Today Posts

The Senate confirmed former Harvard Law School Dean and Solicitor General Elena Kagan ’86 to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens on the United States Supreme Court today by a vote of 63-37. Kagan becomes the 112th Justice and the first former Dean of the Law School to serve on the Court.

“The Triumphant Decline of the WASP” by HLS Professor Noah Feldman appeared in the June 28, 2010, edition of the New York Times. Feldman is the author of the forthcoming book “Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of F.D.R.’s Great Supreme Court Justices.”

"The Good Driller Award,” an op-ed by Professor Jody Freeman LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’95, appeared in the July 1, 2010 edition of the New York Times.

Within hours of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, when so many felt helpless to intervene, a website powered by volunteers helped to inform humanitarian aid groups and even the U.S. State Department about the developing disaster.

“Late Justice is not Justice, but manifest injustice,” wrote Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira (1849-1923), perhaps the most prominent jurist and statesman in the history of Brazil. I was struck by these words during my first year of law school in São Paulo.

Raj Kumar LL.M. ’00 wants to reform India’s legal system—one law student at a time.

Former prosecutor Paul Butler ’86 now argues for jury nullification in cases of nonviolent offenders—even if they are guilty.

Bruce Ramer ’58 divides his time between entertainment giants and pro bono causes.

An online investigative journalist, working on a shoestring budget, is sued for libel. Where can he turn for legal help?

From filing an emergency guardianship petition in probate court ensuring that the children of a dying mother are raised by the person she chooses, to appealing the denial of a disability claim in federal court for a critically ill client, the Harvard Law School Health Law and Policy Clinic prides itself on taking the toughest cases and working to shape policy to protect some of society’s most vulnerable people.

When, in February, Internet law expert Professor John G. Palfrey ’01 spoke at a gathering of the Harvard Law School American Constitution Society, he asked his audience to consider this trio of circumstances.

The title of Professor Mark Tushnet’s “Why the Constitution Matters” is something of a misnomer.

LL.M. students recall their work in Afghanistan and share their hopes for the nation’s future.

Krzysztof Skubiszewski, who died earlier this year at age 83, lived a life shadowed and shaped by World War II and communism.

Two years after the government bailout of Bear Stearns set off the first shock wave, the Bulletin interviewed HLS faculty and alumni on what went wrong, on where the greatest dangers remain in our financial system and what to do about them.

In recent years, political discourse has often focused on the idea of family values. Another contentious political issue has been the inheritance tax. The two topics commingle in a recent paper by Anne Alstott, in which she considers whether the inheritance tax is compatible with family values.

When judges rule on cases involving issues such as contracts, property rights, antitrust or taxes, they are not just making legal decisions. They are making economic policy.

A Measure of History Professor Kenneth W. Mack ’91
The Boston Globe
March 25, 2010 “In recent weeks, the Obama administration … sought to mobilize…

Creative problem-solving is the hallmark of superb lawyering. The stories in this Bulletin include a profile of Rebecca Onie ’03, whose questions about how best…