Teaching & Learning

Solitary confinement in federal prisons is detrimental to the human brain and to the overall health of prisoners: This was the assessment of Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

As the three most popular sports leagues in the United States all confront the end of their collective bargaining agreements in 2011, industry representatives previewed the key issues affecting negotiation, during the second annual Sports and the Law Symposium held on March 26.

The 16th annual Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., lecture in Ethics and Public Policy was delivered by HLS Dean Martha Minow at Notre Dame University on March 16th. Her talk focused on education as a tool in preventing violent conflict, as well as the role of the International Criminal Court in jumpstarting and promoting education as a tool in fostering coexistence and peace.

Harvard Law School’s Program on the Legal Profession (PLP) and leading European law firm Plesner announced a strategic collaboration today. Plesner will become the first European affiliate and supporter of PLP’s Center on Lawyers and the Professional Services Industry, which conducts and sponsors empirical research on the central questions facing the legal services industry.

On Friday, Feb. 19, the Women’s Law Association of Harvard Law School hosted the panel discussion “Change in the Community” as part of its fourth annual conference.

Advocacy and litigation on behalf of women’s interests has expanded the rights and protections available to women, according to a group of panelists assembled for a recent women’s law conference, “Women for Women: Advocating for Change,” hosted by the HLS Women’s Law Association at Harvard Law on Feb. 19.

“Put yourself in the path of lightning,” was the advice of Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, speaking at the Harvard Law School Women’s Law Association spring conference on February 19, 2010. The conference, entitled “Women for Women: Advocating for Change,” brought together leaders in the legal profession to discuss the challenges that women face in the courtroom, the workplace, and in the community.

In 2003, a year after the International Criminal Court was created—the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal—Luis Moreno-Ocampo became its first prosecutor.

Harvard Law School's Problem Solving Workshop gives every 1L an early look at what lawyers really do

“Localization of Immigration Law” was the subject of a Feb. 5 HLS symposium featuring speakers who took divergent views on the current American immigration enforcement scheme and its reliance on state and local law enforcement.

This January, Cleveland Browns Quarterback Brady Quinn brought his expertise to the Harvard Law School classroom as a guest in Lecturer on Law Peter Carfagna’s course “Representing the Professional Athlete.” Through a frank two hour question-and-answer session, students got an inside look at the numerous behind-the-scenes negotiations that are a part of every athlete’s career.

Most lawyers, irrespective of their specialty, must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trials. Business lawyers — whether putting together a…

On Dec. 14, Harvard Law School Professor Adriaan Lanni gave the annual Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Lecture on Aristotle and the Moderns at Columbia University. The title of the talk was “Reconciliation after Mass Atrocity: Lessons from Ancient Athens.”

In the wake of the current economic crisis and growing globalization, the job market for lawyers is tougher than at any time in recent history. We asked Professor David Wilkins ’80, head of HLS’s Program on the Legal Profession, how these factors will shape legal practice and education.

The Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in Caperton v. A.T. Massey was the main focus of the Harvard Law Review’s Supreme Court forum this year. Held annually, the Supreme Court Forum focuses on the Law Review’s Supreme Court issue, which is published in November.

2009 was a noteworthy year for Harvard Law School. A new dean took the helm—Martha Minow was appointed dean of Harvard Law School in June—and a number of faculty and alums were appointed to positions in the Obama administration. New scholars joined the faculty while the scholarship of current faculty members and HLS research programs made headlines.