Alumni Focus

“From 2007 to 2008, the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan’s ongoing conflict rose 40 percent, according to U.N. figures.” So begins the report co-written by Erica Gaston ’07, with Rebecca Wright, during Gaston’s Henigson Fellowship year in Afghanistan, which started in January 2008.

President Barack Obama ’91 nominated Ketanji Jackson ’96 to fill a spot on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson would be one of seven voting members of the commission, which oversees the sentencing guidelines used by federal judges and advises Congress on criminal law.

Jacqueline A. Berrien ’86 was nominated by President Obama to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She is currently a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

For the last four years, Juan Zarate ’97 has not gotten very much sleep. As the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, Zarate spent countless hours poring over the National Counterterrorism Center’s threat matrix.

In the global financial crises, will Robert Zoellick '81 hold rich nations accountable to the developing world? Bank on it.

Meet the President’s new lawyers—and their new laywers

Howard and Abby Milstein met while students at HLS. Both serve on the Executive Committee of the Dean’s Advisory Board, and on the boards of numerous philanthropic, civic and professional organizations. The Bulletin’s Margaret Salinger spoke with the couple at Howard Milstein’s offices in New York City.

In June, Bethany Rubin Henderson ’02 and Adam Stofsky ’04 were named Echoing Green Fellows for 2009.

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.