Article

On Friday, Novemeber 4, The Program on Corporate Governance at HLS will host a panel discussion to debate personal liability for corporate directors. This question became a central one in the recent WorldCom and Enron cases, in which directors paid settlement fees out of their own pockets. Panelists will consider whether personal liability makes directors accountable, or whether it could deter directors from serving and make serving directors excessively defensive.

Ben W. Heineman, Jr., GE's Senior Vice President for Law and Public Affairs, will become the first Distinguished Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School's Program on the Legal Profession, beginning in the spring semester. At the same time, he will become a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Professor Elizabeth Warren writes: Is there celebration in the halls of Citibank this week? Is MBNA uncorking the Champagne while Ford Motor Credit serves cake? Eleven years ago, these and other creditors pushed hard to re-elect sympathetic members of Congress who would enact a tougher bankruptcy law. Last Monday, the law they lobbied for went into effect.

Professor Charles Fried writes: What is indispensable is that [Miers] be able to think lucidly and deeply about legal questions and express her thoughts in clear, pointed, understandable prose. A justice without those capabilities -- however generally intelligent, decent, and hardworking -- risks being a calamity for the court, the law, and the country.

Following the announcement on October 6 that the former United Nations high commissioner for refugees, Sadako Ogata, is the winner of the 2005 Great Negotiator Award, this week Ogata came to Harvard Law School to receive the award and speak to the HLS community.

A new book co-edited by Harvard Law School lecturer Robert C. Bordone has received the top book award from the National Institute for Advanced Conflict Resolution.

The clinical casework of students in Harvard Law School's Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative is the foundation of a landmark new report called Helping Traumatized Children Learn.

On Wednesday, October 5, Newt Minow spoke at Harvard Law School as the first in the "Great Lawyers" speakers series. Minow's career has included practice in both small and large law firms, government service and business. The conversation was moderated by Dean Elena Kagan and Professor Martha Minow, his daughter. An archived webcast of the event is now available.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School today announced that the recipient of its 2005 Great Negotiator award is Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the 1990s.

The following essay, The Truman Show: In choosing Miers, Bush pulled a Truman, by Professor William Stuntz originally appeared in The New Republic Online on October 4, 2005: What kind of president picks both John Roberts and Harriet Miers? They look like the ultimate odd couple. Roberts is not a Bush crony, he has a résumé to die for, and everyone who knows him says he's unbelievably smart. Miers is more than a crony but certainly not less.

On the same day that President Bush nominated his second Supreme Court justice, members of the Harvard Law School faculty assembled in Langdell Hall to examine recent trends on the high Court and speculate about upcoming cases and the beginning of John Robert's tenure as chief justice.

From the September 2005 issue of Harvard Law Today: Fifteen ambassadors took their seats at the round Security Council table. Two rows behind U.S. Ambassador Gerald Scott sat Alex Wong ’07, summer intern at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

On Wednesday, September 28, Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia were joined by their British counterparts for a wide-ranging panel discussion on the similarities and differences between the judicial systems in the U.S. and U.K.

On September 30, 2005, approximately 130 leaders of the financial systems of the United States and Japan will convene in Gotemba, Japan for discussions over three days on issues affecting the future of the global financial system.

Following a 78 to 22 confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate, today Harvard Law School graduate John Roberts became chief justice of the United States, the highest ranking position in the American judiciary.

Professor Heather Gerken: Yesterday, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) released the results of a national study of election practices. Created in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, the commission is charged with improving how elections are run. Unfortunately, Congress gave the new agency a modest mandate, little money, and less clout.

The following story is from the September 2005 issue of Harvard Law Today: This summer, while some classmates in New York and Boston drafted briefs or finalized memos in high-rise office buildings, the 28 Harvard Law students selected as 2005 Chayes Fellows encountered entirely different challenges.

Dean Elena Kagan gave her annual "state of the school" address in Ames Courtroom this week to mark the beginning of the academic year. Click here to watch an archived webcast of the address.

A Boston Globe op-ed by HLS Professor Philip Heymann and Kennedy School lecturer Juliette Kayem -- and HLS graduate -- on congressional reauthorization of the Patriot Act.