Faculty Scholarship

In her long career as a law professor, Mary Ann Glendon has seen students struggle to stay idealistic in an imperfect world. Will they lose their moral compass if they choose a life in politics? Risk irrelevance if they stick to academia? Glendon, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, has explored how great statespersons and philosophers grappled with similar questions.

On June 28, HLS Dean Martha Minow presented the 2011 Dean’s Award for Excellence to seven individuals and one team of staff members at an awards ceremony in Ames Courtroom.

HLS Professor Noah Feldman’s “Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices” (Twelve, 2010) was selected as the best legal book of the year by Scribes, the American Society of Legal Writers, winning its 2011 Book Award.

Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith was a guest on National Public Radio’s On Point on June 28, discussing presidential war powers and Congressional authority in relation to the United States’ current military action in Libya.

“Libyan Legal Limbo,” an op-ed by Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 and University of Chicago Law Professor Eric Posner ’91, appeared June 27 on Slate.com.

In his June 20 opinion piece in Project Syndicate, “How capitalist is America?,” Harvard Law School Professor Mark Roe '75 looks into the question of ‘how capitalist’ the United States is, and explores the idea of U.S. capitalism not only within a global context, but within a corporate one, as well. The article is the latest in a monthly series for the publication, titled The Rules of the Game.

Children in foster care experience daunting challenges of stability and security in the school system, according to participants in the program “On the Road to Educational Equality,” held at Harvard Law School on May 24.

Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, gave the keynote speech at the American Bar Association Techshow on Monday, April 11th. The speech, titled “Code is Law: Does Anyone Get This Yet?” focused on regulatory change concerning Internet copyright issues.

This year’s “HLS Thinks Big” event, inspired by the global TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) talks and modeled after the College’s “Harvard Thinks Big” event first held last year, took place on May 23, featuring topics ranging from legal assistance for undocumented students to risk analysis in constitutional design.

On Thursday June 16, HLS Professor Hal Scott is testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in a hearing entitled “Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context."

In a June 15 article in the Opinion section of The New York Times, Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 discusses the current state of computer science education, and suggests an alternative approach to teaching that focuses more on the “bigger picture” than “rote work without much prospect for intellectual growth.”

The Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York recently honored Harvard Law Professor Jeannie Suk ‘02 with its annual Trailblazers award. In 2010, Suk became the first Asian-American woman to receive tenure at Harvard Law School.

In a Jun. 8 review in The New Republic, Harvard Law School Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 discusses a new book by Jack M. Balkin, titled “Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World” (Harvard University Press, 2011).

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and Professors Elizabeth Warren, Laurence Tribe ’66, Nancy Gertner, and Noah Feldman all received honorary degrees at college and law school commencement ceremonies this spring.

HLS Professor Noah Feldman and a team of HLS affiliates have authored a report at the request of the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation of Honduras (TRC), examining the constitutionality of the actions in Honduras that resulted in the 2009 military coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office. In the report, the authors offer recommendations for constitutional reform for the Central American country.

Jonathan Zittrain, HLS professor of law and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has been appointed as the Federal Communications Commission’s Distinguished Scholar, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced May 31.

This year’s list of “Top Ten Corporate and Securities Articles” based on an annual poll of corporate and securities law academics includes six articles authored or co-authored by Harvard Law faculty and fellows. The top ten articles, selected from a field of more than 440 pieces, will be reprinted in an upcoming issue of the Corporate Practice Commentator.

It was officially announced on April 29 that HLS Professor Noah Feldman will become a regular contributor to Bloomberg View, the new opinion section of Bloomberg News, which debuted in late May on Bloomberg.com. Feldman, who is a regular contributor to The New York Times, has been named as part of an expanded, 14-person roster of columnists that also includes Harvard University Professor of Economics Edward L. Glaeser and Meghan O’Sullivan, professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Professor Jon Hanson, the Alfred Smart Professor of Law, is this year's winner of the prestigious Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence, an honor bestowed each spring by the Harvard Law School graduating class. The award recognizes teaching ability, attentiveness to student concerns and general contributions to student life at the law school.

William Howell, student programs manager in the Dean of Students Office at Harvard Law School, received the Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award during Class Day exercises on May 25.