Faculty Scholarship

Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 discussed the social structures that keep the internet “safe from chaos” at this year’s TED Global Conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design). The conference, which took place at Oxford, brought together intellectual leaders from around the world to discuss its theme, “The Substance of Things Not Seen.”

On Friday July 24, President Barack Obama ’91 announced that the United States will sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, joining more than 100 other nations. The Harvard Law School Project on Disability played a prominent role in the negotiations leading up to the convention, which is the first global human rights treaty of the 21st century.

The following op-ed “The Fed Can Lead on Financial Supervision” co-written by HLS Professor Hal Scott appeared in the July 24, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Scott, the director of HLS’s Program on International Financial Systems, co-wrote the op-ed with R. Glenn Hubbard, dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and John Thornton, chairman of the Brookings Institution.

The following op-ed by Harvard law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’81 S.J.D. ’84, “Paying for performance at Goldman,” appeared in the July 24, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal.

HLS Professor Laurence Tribe ’66, an expert on constitutional law who has argued 35 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, served on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, which selects participants for one of the country’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service.

The following commentary by HLS Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 on Google’s new operating system, Chrome, appeared in The New York Times on July 19 and in Newsweek on July 9. Zittrain is the author of “The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It.”

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Mark Roe ’75, “What happens when the government enters the ring?” appeared in the July 21, 2009, edition of Forbes.

The following commentary by Professor Laurence Tribe ’66 appeared in the Washington Post on July 13 and July 14, 2009.

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, “Consumers need a credit watchdog,” appeared in the July 15, 2009 edition of Business Week magazine.

The following commentary is excerpted from the New York Times blog, Room for Debate:

Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree ’78 recently conversed with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer ’64 at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival. The discussion, which aired on Minnesota Public Radio on July 15, covered Breyer’s work on the Court. 

HLS Professors Lani Guinier and Charles Ogletree ’78 discussed what to expect from this week’s confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on a National Public Radio program that aired July 13.

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree ’78, “The strange jurisprudence of Justice Thomas,” appeared in the July 2, 2009, edition of the Bay State Banner.

The following op-ed, “Trial by Firefighters,” co-written by HLS Professor Lani Guinier and Columbia Law Professor Susan Sturm, was published in the July 11, 2009, edition of The New York Times. They are also the co-authors of “Who’s Qualified: A New Democracy Forum on the Future of Affirmative Action” (Beacon Press, 2001).

John C. Coates, the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at HLS, issued a set of recommended reforms regarding the regulation of mutual funds, in June. The recommendations were made to the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, an independent and nonpartisan organization whose research is aimed at improving financial regulations and practices.

The following op-ed by Harvard Law school Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’81 S.J.D. ’84, “The fall of the toxic assets plan,” appeared in the July 9, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal.

In a follow up to their May 21, 2009, Financial Times’ op-ed, Harvard Law School Professor Mark Roe ’75 and New York University School of Law Professor Michael Levine discuss how to make a petrol tax politically viable. Their op-ed appeared in the July 7, 2009 edition of the Financial Times.

Susan Cole, HLS Lecturer on Law and director of the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative Clinic at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center at HLS, was interviewed in the Washington Post on the Supreme Court’s recent special education ruling in Forest Grove School District v. T.A.  The Q&A, “The Special Education Ruling,” with Cole and the Post’s Stacey Garfinkle appeared in the July 6, 2009 edition of Washington Post.

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith, “Defend America, one laptop at a time,” appeared in the July 1, 2009, edition of the New York Times.

As the global economy continues to reel, the key question is how to prevent a crash from happening again. Accountability is key, experts agree, and HLS faculty have been quoted daily in newspapers and online over the past few months on how to keep the economy out of trouble in the future.