Alumni Focus

For the past 30 years, Robert A.G. Monks '58 has worked to change corporate governance and increase management accountability. Now, in the era of Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and other wayward companies, more people than ever are paying attention.

With persistence, passion and a little bit of luck, Alex Cushing '39 created a ski resort for the ages. But he's not going to rest until it's the best it can be.

On a hill just past the intersection of Chocolate Avenue and Cocoa Avenue sits the world headquarters of the Hershey Foods Corp.

As president and CEO of the Gucci Group, Domenico De Sole LL.M. ' 72 has taken the well-known fashion house from the brink of collapse to its current position as an $8 billion industry titan.

Why I Left Harvard Law School . . . and Why I Came Back Again

While many young people disdain the political process, some recent HLS alumni seek elective office to help their communities

Five years ago, Jennifer Granholm '87 was a political unknown. Now she is working nonstop on the campaign trail to get people to know her, believe in her, and make her the next governor of Michigan.

Known for her tart tongue and her tears (when she announced that she wouldn't run for president in 1988), Patricia Schroeder knew how to get things done in Congress, including the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

When he was an HLS student, Michael Dukakis ran for his first office and was elected a member of the Brookline, Mass., Town Meeting.

Once a reliable Midwestern Republican, John Anderson changed his views and then changed the dynamics of modern presidential races with his third-party candidacy in 1980.

Caspar Weinberger is, in many ways, the modern-day author of the Art of War.

They say you can be anything you want with a Harvard Law degree.

Trying to guilt trip a burglar when you catch him red-handed in your apartment is not a good idea, says Kathleen Tarr '95, especially if you're half naked.

When the World Wide Web first reached buzzword status in the mid-1990s, corporate presence on the Internet was comparatively small.

The new battle against fast food has found an important ally in Richard Daynard '67, president of the Tobacco Control Resource Center at Northeastern University School of Law.

Former Harvard Law student John Bickford still hangs around his family home, though the Hillsborough, N.H., farmhouse where he grew up is now a bed-and-breakfast, his parents are dead--and so is he.

Jamienne Studley '75 has been trying to change academic institutions for a long time. Now, as head of Skidmore College, she's finally getting paid to do it.

It wasn't long before newly elected Judge Karen Freeman-Wilson '85 began to know the defendants by their first names--they just kept coming back to her Gary, Ind., courtroom.

War has a way of finding Jim Haynes '83. Just six months after President George Bush appointed him general counsel of the Army in 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, sparking the Persian Gulf War.

Amnesty International still fights torture, arbitrary detention, and unfair trials, says Secretary General Irene Khan LL.M. '79, but now it's also taking on hunger, illiteracy, and discrimination.

It took Weldon Rougeau '72 only 90 seconds to get himself expelled from college.

In 30 years of practicing law, corporate bankruptcy attorney David Erne '68 had been in many negotiations--but none like this one.

When Robert "Steve" Miller Jr. '66 got a call from Bethlehem Steel's board last year asking him to assume the flagging company's reins as chairman and CEO, he accepted in a matter of hours.

Years before Enron's collapse spotlighted the vulnerability of employee retirement savings, Karen Ferguson '65 was immersed in what she half-jokingly refers to as the "arcane" area of pension law.

Radio talk show host Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua '62 is urging his listeners--again--to go out and demonstrate. This time it's to stop the U.S. Navy from testing weapons on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

Roy Prosterman '58 wants people in the poorest countries to own property. Think of it, he says, as an insurance policy for the planet.

Joy Covey '89, a graduate of the J.D./M.B.A. program, recently wrapped up four years at Amazon.com, where she worked as the chief financial officer and strategist for the online retail giant.

Langdell Professor of Law, Emeritus, Ernest Joseph Brown '31 died December 31, 2001, in Fort Worth, Tex. He was 95.

An Essay by Robert E. Bradney '50

It is incumbent upon legal practitioners to formulate their compositional efforts in a straightforward fashion. This is Ken Bresler's message.

Marla Grossman '93 warns that it's not exactly a feel-good movie. But she certainly feels good about what she and HLS classmate Gary Barkin have accomplished: Their company, Sidekick Entertainment, has produced a film that won a George Foster Peabody Award in March.

If you think every Harvard Law School student is, by definition, a shining star, the first line sticks with you like a chicken bone in your throat.

Not everyone would trade a top job at the Department of Justice to teach at a brand-new law school nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains.

Boston to Brussels. Fast. Very fast. Less than three hours fast. This is Frank Davidson's dream.

With an office overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, Wesley Fastiff '59 has one of the country's most spectacular views.

Irwin Schneiderman '48 is senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he has worked for the past 53 years. A self- described "kid from the Jewish ghetto," Schneiderman is a graduate of Brooklyn College and served as a Navy officer in World War II before enrolling at Harvard Law School.

I am a Harvard Law School dropout, which makes me a member of a rare and unenviable set. My late father, who never got over my decision to leave America's premier law school, chided me for being bright enough to get into Harvard but not bright enough to stay. From about two years after leaving to the present, I have shared my father's assessment.

Wildlife photographer Bobby Haas '72 has discovered a place and a passion that have changed his view of the world.

Cynics call them do-gooders, hopelessly naïve people disconnected from the real world. These days, the cynical view could easily prevail.

Mitt Romney '75, CEO and president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, plans for a safe and sound Winter Olympics.

At a time when America could use a goodwill ambassador, Burton Caine '52 may seem like an unlikely candidate. He has sued his country's government and spoken out against its actions.

Sometimes a painting is not just a work of art. That's the case with the most recent addition to the HLS collection, praised not only for its style but for all it represents.

Congresswoman Jane Harman '69 had long been fearful that America would become a target for terrorists.

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.

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.

Fenway Park pulsed with the sounds of 33,000 fans lucky enough to score tickets in the middle of a pennant race. They pleaded and yelled and stomped and groaned at every pop-up, called strike, or double play.

The attack on Pearl Harbor impelled many Harvard Law School students to join the fight of their generation. Those who came back were changed men who had changed the world.