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.