Martha Minow

An op-ed by Martha Minow...In this season of commencement addresses, we have heard of the challenge to push harder, to give of yourself, and to make a difference, but the compliment of highest expectations means the most when it is offered by someone who is committed to help us achieve them. The 100th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy is a perfect occasion to revisit his inspiring challenges to Americans and, indeed, to the world, and to remember how he matched his high expectations with sacrifice, service, and contagious belief.

After eight years at the helm of Harvard Law School (HLS), Dean Martha Minow plans to step down and return in the fall to the classroom, where she has taught for 36 years. Minow’s tenure was marked by digitization of the School library’s collection, diversification of the faculty and student body, and expansion of legal clinics and research programs. Among the challenges she faced were the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and a student movement calling for removal of the School’s shield because of its ties to a slave-owning benefactor. The School retired the old shield. Minow, the Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law, sat down with the Gazette to reflect on her tenure, her plans to defend the rule of law, and an upcoming book on law and forgiveness.

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has selected Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and Harvard Law School Professors Samantha Power ’99, Adriaan Lanni and Intisar Rabb as Radcliffe Institute fellows for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Harvard Law School, expanding a pilot program for Harvard undergraduates, said Wednesday that it would allow juniors accepted from any college to defer admission as long as they finish college and spend at least two years working, studying or pursuing research or fellowships...Harvard Law’s latest step allows college graduates to broaden their experience while knowing they have a secure law school berth, said Jessica L. Soban, the school’s associate dean for admissions and strategic initiatives. “This allows students to go and do something they love, and not to feel they have to build their résumé,” Ms. Soban said...“By offering admission to the most promising college juniors, we can encourage them to pursue important and fulfilling experiences without concerns about effects on a later application to law school,” Martha Minow, the law school’s dean, said in a statement.

Alumni, faculty, administrators, and students flocked to the Divinity School this weekend, celebrating its two centuries of existence with lectures, a panel of Harvard deans, and a bicentennial party, concluding a years-worth of festivities...Several hundred people also attended the panel “Religion Matters: HDS at Harvard University” on Friday, which was moderated by Divinity School Dean David Hempton and featured Law School Dean Martha L. Minow, Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, and Graduate School of Education Dean James E. Ryan...Minow joked that “religion is present at the Harvard Law School before every exam” and detailed the connections between governmental and religious legal traditions. “For a law school to be situated in the United States, the temptation is to think that there is only one legal system. We’ve worked really hard to locate the United States and the 50 states inside of many legal traditions,” she said.

Corrected version. Professors and students at the Law School gathered on Tuesday to argue whether aggressive acts by international states should be included under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court...Harvard Law professor Alex Whiting and Middlesex University London professors William Schabas and Donald Ferencz spoke on the panel. Law School Dean Martha Minow and Law School professor Gerald L. Neuman '73 also spoke at the event...The event continued with references to essays written by symposium contributors, including members of the Harvard International Law Journal that organized the symposium. Marissa R. Brodney [`18], an executive editor of Harvard International Law Journal, wrote an essay on the designation for victims of aggression. “The symposium explores what has always been a relevant question and has become an increasingly relevant question in our current geopolitical moment” Brodney said.