Alumni Focus

In May, Larry Strickling ’76 was confirmed as assistant secretary for Communications and Information, Department of Commerce, by the Senate Commerce Committee. As head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, he oversees billions of dollars in broadband rollout grants and the DTV-to-analog converter box coupon program. 

Andrew McLaughlin ’94 has been named deputy chief technology officer for the Obama Administration. Most recently, McLaughlin served as head of global public policy for Google.

William Burke-White ’02, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, has accepted a two-year assignment in the Office of Foreign Policy Planning, an internal think tank at the State Department. He will focus on long-range policy issues concerning Russia and international law.

Two HLS alumni have been appointed to positions in the Department of Commerce’s Office of General Counsel.  Nicole Lamb-Hale ’91 joins the Commerce Department as deputy general counsel and Quentin Palfrey ’02 as associate general counsel.

“The Whistleblower’s Lawyer,” a profile of Gaytri Kachroo S.J.D. ’02, appeared in the Summer 2009 Harvard Law Bulletin.

HLS Professor Reinier Kraakman co-wrote the following op-ed, “The Directors Guild,” with Ronald J. Gilson, a professor of law and business at Stanford and Columbia. The piece— on the government’s role in selecting corporate directors as a result of its growing investments in private industry—appeared in the June 7, 2009, issue of the New York Times.

William A. Gunn ’86, a retired Air Force colonel, has been sworn in as general counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  He was recently confirmed by the Senate.  Prior to his confirmation, he had a private practice in northern Virginia representing military members and veterans.

Legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin LL.B. ’57 received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University during the 358th Commencement Exercises in Tercentenary Theater on June 4. 

In a Class Day address on June 3, U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan ’86 acknowledged that this year’s graduating class finds itself at an inflection point in society, facing great economic and political changes. But, she said, students should take advantage of these changing times because the greatest challenges often produce the biggest opportunities.

Willard Tom ’79 has been tapped to become general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission.  Tom, currently an antitrust partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C., is rejoining the commission, having served as deputy director of the Bureau of Competition and head of the policy office during the Clinton administration.

Timothy Massad ’84 a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore has been appointed by the Obama Administration to be chief counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

On May 10, sibling teammates Victor Jih ’96 and Tamara Jih ’06 claimed victory in the 14th-season finale of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race.” Brother and sister took home the million dollar prize for being first over the finish line at Maui’s King Kamehameha Golf Club in Hawaii.

Michael E. Leiter ’00 is currently serving as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He was confirmed by the Senate in June 2008, after serving as acting director in the Bush administration since 2007. In January, President Obama ’91 announced that Leiter would remain in his post as part of the new administration’s intelligence team.

Six Harvard Law School alumni were recognized by “The American Lawyer” as among the top 25 “Dealmakers of the Year” for 2008.  Honorees included three members of the HLS class of 1978, as well as three other alums.

On May 1, the White House appointed Brookings Institution economist Jason Bordoff ’04 as associate director for climate change at the Council on Environmental Quality. 

In May, President Barack Obama ’91 nominated Wilma A. Lewis ’81 to be assistant secretary for Land and Mineral Management at the Department of the Interior.

The U.S. Senate hearing on the nomination of Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein to be administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, was held on Tuesday, May 12.

Juan M. Garcia ’92 was nominated on April 29, 2009 to be the assistant secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, in the Department of Defense. He is currently an attorney with Hartline, Dacus, Barger, Dreyer & Kern in Corpus Christi, Texas.

On April 22, Lindsay C. Harrison ’03, an associate in the Washington office of Jenner & Block, won her first case in the Supreme Court—and the first case she’d ever argued. For immigrants appealing deportation orders, it may also be a day to celebrate.

On April 17, Janet Reno ’63, the first woman attorney general of the United States, received the 2009 Justice Award of the American Judicature Society, in Washington, D.C. The Justice Award is the society’s highest honor.