Alumni Focus

"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."

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.

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.

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.

Tom Gallagher '69 doesn't gamble, but he certainly knows gaming. The president and CEO of Las Vegas' Park Place Entertainment, the world's largest casino and resort company, has been at the helm for just one year, but he is in many ways a veteran.

HLS Celebrates Second Worldwide Alumni Congress in the City of Light.

After an editor at Oxford University Press read Unbending Gender, a book her own company published, she quit her job. In a way, it was the ultimate compliment for the author, Joan Williams '80, a professor at American University's Washington College of Law.

Burt Neuborne '64 has often been in the public eye--leading the charge for ballot access in New York State, arguing for Holocaust reparations, presenting cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jenö Staehelin LL.M. ’65 is the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations. A member of the HLS Dean’s Advisory Board, Staehelin last fall hosted more…

Harvard Law School is one of the few things that I have encountered in life that’s as good as it’s cracked up to be. For…

Scott Harshbarger '68, the president of Common Cause, is charged with reinvigorating the venerable watchdog organization.

Many alumni have made a fortune for their clients and themselves in the investment world. Five of them talk about how they do it--and why stock market fluctuations don't keep them up at night.

Credit: Courtesy of Popperfoto/Archive Photos Mae West: An HLS man is hard to find. In the land of the bean and the cod (that’s Boston…

Matthew Freedman ’99 is all charged up. Just ask him about the deregulation of California’s utilities. He’ll tell you in passionate detail the tortuous story…

Alberto Gonzales, White House general counsel, with President Bush. A new president may occupy the White House, but Harvard Law remains well represented at the…

The former chief of Arista Records, who has shaped the careers of music legends Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, and Whitney Houston, launches a new record label.

Credit: Christoph Niemann A Harvard law degree is not always advantageous. In fact, for Nguyen Ngoc Bich LL.M. ’73, it was downright dangerous. Largely because…

Credit: Christoph Niemann Frederick F. Greenman Jr. ’61 LL.M. ’63 fights for a right almost everyone takes for granted. All people, he believes, should be…

As her tenure as head of the Justice Department ends, Janet Reno '63 reflects on the criticism and controversies--and what she did with her Harvard Law School education.

Credit: AP Photo/USPS It didn’t take long for the U.S. Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to deliver Claude Pepper ’24 to the top of its list.

Credit: Joe Jackson Michael Rosenbaum ’98, Catalyst founder (second from left), with John Shropshire, Richelle Parks-White, and Cheryl Hagans, Catalyst graduates and CitySoft employees. This…

Credit: Richard Chase A fellow at HLS during the academic year, Jennifer Braceras ’94, argued the conservative’s case as a columnist for the Boston Glove…

Credit: Christoph Niemann What better person to consider George W. Bush’s drunk driving arrest than Jim Koch ’78, founder of and pitchman for Boston Beer…

Despite the dizzying decline of the dot-com world, several alumni are determined to survive and thrive in their own digital start-ups.

Students Go West for New Careers Credit: Diane Digda Sitting in the Charles Hotel’s lobby before yet another job interview, Norm Cappell ’02 imagines the…

Credit: Scott Jones For Carolyn Cochran Clark ’68 and L. David Clark Jr. ’68, the seating chart in their 1966 commercial transactions class proved to…

Avery Dulles ’40–’41 knows that the law is important. But throughout his life he has focused on something even more important to him.

HLS hosts A Celebration of Black Alumni to honor the more than 1,600 black students who have graduated from the School.

Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson '64 is a blunt, plain-speaking, and physically imposing man who knows how to run a tight ship. From the moment he drew judging duties for United States v. Microsoft, Jackson was determined to keep one of the 20th century's largest antitrust cases running swiftly and on course.

Credit: Christoph Niemann For Minneapolis-based lawyer Stephen Young ’74, a tree is just a tree. Yet for others, he contends, trees are sacred objects. Last…

You were expecting Shakespeare? We hope not, because this is a story about a different kind of bard. Call him the bard of oy vey.

In its storied history, Harvard Law School has produced presidents, senators, knights, CEOs, professors, attorneys general, and Supreme Court justices. But only now can the…

Most law school papers don't get glowing reviews from the New York Times Book Review. But most law school papers aren't like Mohsin Hamid's.