HLS 200

As part of the “HLS in the Community” bicentennial event, HLS brought the hackathon concept to the legal space. Instead of writing code, alumni and other professionals worked together on April 20 to hack out legal solutions to social and political issues.

Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability Michael Ashley Stein ’88 tackled the global issue of equal access to information in his book “Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology,” co-edited by Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences and Director of the Undergraduate Program in Information Systems at Towson University.

Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III ’09, who got his start in civil legal aid as a student attorney at HLAB representing tenants in evictions, reflects on how his time as HLAB influenced his advocacy in the legislature, and why it is of utmost importance to safeguard access to counsel for those who cannot afford it.

On April 20, Harvard Law School will host the third and final major event in its year-long program celebrating 200 years of HLS. HLS in the Community will convene alumni, faculty, students, and staff to explore the extraordinary reach and impact of Harvard lawyers.

During Spring Break, Harvard Law School staff and faculty volunteered as part of HLS in the Community Week of Service. Together they contributed over 175 volunteer hours at three local service organizations—Community Servings, Cradles to Crayons, and Daily Table.

Over the past 200 years, Harvard Law School has built a collection of primary and secondary law unsurpassed by any other academic law library in the world. The library has served as a repository for the papers, photographs and community ephemera that document the school’s history and traditions. In an exhibit at Langdell Hall’s Caspersen Room that runs until June, the library highlights a selection of material that emphasizes the connection between the library’s impressive collection and its community of users.

Ethel Branch ’08 grew up on her family’s ranch with no electricity, no running water, and a long list of questions about injustice. As she grew up, Branch knew she had to address these questions. “That confusion as to why the world changed when you crossed the Navajo Nation boundary line was a driving question for my youth and my life,” says Branch. It propelled her to study law and policy. And three years ago, at age 36, it led her to become Attorney General of the Navajo Nation.

The Harvard Law School Library uniquely owns and manages approximately one million pages of documents relating to the Nuremberg Trials: thirteen trials conducted just after World War II to prosecute leaders of the Nazi regime. To preserve the contents of these documents—which include trial transcripts and full trial exhibits—the library has undertaken a multi-stage digitization project to make the collection freely accessible online.

As our bicentennial year draws to a close, we invite you to reflect on the stories that have shaped Harvard Law School over the past 200 years.

The trajectory of state intelligence gathering and invasions of privacy made possible by a digital environment were the focus of a session titled “National Security: National Security, Privacy, and the Rule of Law,” part of the HLS in the World bicentennial summit which took place at Harvard Law School on Friday, October 27, 2017.

In honor of Harvard Law School’s bicentennial, in October the Harvard Law Review published a collection of six articles exploring Harvard’s contribution to the development of the law, and how that history will shape the future of the law in theory and practice.

On a clear, windy afternoon in early September at the opening of its bicentennial observance, Harvard Law School unveiled a memorial on campus.

At the end of October, some 3,000 members of the HLS community participated in Harvard Law School’s Bicentennial Summit: HLS in the World. If you attended, you were in the company of HLS legislators, governors, judges, public interest leaders, entrepreneurs, financiers and journalists from around the globe.

In September, as part of its bicentennial program, Harvard Law School celebrated the arts with a two-day festival featuring the work of alumni, staff, faculty and students.

During a late-night outdoor screening of “The Paper Chase,” a raucous audience of HLS students and faculty called out the lines “Rocky Horror Picture Show”-style. That evening, the story seemed to have a leavening effect.

The tradition of HLS graduates in the House of Representatives goes back to the mid-19th century. On Oct. 27, during Harvard Law School's bicentennial summit, the panel “HLS in the House’” gathered five graduates currently or formerly in the House.

Panelists at an HLS in the World seminar called “No Justice for Most: Brainstorming New and Old Ideas for Government, Professional, and Technological Solutions,” discussed the disparity in legal services available in urban and rural areas and other barriers to access to justice.

In honor of the Harvard Law School bicentennial, and in celebration of the long tradition of the Ames Moot Court Competition at Harvard Law School, here is a look back on Ames featuring historical footage and photographs spanning the competition's more than 100-year history.

As part of Harvard Law School's bicentennial summit, a panel, “Special Prosecutors and Independent Counsels: Investigating the White House and the President of the United States,” gathered six Harvard alumni and faculty members who’ve been involved with nearly every high-profile investigation, from Watergate to Whitewater, to the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity.

“The Remarkable Evolution of American Environmental Law from Nixon to Trump and Beyond” panel during Harvard Law School's bicentennial summit focused on the uncertain future of the Environmental Protection Agency in the current administration. Panelists A. James Barnes ’67, Richard J. Lazarus ‘79, William Reilly ’65 and Gina McCarthy looked at the EPA’s distinguished history.

HLS in the World, held Oct. 26-27, featured an extraordinary gathering of leaders: Lawyers, legislators, governors, judges, public interest leaders, entrepreneurs, financiers, journalists, and others from the United States and abroad.

HLS in the World, held Oct. 26-27, featured an extraordinary gathering of leaders: Lawyers, legislators, governors, judges, public interest leaders, entrepreneurs, financiers, journalists, and others from the United States and abroad, who joined together to share ideas, debate and deliberate in dozens of panel discussions and open fora.

A discussion about “The Office of Legal Counsel and the Challenge of Legal Advice to the President” shed light on the often-mysterious workings of the OLC—the body discussants David Barron ’94 and Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith served on, during Barack Obama’s first term, and, in George W. Bush’s second, respectively.

"A World (Dis)order," a panel with national security experts exploring the vulnerabilities of globalization and a changing world touched issues including climate change, cybersecurity, North Korea, ISIS, populism and authoritarianism.

As part of Harvard Law School's bicentennial summit, former Attorney General of the United States Loretta Lynch ’84 and Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School Annette Gordon-Reed ’84 looked back on their time together at Harvard Law School and discussed their subsequent careers.

Executives representing the three most popular major sports leagues in the U.S. offered insights into the business and legal maneuvering behind the games, during the HLS 200 panel “A View from the Top.”

Ambassador Samantha Power ’99 and Yale Law School Professor Harold Koh ’80 discussed what it means to be professors and former government officials, as part of Harvard Law School's bicentennial celebration on Oct 27.

At a time when American politics are beset by deep divisions and regular paralysis, five U.S. senators--Tim Kaine, Jack Reed, Mark Warner, Tom Cotton, and Elizabeth Warren--told a Harvard Law School audience Friday that there is real reason for concern, yet some hope for their institution and the country.

The opening event of Harvard Law School’s Bicentennial summit was one for the history books. Six Supreme Court justices joined Dean John F. Manning ’85 to share memories and a few priceless anecdotes.

Laurence H. Tribe ’66 and Kathleen Sullivan ’81 have teamed up on many cases since she was a student in his constitutional law class; now, for the first time, they will face off as adversaries in a reargument of the landmark case Marbury v. Madison, part of the Harvard Law School bicentennial celebration on Oct. 27.

In many ways, Jane's life in Kenya was idyllic: She was an educated, confident professional woman with a flourishing career, raising a daughter whom she loved dearly. There was only one problem in her life: her husband, who had become increasingly violent and abusive in the privacy of their own home.

The Harvard Law School community gathered on Sept. 15 and 16 for a bicentennial festival celebrating HLS in the Arts featuring talks, art, films and performances by HLS faculty, students, staff and alumni.

To commemorate Harvard Law School's 200th anniversary, HLS in the Arts, held Sept 15-16 at HLS, celebrated HLS' many contributions in the arts.

To officially open Harvard Law School’s Bicentennial celebration, a panel of Harvard Law School faculty members gathered on Sept. 5 to discuss the law school’s early history.

From "The Paper Chase" to "Legally Blonde," HLS has been at the center of some of the world’s most beloved stories. But it’s not just the school that captures imaginations. The law school’s graduates consistently go on to occupy key spaces in the arts.

On Sept. 16, legendary music executive Clive Davis returned to Harvard Law School as the honorary chairman of the HLS in the Arts celebration, and for a screening of the Boston premiere of “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives,” a film based on his 2013 autobiography.

HLS in the Arts, on Sept. 15-16, will feature the best of the HLS Parody, an annual tradition that satirizes the school and the legal profession. From the archives, HLS remembers more than 50 years of Parody.

Last week, HLS welcomed a new class of J.D., LL.M. and S.J.D. students to campus. Orientation included an ice cream social, section photos and a visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan ’86.

Susan Crawford, John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at HLS, will be among the artists showcasing their talents during an evening of performances as part of Harvard Law School's 'HLS in the Arts' festival, which begins on Sept. 15.

On Sept. 5, at the opening of its Bicentennial observance, Harvard Law School unveiled a memorial to the enslaved people whose labor helped make possible the founding of the school.

On Sept. 15, Harvard Law School will host HLS in the Arts, a Bicentennial celebration of the creative contributions of members of the HLS community. John H. Watson Jr. Professor of Law Jeannie Suk Gersen ’02 will be among the artists showcasing their talents during an evening of performances by faculty, students and staff.

On Sept. 15, 2017, Professor Joseph Singer ’81 was among the artists who showcased their talents during an evening of performances at HLS in the Arts, one of several events that celebrated the 200th anniversary of the founding of Harvard Law School.

In a three-part lecture, Martha Minow, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, discusses the legacies of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the Supreme Court declared state laws concerning the segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional.

In this collection of photos selected from the Harvard Law School’s Historical & Special Collections, the Harvard University Archives and the Harvard Law Bulletin, threads of continuity are woven throughout the Law School experience, no matter which decade—or even which century—you arrived.