Alumni Focus

Ralph Nader ’58 and Bruce Fein ’72 visited Harvard Law School for a talk sponsored by the HLS Forum and the Harvard Law Record. At the event, “America's Lawless Empire: The Constitutional Crimes of Bush and Obama,” both men discussed what they called lawless, violent practices by the White House and its agencies that have become institutionalized by both political parties.

There are two things former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement ’92 won’t do: Tell you where he stands on same-sex marriage, and grouse about the controversy that enveloped him last spring when he resigned from his law firm in order to continue defending U.S. House of Representatives Republicans in litigation over the Defense of Marriage Act.

By the time Tope Lawani ’95 started law school, he knew he would not likely spend his career practicing law. Already the impact of his Nigerian childhood and a captivation with investment markets had planted the seed of an idea that would eventually pull him back to his homeland in hopes of reaping great returns for investors—and for Africa itself.

On Aug. 25, Benjamin B. Ferencz ’43, who served as a chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials, made the concluding remarks for the prosecution in the International Criminal Court’s first case.

In September, Sarah Carlson ’07 and Kobelah Bennah ’08 sent this update: “This past April, we left our Big Law jobs in Manhattan, got married and moved into a tent in Haiti.

“War Don Don” by Rebecca Richman Cohen ’07. Winner of the Special Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival, this film explores the…

Thirty years ago, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi embraced internationalism by leaving France to attend HLS. Today, as a leading international lawyer and public intellectual, he is an architect of a European strategy for globalization.

Regulating digital communications is like trying to control an explosion. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski ’91 brings a full spectrum of skills to the job.

When he was in law school, T. J. Duane ’02 set up HL Central, to make it easier for fellow students to network and socialize. More than a decade later, he wanted to do something similar for young alumni.

Kenneth I. Chenault ’76, chairman and CEO of American Express, is widely considered one of the most successful and talented business strategists of our time. Joining AmEx in 1981 as director of strategic planning, he was named president and COO in 1997, and CEO and chairman in 2001. Chenault is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Business Roundtable.

A self-proclaimed “political junkie,” Bryson Morgan ’11 worked after college for the Utah Democratic Party and saw firsthand the influence special interest groups and lobbyists can have on the political process.

Siddhartha Yog, M.B.A. ’04, founder and managing partner of The Xander Group Inc., an India-focused, emerging-markets investment firm, has given the University $11,000,001 to establish two new professorships, fellowships and financial aid, and an intellectual entrepreneurship fund.

Law students interested in a law firm career can attend firm-sponsored meet-and-greets to speak with associates. Students interested in public interest careers can meet one-on-one with visiting alumni advisors. But HLS students interested in military careers have fewer chances to mingle with those who have pursued that path. To provide that opportunity, OPIA welcomed to HLS five alumni who have served in the armed forces, to provide guidance and answer student questions.

At HLS Reunion Weekend last weekend, Justices Breyer and Souter (who retired from the court in 2009) exchanged good-humored banter and insights about their service on the nation’s highest court, in an event, “A Conversation with the Justices,” moderated by HLS Dean Martha Minow.

Harvard University has announced that Harvard Law School alums Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser have given the University $40 million to support excellence and innovation in learning and teaching at Harvard.

Of the 39 law school graduates serving as clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court justices and retired justices in the 2011-2012 term, 13 hail from Harvard Law School—the highest number from a single law school this year.

Seven hundred alumni and guests gathered in Cambridge on September 16-18 to commemorate the 3rd Celebration of Black Alumni at Harvard Law School. With more black lawyers entering the profession than ever before—and more achieving positions of prominence and power, the event, “Struggle and Progress: Leadership in the 21st Century,” focused on the progress that has been made and the barriers that remain.

Before an overflow crowd of students and faculty in the Ames Courtroom, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan ’86 and HLS Dean Martha Minow engaged in a wide-ranging conversation about the current high court, Kagan’s storied career, and other issues during the Honorable S. William Green Lecture in Public Law, established by Patricia Freiberg Green in honor of her husband Congressman Bill Green ‘53.

Matan Koch ’05, an associate at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel, was nominated by President Barack Obama ’91 to serve as a member of the National Council on Disability.