Media Mentions

Approximately 20,000 people behind bars in the United States have been wrongfully convicted. One in 25 defendants sentenced to death is later shown to be innocent. These shocking statistics are from the National Registry of Exonerations and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...The American justice system is not afraid to take a long, hard look at itself and do something about it. Case in point: the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson...Ronald Sullivan, Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard, said that Ken Thompson really has started a national movement. Sullivan said if you look at the Brooklyn data in terms of both exonerations, and in terms of the number of conviction integrity units around the country, it really has awakened the nation.

Last week, ride-sharing pioneer Uber announced it was settling a pair of major class-action lawsuits brought by Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts. The drivers claimed Uber had “misclassified” them as independent contractors, rather than employees, in order to save money. The suit was seen as one of the biggest threats to Uber’s business model to date...Benjamin Sachs, a labor law professor at Harvard Law School, said the drivers association could probably withstand an 8a2 charge if it didn’t have any real power in its dealings with Uber management. “If it’s just a substitute for a suggestion box, and if it’s not a meaningful back and forth, then it might escape 8a2 scrutiny,” Sachs said.

When a Harvard Law School student asked a visiting Israeli dignitary why she was “smelly” at a public event, it generated widespread controversy and renewed an intense debate over free speech on campus. The student—whose name was initially concealed, but has since been identified as third-year Palestinian Law student Husam El-Qoulaq—directed the question to former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni at an event on April 14...El-Qoulaq said his words were not intended to be anti-Semitic. “It just felt very surreal watching people in that room treat her [Livni] as an authority on peace. The conversation had already gotten so absurd, I figured I would just add a little of my own nonsense,” he said. “I obviously regret it. I had no idea my words could be interpreted the way they have.” He published an anonymous apology in the Harvard Law Record, and several Jewish students and alumni later penned a letter in his defense. But discussion of the incident did not end there—it had already sparked a robust debate about accountability and free speech.

Three blind law graduates filed a class action against BARBRI, the largest bar exam preparation course in the nation, claiming it is inaccessible to blind people. The plaintiffs alleged in their complaint that Dallas-based BARBRI Inc. violated the federal Americans With Disabilities Act and its similar Texas statute "by maintaining barriers to the accessibility of its services for blind students who use talking screen reading software and failing to make reasonable accommodations or provide auxiliary aids or services," said the April 25 complaint in Stanley v. BarBri Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court in Dallas...The plaintiffs are: Claire Stanley, an aspiring civil rights lawyer for people with disabilities, who failed to pass the Maryland bar exam in July 2015 after using BARBRI; Derek Manners, a third-year student at Harvard Law School, who will take the bar exam in July and then work for a law firm this fall; and Christopher Stewart, a third-year student at the University of Kentucky College of Law, who will take the bar in July and become a federal law clerk. Manners and Stewart plan to use BARBRI.

...This week, Harvard Law School (HLS) will host the decennial academic conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), bringing together scholars, government officials, legal practitioners, and representatives from around the world to discuss the present challenges facing the WTO and the future of trade. The WTO, which began in 1995, oversees the crafting and implementation of multilateral trade agreements and rules, monitors their compliance, and resolves disputes among 162 countries. The lead organizer of the event, Mark Wu ’96, is an assistant professor at HLS who specializes in international economics and trade law. He spoke with the Gazette about the most pressing issues affecting trade and the WTO, and how he sees the future of trade policy.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. Americans think they have a God-given right -- or least a constitutional one -- to the details of celebrity sex lives. Yet disclosures of private information can be sanctioned by law after the fact, as Gawker learned recently when Hulk Hogan recently won a huge verdict against it for publishing his sex tape. There’s another way to deal with undesirable speech. In the UK, the Supreme Court heard arguments last week in the case of a major celebrity who has used the courts to block publication of an article alleging that his spouse was involved in a threesome outside their well-publicized marriage. The British way shows impressive respect for privacy. At the same time, the Internet has made it seem obsolete because the celebrity’s name can be found online after a few Google searches.

A new short film produced in partnership by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) and Racing Horse Productions spotlights how the confusion around expiration date labels contributes to food waste in America. "EXPIRED? Food Waste in America" looks at the specific example of milk in Montana, where the state law requires the sell-by date on all milk to be no later than twelve days after pasteurization. "After the sell-by date passes, the milk may not be sold or donated. As a result of the law, thousands of gallons of milk have been thrown away, and milk prices in the state have risen," writes Harvard Law Today...According to FLPC Director Emily Broad Leib, "date label confusion harms consumers and food companies, and it wastes massive amounts of food, which harms the planet.

Dallas-based BarBri Inc. continues to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to properly accommodate blind law students who use BarBri’s online and other services to prepare for the bar exam, a lawsuit filed Monday in Dallas federal court claims. In a class action lawsuit, three named plaintiffs are asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to order BarBri, the largest bar exam preparation course provider in the country, to adjust its services to fully accommodate blind law students and to compensate the dozens to hundreds of affected blind students that have each paid thousands of dollars to use BarBri’s prep courses. The three named plaintiffs, Claire Stanley, Derek Manners and Christopher Stewart, plan to take the July bar exam, which they need to pass to become licensed lawyers...Manners, who received his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, will graduate from Harvard Law School this spring.

It has become a truism that the American political system is suffering from dysfunction. But weirdly, even the insurgent candidates, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, don’t talk much about how they would fix it. This is a populist insurgency without a clear manifesto. So it’s refreshing to hear Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) present a detailed action plan to try to repair what’s broken...Sarbanes presents his proposal in the current issue of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. It’s a simple idea: Congress should free itself from big-money, special-interest domination by encouraging an alternative system of small contributions that would be matched with public funds.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. The Washington Redskins are headed for the Supreme Court – in the guise of a dance rock band called The Slants. The Department of Justice has asked the court to review a lower court's holding that the Patent and Trademark Office violated the band’s free-speech rights by denying it a registered trademark on the grounds of offensiveness. The justices are likely to take the case – which would mean that next year they will effectively decide whether the National Football League franchise can also be denied trademark registration. It also means that the question of what to do about names that offend some listeners is going to get its day in court.

Boston city officials are seeking community input on a body camera pilot program for the Boston Police Department and will hold three community forums this week to discuss the initiative with residents...One hundred officers across the city would wear the cameras, Evans said. His department has worked with city officials, a legal team at Harvard, academics, and the Social Justice Task Force, which includes clergy and community leaders, to develop the plan...The ACLU, which also worked with the Boston Police Camera Action Team, the Boston branch of the NAACP, and the Harvard Black Law Students Association on their proposed policy, recommends prohibiting recording without notice and consent, a ban on surveillance of activists, and prompt deletion of a video that doesn’t involve the use of force, a complaint, a detention, or an arrest.

President Obama’s signature climate change initiative is about to face its biggest challenge yet. Time is running out on Obama’s second term in the White House, and the president could leave office next January with his Clean Power Plan stuck in legal limbo. The rule, which would require power plants to cut their carbon dioxide output, is the centerpiece of Obama’s efforts to use executive power to slow U.S. contributions to global warming...“I think that people shouldn’t be too pessimistic or optimistic either way,” said Jody Freeman, director of Harvard Law School’s environmental law program and a former counselor to Obama. She filed a legal brief backing the plan on behalf of two former Republican EPA chiefs.

When a Connecticut judge last week allowed family members of Sandy Hook Elementary shooting victims to continue their lawsuit against a gun manufacturer, experts saw the decision as a means to put off deciding the legal merits of the case...Bushmaster almost certainly doesn't have to worry about losing the case, but it also wants to avoid a major settlement and any negative publicity around the case that could sour public opinion toward them, according to John Goldberg, a tort law expert at Harvard Law School. "The gun manufacturers are going to have to weigh risks against other risks," Goldberg told Mashable. "If they do end up settling this, then that's a signal to other plaintiffs out there that if they get a somewhat favorable ruling from a judge, then they can succeed as well."

An op-ed by Tommy Tobin `17. The N.C. Supreme Court ruled this month on an important constitutional challenge that may shape the future of teacher tenure in the United States. While the national media have focused on a California case upholding teacher tenure there, advocates on each side should instead be focused on Raleigh...Instead of focusing on students’ rights, the N.C. case concerned the contract rights of teachers. Writing for the court, Justice Robert Edmunds found that the state’s repeal of teacher tenure in 2013 violated the constitutional rights of the teachers themselves.

Violence children see at home can affect their chances for success in school and later in life. That's why the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative, based at Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, advocates for trauma-sensitive schools to help children impacted by trauma to feel safe at school. There are six attributes of a trauma sensitive school that are explained in the initiative's book, "Helping Traumatized Children Learn II: Creating and Advocating for Trauma Sensitive Schools." Those attributes came from work done in schools in Brockton, Mass., and other places, and describe what a trauma sensitive school looks and feels like, said Michael Gregory, a senior attorney with the initiative and a clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School.

The membership of the Harvard Black Law Students Association has elected Kristin A. Turner, ’17, as its president. As the organization news its 50th anniversary, Turner says she is committed to ushering the organization into a new age by “shaping its future while honoring its past."

Thomas Jefferson stature as one of America’s most beloved founding fathers has taken some hits recently. Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, espoused ideals of equality, and called slavery “an abominable crime,” yet he was also a slaveholder his entire life and fathered children with the enslaved woman Sally Hemings who he never freed. Renowned Jefferson scholars Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf have written a new biography of Jefferson that comes to terms with this flawed but brilliant man called “Most Blessed of Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of Imagination. Guest host Marty Cummings-Jordan speaks with Gordon-Reed and Onuf about their book and how they understand this paradoxical figure in our history.

Conservative claims that Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland’s rulings prove he is anti-business are "silly" "nonsense," according to administrative law experts...“If you look at cases involving direct regulation by government agencies, his pattern of voting in those cases is entirely standard,” said Laurence Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School. “It’s the common approach because ever since the Chevron decision the idea has been that Congress can’t always address all of the details that arise in the regulatory state so they give a lot of leeway to expert agencies in deciding how best to carry out the underlying purpose that Congress had in enacting statutes. Therefore, the idea is when agencies resolve those ambiguities in ways that are at least rational and don’t cross any boundaries that are laid down, federal judges usually defer.”

An op-ed by Jack Goldsmith and Curtis Bradley. There has been much debate about whether a bill advancing through Congress that aims to expose Saudi Arabia to lawsuits in American courts for its alleged connection to the 9/11 attacks would unduly harm diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries. But the bill’s potential for harm extends far beyond bilateral relations with one ally. It would also violate a core principle of international law, and it would jeopardize the effectiveness of American foreign aid and the legitimacy of the United States’ actions in the war on terrorism.

For decades, law schools have specialized in teaching students how to interpret and practice law, but recently many J.D. programs have increased their focus on helping students develop business savvy. In addition to offering J.D.-MBA programs, schools have created new ways for law students to learn the fundamentals of business in a semester or two. ...Harvard Business School launched the HBX Credential of Readiness Program in June 2014, which allows incoming law students to take courses in subjects like business analytics the summer before starting law classes.

We're all guilty of searching the refrigerator for that one item. Once you find it, you notice it's past the expiration date. What do you do now? ...  A report released by the Harvard Law School's Food Law and Policy Clinic says more than 90 percent of Americans toss food out because they misinterpret food labels as indicators of food safety. ... Experts say that waste contributes to the billions of pounds of food filling our landfills and polluting the air. So the next time you consider tossing food out that isn't quite expired, maybe you should think twice.