Media Mentions

In a new study, Dr. Anderson examines why so many companies land in what he dubs “the Delaware Trap.”...Dr. Anderson’s research doesn’t take into account various factors that prior research has shown to influence incorporation decisions, such as the antitakeover statutes of a business’s state of headquarters, says Lucian Bebchuk, the James Barr professor of law, economics and finance at Harvard Law School and the director of its program on corporate governance. A study by Dr. Bebchuk and Alma Cohen, a professor of empirical practice at Harvard Law School, found that companies are more likely to incorporate in Delaware rather than their state of headquarters when they have more employees or sales, when they’re based in the Northeast or South or when their state of headquarters has fewer antitakeover statutes.

President Trump’s promised bonfire of Obama-era banking legislation is unlikely to happen, according to an emerging consensus among Wall Street bankers, lawmakers and regulators. Instead, bankers are switching their deregulation hopes to a changing of the guard of US bank supervisors, who have considerable scope to loosen the shackles on banks within the bounds of existing law...Hal Scott of Harvard Law School, who was earlier in the running to be the Fed’s new regulatory chief, said that excessively cautious and secretive stress testing was the “binding constraint” on bank capital. “That’s untenable,” he said.

An op-ed by Amanda Kool. Post-election, everyone is talking about rural America. But what are we doing about rural America? Since President Donald Trump took office, lawyers have been at the forefront of a crusade in support of democracy. Our law students at Harvard and UC Davis tell stories about classmates who dropped everything to assist immigrants at airports across the country. Nonlawyers, too, have taken up the causes of justice and civic engagement, participating in study sessions on the Constitution and gathering record crowds at town hall meetings. With lawyers in the spotlight, mobilized to help those in need, we must remember that Trump's win was a call for help. Rural folks are telling us they are hurting and they are angry.

As the United States continues to grapple with growing Islamophobia, Harvard Law School has launched a “flagship research venture” to organise the world’s information on Islamic law: SHARIAsource. The project aims to provide a repository for scholars, journalists and policy makers, by making knowledge freely available, Sharon Tai, SHARIAsource’s research editor, told Middle East Eye...“Islamic law is so often seen as an esoteric and impenetrable base of law. There’s this kind of perception of a lack of logic, because it’s based in theology,” Tai continued, “but actually there is a very clear logic behind it. The way it’s laid out historically, it worked well for the societies in which it was applied.” The project was conceived nearly a decade ago, by Dr Intisar Rabb, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a director of its Islamic Legal Studies Programme.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. With Venezuela on the brink of a constitutional crisis, President Nicolas Maduro has called for the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. It’s a terrible idea -- potentially more of a power grab than a genuine attempt to resolve the crisis through negotiation. It’s also a reminder that creating a new constitution shouldn’t be an excuse to stop the operation of an existing elected government. An orderly constitutional transition requires an orderly process. The crisis is largely of Maduro’s making. In late March, the Venezuelan Supreme Court, dominated by Maduro supporters, claimed to assume all the powers of the democratically elected National Assembly.

In November, the newly installed Wells Fargo chief executive, Timothy J. Sloan, told employees that retaliation against whistle-blowers would “not be tolerated at Wells Fargo.”...Last month, Wells Fargo released a long-awaited independent investigation into the scandal, conducted with the assistance of the law firm Shearman & Sterling. The subject of whistle-blowers and how they were treated was relegated to a footnote in the 110-page report. “That’s a red flag in itself,” said Howell E. Jackson, a professor at Harvard Law School and a visiting scholar at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “It’s buried on Page 87. My concern is whether whistle-blowers were handled properly and to what degree the board bears responsibility. You don’t find any answers in this mumbo-jumbo.”

An op-ed by Ronald Sullivan. Who is Buddy Jacobs, and how does he block criminal justice reform in Florida?...For almost 50 years, Jacobs has served as General Counsel and Lobbyist for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association – an organization that includes the 20 elected prosecutors for every district in Florida. Jacobs, now in his late 70s, started lobbying on behalf of the FPAA just a few years out of law school. The FPAA sees itself as primarily educational, and its voice is particularly strong in the state capital as it advises the legislature on criminal justice issues. Florida’s prison population increased by more than 1000% and correction spending increased 98% ― 1.1 billion dollars ― between 1994 and 2014. During that time, Jacobs has been a stalwart advocate for retro superpredator-era pro-carceral policies. Indeed, Buddy Jacobs is one of the most powerful forces keeping the state stuck in the past.

An op-ed by Jonathan Zittrain. There are two big problems with America’s news and information landscape: concentration of media, and new ways for the powerful to game it. First, we increasingly turn to only a few aggregators like Facebook and Twitter to find out what’s going on the world, which makes their decisions about what to show us impossibly fraught. Those aggregators draw—opaquely while consistently—from largely undifferentiated sources to figure out what to show us. They are, they often remind regulators, only aggregators rather than content originators or editors. Second, the opacity by which these platforms offer us news and set our information agendas means that we don’t have cues about whether what we see is representative of sentiment at large, or for that matter of anything, including expert consensus.

An op-ed by Delcianna Winders. The Kora Shrine Circus’ recent stint at Androscoggin Bank Colisee serves as a stark reminder of the importance of LD 396 — a bill being considered by the Maine Legislature that would ban the use of elephants in traveling acts. The Hamid Circus — the notorious company that puts on the Kora Shrine Circus — exemplifies the need for this kind of legislation. Hamid has partnered with an elephant exhibitor who racked up hundreds of animal welfare violations, including repeatedly chaining an elephant so tightly she could barely move. According to a whistleblower’s report to the federal government, this trainer also “turned off the lights and beat” his elephant while she “was staked down by all four legs” and “directed others to take part in that by using other objects such as [a] sledge hammer and shovel handles.”

Can historians make their work count in the courts without compromising on their academic principles? It’s a question more scholars now have reason to grapple with. Historians say they feel that they are being asked to write or sign amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases more frequently...Ms. [Tomiko] Brown-Nagin is a strong proponent of historians’ playing an active role in court. She says worrying about whether a position in one case will hurt an argument in another "assumes a consistency and coherence in law that is just not there." Furthermore, there’s a growing need for people with a firm grasp of the facts to weigh in on consequential cases, she said. "We’re in an era where there’s skepticism of expertise," Ms. Brown-Nagin said. "It’s important for historians and others to assert their authority and push back."

An op-ed by Ronald Sullivan. Alabama recently took a small but important step forward in reforming its criminal justice system when the legislature voted to eliminate judicial override in capital cases last month, but all of that progress could come to a screeching halt if the “Fair Justice Act” is allowed to pass. The deceitfully named bill (it is neither fair nor just) would shorten the time for appeals and reduce already inadequate resources that death row prisoners have when appealing their convictions. Alabama has clearly put its head in the sand and is ignoring its own disgraceful experience with wrongful convictions and the death penalty, as well as current recommendations from other states.

Beginning this fall, juniors in college can apply to Harvard Law School through a deferred-admissions program intended to encourage students to pursue another experience for a couple of years before starting their legal education. School officials particularly hope to lure students interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields to consider the law, since advanced technical knowledge and skills are in demand. “It’s incredibly valuable to have your attorney understand the underlying biology or the underlying coding systems or the underlying physics that are driving the legal questions,” said Jessica Soban, associate dean for admissions and strategic initiatives.

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.

College juniors around the globe will soon have the chance to snag a seat at Harvard Law School—with a catch. They must first graduate and work for two years before showing up on the law campus. The school announced Wednesday that it is expanding a three-year-old pilot program that allows juniors at Harvard College to apply and gain early admission with the agreement that they work, study, complete a fellowship or conduct research for at least two years after finishing their undergraduate degrees and before starting their legal studies. Beginning in the fall, juniors from any college or university, as well as their international equivalents, are eligible for the school’s Junior Deferral Program. It’s believed to be the first program of its kind at a U.S. law school, said Jessica Soban, associate dean for admissions and strategic initiatives...Legal employers are increasingly looking to hire law students with some work experience, Soban said, and those experiences make for richer classroom discourse. “Having someone who can draw on their real-world experiences or who can draw on a difficult client situation, that’s something that’s really valuable and makes the classroom discussion much more robust,” she said.

In the 1990s, before scientists had the tools to understand the teenage brain, judges around the country sentenced thousands of adolescents to life in prison without the chance for parole. Many of these teens, who are now in their 30s and 40s, committed serious crimes like murder and were punished as adults. At the time, policy makers thought “if you’re old enough to do the crime, you’re old enough to do the time,” said Robert Kinscherff, a senior fellow in law and neuroscience at Harvard University. But advances in brain science since the early 2000s have proved that adolescents’ minds are fundamentally different from those of adults.

Last Wednesday President Trump signed yet another executive order, this one aimed at decreasing the role the federal government plays in education, handing states, local school districts, and parents more power. The same day this order was signed I found myself at the Harvard School of Education attending a conference titled “Under the Trump Administration, What Is Next for Education?” wondering what was next...Sandra Cortesi, Director of Youth and Media at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, was a moderator at the event I attended...I asked Cortesi if she thought schools were providing kids the support and scaffolding they need to formalize informal learning. “We have not reached that point yet,” she said.

Harvard professor Cass Sunstein returns to discuss his new book #Republic, which looks at polarization in the digital age. While America isn’t more polarized than ever, Sunstein says it’s important to focus on how today’s problems are different and new. “You find yourself in a cocoon, even if you didn’t choose it,” says Sunstein. But he sees hope in sites that are actively trying to sell their readers on content from outside their normal media diet. “In the fullness of time, the non–echo chamber model is going to be producing a lot of revenue.” In the Spiel, we discover what it would have been like if President Trump had been commander in chief during our time of greatest national strife.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, it appears the two-state solution isn’t dead after all. Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, in a modestly surprising move has said it would accept a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders. The motives for the announcement, which also came with the group’s distancing from the Muslim Brotherhood, are complex. But the key fact is that the statement is an early win for the Trump administration’s nascent attempt a Middle East peace solution. It’s a sign that Hamas, at least, is taking that potential initiative seriously.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. President Donald Trump has arrived at his new slogan: “Blame Canada.” But not because anything is actually Canada’s fault. Rather, process of elimination has led Trump to favor symbolic sanctions against America’s closest and best ally. As it turns out, trade is one of the only areas where a president can take significant action unilaterally without violating the Constitution. Trump’s most dramatic executive orders have been struck down by the courts. Congress won’t pass any important legislation. That leaves trade by default -- and since it would be too risky to take on trade with China, the best Trump can do is to make headlines by blaming Canada for trade unfairness on such unexciting products as softwood lumber and dairy.

It’s hard to think of a worse example of the “swamp” that needs draining than a president hiring his unqualified, inexperienced 30-something daughter and son-in-law with a myriad of conflicts (some involving foreign countries) who refuse to fully divest while given broad, undefined duties ranging over the entire government. The nepotism all by itself is regrettable and arguably violates at least the spirit of the anti-nepotism law...An ad from 2012 recently surfaced featuring Ivanka Trump promoting the Trump hotel in the Philippines, a property Trump still owns. In the wake of his bizarre, widely criticized invitation for strongman Rodrigo Duterte to visit, one has to ask whose interests the Trump gang represents. “Despite its age, the Ivanka [ad] serves to remind anyone who’d forgotten that the Trumps have a major Trump-branded property in Duterte-land,” says legal maven Laurence Tribe.

For as long as she can remember, Annette Gordon-Reed wanted to write. As a child, she loved words and books, especially biographies, and was all of 7 when she became an author herself. More than four decades later, “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” brought a Pulitzer Prize and recognition as a major historian of U.S. slavery. Gordon-Reed’s path to Harvard — she is the Law School’s Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History and a professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences — is every bit as interesting as her pioneering scholarship.