ABA Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession.

More than 100 years after the U.S. Supreme Court decided a series of cases that left citizens of territories including Puerto Rico, Guam and the American Samoa with only limited Constitutional rights, Harvard Law School hosted a conference to reconsider the so-called Insular Cases and the resonance they continue to hold today.

Some of the faces are well known, others are familiar to only a few, but all of the pictures in the display inside Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein Hall are of women lawyers, policymakers, and others from around the globe who have made a difference and inspired others to do the same.

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow gave the Third Annual Reconciliation Lecture at the University of the Free State in South Africa on Feb. 24. The speech, titled “Forgiveness, Law and Justice,” focused on forgiveness of people, societies and nations and the role the law plays in helping reconciliation after a wrongdoing.

At a recent Askwith Forum on income inequality and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, panelists including Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow discussed interventions that have proven effective and detailed a set of building blocks for an American solution.

Samuel Moyn '01, a leading historian and prize-winning author, will join the faculty of Harvard Law School starting July 1, 2014 as professor of law. Moyn currently serves as James Bryce Professor of European Legal History in the Columbia University history department.

Harvard Law School Visiting Professor Michael Stein '88, an internationally recognized expert on disability rights, received the inaugural Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation. The award recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish world and the greater public.

Offering humorous quips and reflecting on his always challenging role as chair and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein ’78 discussed his company, regulation and the state of the economy, as part of a question-and-answer session with Dean Martha Minow during Reunions Weekend in October.

In June, a delegation from Harvard Law School led by Dean Martha Minow embarked on a 15-day, five-stop visit to East Asia and to the fore of fast-moving developments and challenges across the region.

Legal scholars and experts discussed the legacy and ideas of former attorney general Edward H. Levi, during a discussion at Harvard Law School on Oct. 29.

Oren Bar-Gill LL.M. '01 S.J.D. '05, a leading expert on the law and economics of contracts and contracting, will join the faculty of Harvard Law School on July 1, 2014 as a Professor of Law. His areas of research include behavioral law and economics, consumer contracts, contract law and economic analysis of law.

The average week for a typical law school student involves poring over a list of daunting cases and deconstructing complicated arguments. But on Oct. 30, the work of three Harvard Law School students included something else: an appearance in federal court. The students, who are part of the School’s Veterans Legal Clinic, stood before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims last Wednesday to argue for the rights of their client, a decorated U.S. Army veteran.

Harvard Law School Professor Vicki Jackson marked her appointment to the Thurgood Marshall Professorship of Constitutional Law with an Oct. 3 lecture titled “Proportionality…