Faculty Scholarship

Harvard Law School Dean and Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law Martha L. Minow delivered the annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law, sponsored by the New York City Bar Association, on February 7. The title of the talk was “Gender and the Law Stories: Learning from Longstanding Debates.”

Harvard Law School Professor David B. Wilkins will receive the Outstanding Scholar Award from The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. The award is given annually to a member of the academy who has engaged in outstanding scholarship in the law or in government.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired a hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the provision that requires, beginning in 2014, every American to maintain health insurance coverage. The law requires all citizens without work-based insurance to purchase plans in the private market.

This week, HLS Professors John G. Palfrey, Jonathan Zittrain, and HLS Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law Andrew K. Woods each weighed in on the Egyptian government's recent decision to block Internet access to prevent the use of social media outlets in light of escalating protests in the country. 

In a Jan. 26 review in The New Republic, HLS Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 examines the book “Honeybee Democracy” by Thomas D. Seeley, which explores group decision-making behavior in apian colonies, and he presents his assessment of its relationship to collective wisdom and decision-making in human societies.

This week, HLS Professors John G. Palfrey, Jonathan Zittrain, and HLS Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law Andrew K. Woods each weighed in on the Egyptian government's recent decision to block Internet access to prevent the use of social media outlets in light of escalating protests in the country.

In a Jan. 31 article in the Opinion section of the New York Daily News online, HLS Professor John G. Palfrey addresses the issue of corporate responsibility in the wake of the Egyptian government’s recent Internet access lockdown to prevent protesters from organizing against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

On Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, HLS Professor Hal Scott testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in a hearing entitled “Promoting Economic Recovery and Job Creation: The Road Forward.”

Philip Alston, Harvard Law School’s Sidley Austin Visiting Professor of Law, received an honorary doctorate from Maastricht University in the Netherlands on Jan. 20 as part of the university’s 35th anniversary celebration.

An op-ed by HLS Professor Alan Dershowitz “The U.N. gangs up on Israel – again,” appeared in the January 26, 2011 edition of the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of numerous books, including “The Trials of Zion,” “The Case for Moral Clarity: Israel, Hamas and Gaza,” and “Finding, Framing, and Hanging Jefferson: A Lost Letter, a Remarkable Discovery, and Freedom of Speech in an Age of Terrorism.”

On January 7, in a ruling that will likely affect the entire banking industry, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that Wells Fargo and US Bancorp had wrongly foreclosed on two homes because the banks could not prove that they owned the mortgages at the time of the foreclosure sales in July 2007. Max Weinstein, a Clinical Instructor at the Wilmer Hale Legal Services Center, represented one of the mortgagers, Antonio Ibanez.

Harvard Law Professor Jeanne Suk ’02 was named a “Top Woman of the Law” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and honored at a reception on Dec. 3.  The award recognizes women who have made inspiring contributions and who are pioneers, educators, trailblazers and role models.

In a Jan. 18 op-ed in The New York Times, “China’s Currency Isn’t Our Problem,” HLS Assistant Professor Mark Wu assesses the impact of the value of China’s currency, the renminbi, on the the American economy.

A bi-partisan ABA Administrative Law Section task force, co-chaired by HLS Professor Charles Fried, issued a report recommending significant changes to federal lobbying laws. The proposed changes would broaden disclosure required by those involved in lobbying campaigns, address fundraising participation by lobbyists and strengthen enforcement of current law.

Leo E. Strine, Jr., the Austin Wakeman Scott Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, was confirmed to a second 12-year term on the Delaware Chancery Court by the Delaware Senate.

Harvard Law School Professor William Alford ’77 received an honorary degree from the University of Geneva in December 2010, recognizing him as “an eminent person of contemporary international law … whose reputation extends far beyond the borders of the United States.” Other recipients in 2010 included the Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, José Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, and several distinguished European intellectuals. (See the complete list.)

Professor Charles Fried joined NPR's On Point to discuss Congress's unprecedented decision to read aloud the full text of the U.S. Constitution as the year's first order of business.

HLS institute seeks to broaden the solutions to global challenges.

In 2009, HLS Professor Yochai Benkler ’94 and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society were commissioned by the FCC to do a study on broadband deployment throughout the world.