Alumni Focus

The Trump administration’s recent “zero tolerance” policies on immigration resulted in the separation of several thousand children from their families at the U.S. border. Harvard Law alumni from dozens of law firms have pulled together to help reunite children who had been forcibly separated from their families.

Many HLS alumni and students are engaged in legal and advocacy work related to immigration, including the situations of refugees and asylum seekers. For some of these lawyers, this interest predates their time at HLS, but has dovetailed with their coursework and hands-on learning during their time as law students.

Alice Cherry ’16 and Kelsey Skaggs ’16 have been named 2018 Echoing Green Fellows. In 2016, Cherry and Skaggs co-founded Climate Defense Project (CDP), a legal nonprofit that provides advice and support to the climate movement in the United States and internationally.

Japanese international law professor Yuji Iwasawa LL.M. ’78 was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s principal judicial body. He will join 14 other judges at the International Court of Justice, including Nawaf Salam LL.M. ’91.

As attorney general of the Navajo Nation, Ethel Branch ’08 aims to strengthen tribal law and native voices.

A new book by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz examines the real and threatened power of impeachment.

Harvard Law School Association events bring together alumni around the world.

There is no shortage of serious legal issues facing poor people in Greater St. Louis, especially people of color, says Blake Strode ’15, who was born and raised in the area. Just three years out of HLS, Strode is back home fighting the criminalization of poverty as executive director of ArchCity Defenders, a nonprofit civil rights law firm in St. Louis that has filed landmark cases that have already improved the lives of tens of thousands of low-income people.

Caitlin Long ’94 left Wyoming for Harvard Law School and the career on Wall Street that followed, but she’s never forgotten her home state or its only university.

Thanks to Peter Trooboff ’67, a plaque now marks the building in Lviv, Ukraine, where his mentor international law Professor Louis Sohn LL.M. ’40 S.J.D. ’58 spent part of his childhood in the 1930s.

Glenn Feit Sr. ’57, longtime New York City corporate attorney, had an “unexpected turn of career” in the last seven years and is now a musician in the Hamptons (on the East End of Long Island, New York).

As dozens of HLS students plan to pursue public service work abroad this summer, Jonathan Kaufman ’06 and Lillian Langford JD/MPP ’13 recall that seeds planted during their own 1L summers grew, strongly and directly, into the work they are doing today

For decades, joyful and candid moments have marked the occasion of students' graduations from Harvard Law School. Here is a sampling of Commencement Day photos from the school's extensive collection. 

Stephen Gageler AC, LL.M. ’87, a justice of the High Court of Australia, returned to Harvard Law School in March to meet with faculty members, participate in classes, and speak on 'Alternative Facts in the Courts.'

Antonio Oposa Jr. LL.M. ’97 reflects on his legacy and efforts to bring environmental sustainability to his home country, the Philippines.

Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III ’09, who got his start in civil legal aid as a student attorney at HLAB representing tenants in evictions, reflects on how his time as HLAB influenced his advocacy in the legislature, and why it is of utmost importance to safeguard access to counsel for those who cannot afford it.

Kicking of the Harvard Association for Law & Business' seventh annual symposium on Feb. 26, a panel of top-level executives in the financial world explored the possibilities of crossing over from a legal to a financial career.

Georgetown University Professor Sheryll D. Cashin ’89 delivered the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture at Harvard Law School on Feb. 28 on “The Descendants: From Slavery to Jim Crow to Dark Ghettos, A Call for 21st Century Abolition.”

Ethel Branch ’08 grew up on her family’s ranch with no electricity, no running water, and a long list of questions about injustice. As she grew up, Branch knew she had to address these questions. “That confusion as to why the world changed when you crossed the Navajo Nation boundary line was a driving question for my youth and my life,” says Branch. It propelled her to study law and policy. And three years ago, at age 36, it led her to become Attorney General of the Navajo Nation.

Tom Perez M.P.P./J.D. ’87, former Secretary of Labor under President Obama and the current chair of the Democratic National Committee. At the John T. Dunlop Memorial Forum Lecture at Harvard Law School on Feb. 6, Perez addressed the future of organized labor and the challenges of income inequality in the United States.

Lawrence S. Bacow J.D./M.P.P. ’76, Ph.D. ’78, one of the most experienced and respected leaders in American higher education, will become the 29th president of Harvard University on July 1.