Alumni Focus

just 24 years old, Maeve O’Rourke LL.M. ’10 went to the United Nations with a bold and unprecedented case against the Irish government. Appearing in Geneva before the Committee Against Torture in 2011, O’Rourke argued that Ireland had allowed the enslavement and forced labor of thousands of women throughout most of the 20th century. What she wanted, she told the committee, was for the government to acknowledge its complicity, to apologize and to pay reparations to the victims.

Offering humorous quips and reflecting on his always challenging role as chair and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein ’78 discussed his company, regulation and the state of the economy, as part of a question-and-answer session with Dean Martha Minow during Reunions Weekend in October.

Arnold Mytelka ’61 can no longer remember just how he met Amanuel Andemicael LL.M. ’60. But, as Mytelka recalls now, something always stood out about the man who would become his lifelong friend.

First Lady Michelle Obama ’88 on cultivating a healthier future for children.

In November, Norman Dorsen ’53 delivered the Harvard Law School Association of New Jersey’s 57th Vanderbilt Lecture. The topic was “Seeking Civil Liberties,” and that’s something the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union has done throughout his career.

The legacy of an unconventional thinker Joy Covey ’89, former CFO of Amazon.com, died in September in a bicycling accident. A lover of the outdoors…

An unwavering believer in international law Detlev Frederick Vagts ’51, a renowned international law scholar and an expert on transnational business problems and the laws…

Brown uses her own example—after leaving a law partnership upon the birth of her daughter, she is now a professor of business law—and those of many others, from a jewelry designer to a nurse to a rabbi, to show the possibilities for those who are unhappy with the practice of law. Such a change is not easy, but a lawyer’s skills can be reframed and refreshed, she says, adding that she has never met a former lawyer who regrets having left the profession.

In early November, David Shribman, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, sat down with his attorney, Fritz Byers ’81, before an audience at Harvard…

A year after Christopher Columbus Langdell assumed the deanship of Harvard Law School in 1870 with the promise of making the school competitive and meritocratic,…

With students and faculty members joining in the celebration, a delegation from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, a leading international law firm, came to Harvard Law School on September 18 to formally announce the establishment of the Sullivan & Cromwell Visiting Professorship of Law at HLS.

Recent Harvard Law School Graduate Jessica Beess und Chrostin '13 won a major law student writing competition with her paper, "Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in Donative Instruments: A Taxonomy of Disputes and Type-Differentiated Analysis." The contest was sponsored by the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law section of the American Bar Association.

Harvard Law School alum Margaret Stock '92 is one of 24 recipients of the 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, more commonly known as the MacArthur "Genius Award". Stock is an immigration attorney with a focus on improving the immigration system through direct representation, policy-based advocacy and an emphasis on the idea that immigration does not threaten national security.

Harvard Law School will host more than 600 alumnae this weekend as part of "Celebration 60," a reunion event to mark the 60th anniversary of the first women graduates of Harvard Law School. The three-day event, which will be held Sept. 27 to 29 on the law school campus, is part of a worldwide women's leadership summit of Harvard Law School alumnae, titled "Leaders for Change—Women Transforming our Communities and the World."

Not many judges have served on every court in their home state. And not many have been on the bench for nearly 40 years. But Harvard Law School alum Robert Bell ’69 has an even more unusual distinction: He serves on a court that at one time ruled against him.

Detlev Frederick Vagts '51, a renowned scholar of international law at Harvard Law School and one of the world's foremost experts on transnational business problems and the laws affecting international commerce, died Aug. 20. Vagts' career at Harvard Law School spanned more than 50 years.

Samantha Power ’99, who has served as an adviser to President Barack Obama ’91 on foreign policy and national security, won confirmation Thursday as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The Harvard Law School Library Blog, “Et Seq.,” frequently publishes historical documents and images from the law school’s archives. For a recent post, they showcased a historical image of the editorial board of Volume 51 of the Harvard Law Review celebrating a successful year outside of Austin Hall.

“The Morphine Dream,” by Donald L. Brown ’89, with Gary S. Chafetz (Bettie Youngs Books). The title of this memoir is literal—and relates to Harvard Law School. While on morphine, recovering from an operation meant to restore his ability to walk after an accident, the author imagined he would graduate from the school. And walk across the country. His doctor thought he was delirious. After all, Brown had few prospects and only a ninth-grade education. But the dream did indeed come true; he tells the story of his long walk both literal and metaphorical.

Rachel Brand ’98 is leading the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s campaign to roll back government regulations while also serving as a charter member of a government Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.