Article

It's never too late to start a new career. Just ask Lou Kaplan '54. Twenty-eight years after graduating from HLS, Kaplan put down his briefcase and picked up a paintbrush. He's been fulfilling a lifelong desire ever since.

During the Law School's largest international gathering, two HLS alumni were honored for their work in the international arena--Jenö Staehelin LL.M. '65 for his accomplishments in the world of diplomacy and Sumner Redstone '47 for his achievements in the global marketplace.

The Harvard Law School Association, like the Law School itself, reaches around the world. As part of its mission, the HLSA seeks to strengthen the bonds between Harvard Law School and its graduates in all countries.

An Essay by Zanita Fenton

Howard Aibel '51 recently retired as a partner of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Previously he served for 28 years as ITT Corporation's general counsel, and prior to that he was internal antitrust litigation counsel at General Electric.

"I'm just an amateur," insists Harold Dondis '45, writer of the Boston Globe's chess column for the last 37 years. In fact, Dondis is so modest that it's not until ten minutes into a discussion about his favorite game that he offers, matter-of-factly, "I did beat Bobby Fischer one time."

HLS Student Shawn McDonald was one of the "real guys" joining celebrities on People magazine's list of America's Top 50 Bachelors.

Eugene Wade graduated from Morehouse College, Harvard Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. But he almost flunked out of high school. And that experience drove him to start his own charter school company, helping kids like himself--poor minority children in inner cities.

While no HLS grad made it to the finals of the recent Harvard University presidential search, three alumni have attained the top title at other universities.

In 1998 Pamela Coukos '94 became an associate at a firm that barely existed.

Jamie Metzl '97 took the inspiration where he could find it. After swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and in the middle of a 26-mile run, his body was screaming at him to stop.

If Diana Derycz-Kessler '91 ('92) made movies, she would be shooting two films simultaneously, bankrolling another, and throwing in a cameo appearance to boot.

Like most Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill, Leecia Eve '90 is appreciative that Senator Jim Jeffords '62 decided to bolt from the GOP and tip the Senate balance of power to the Democrats.

You wouldn't expect Rob Chesnut '84, the deputy general counsel to the largest online marketplace in the world, to be spending his day worrying about lawn darts.

By the time Michael Fredrickson '82 turned 50, he had taken on many roles: Rhodes scholar, draft resister, English professor, farmer, attorney, lumberjack, auto mechanic, folk singer, and owner and performer in a singing telegram service.

Regardless of how people feel about the outcome of the presidential election controversy, most would agree that the openness of the proceedings helped ensure greater legitimacy.

When some of Alan Stone's colleagues learn that he is teaching a seminar on film at HLS, they wonder, frankly, what the heck he is doing. Students, however, know exactly what he is doing, Stone says. And they like it.

Ira Burnim's clients are not like the rest of us. They don't want any help. They're just not worth the money, the time, the trouble. They're better off locked away, out of sight.

HLS has received bigger contributions but not from anyone more recognized around the world. In June, Bob Barker, the host of the popular game show The Price Is Right, presented Dean Robert Clark '72 with a check for $500,000 to support the study of animal rights at the School.

In 1993 Dick Roy '70 walked away from his position as a high-powered attorney, intent on never again collecting a paycheck. Roy had decided, after more than 20 years practicing law, to cash in his six-figure salary to save the earth.

Sometimes it seems that Daniel Williams '86 is still on the case. When he talks about a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal and the defense strategy and the public relations campaign and the possibility that a client he represented for nearly ten years could be executed, Williams speaks like an advocate girded to continue the fight of his career.