Today Posts

Last spring, David Hackett Souter ’66—the U.S. Supreme Court’s 105th justice—announced his retirement and stepped down at the end of the term. We asked four alumni who had firsthand experience with the justice for their reflections.

Five months into her new job, Dean Martha Minow shares some insights - and even a little advice.

Coercive interrogations inflict discomfort or pain with the goal of eliciting information. Yet all too often, says Deborah Popowski ’08, those involved in such interrogations are supposed to be helping people, not hurting them.

On Jan. 22, 2009, President Barack Obama ’91 signed an executive order mandating that individuals detained in armed conflict will “be treated humanely and shall not be subjected to violence to life and person.” Harvard Law School Professor Philip Heymann ’60 had an answer. And his proposal may soon become the standard for the how the United States handles interrogations to prevent future terrorist attacks.

When the U.S. financial system came excruciatingly close to collapse, Rodge Cohen was suddenly the man to call.

“The Road to Abolition?: The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States” (New York University Press, 2009), edited by Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. ’78 and Austin Sarat, takes on an interdisciplinary exploration of the debate surrounding the death penalty at the turn of the 21st century.

“Stubborn as a Mule,” is set at a small liberal arts college in Maine. The school’s president, a right-wing economist, tries to unseat a Republican Senate moderate (and HLS grad).

In both the public and private sectors, Harvard Law students are facing a tougher job market than in recent memory.

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 canvassing effort, dubbed Project No One Leaves, was launched in 2008 by two HLAB students, Nick Hartigan ’09 and David Haller ’09, along with WilmerHale Legal Services Center clinical student Tony Borich ’09.

Since U.S. forces started taking alleged terrorists to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the task of crafting American detention policy has migrated decisively from the executive branch to federal judges. These judges, not experts in terrorism or national security and not politically accountable to the electorate, inherited this responsibility because of the Supreme Court's intervention in detention policy. Over time they maintained it because legislative and executive officials of both political parties refused to craft a comprehensive legislative approach to this novel set of problems that cries out for decisive lawmaking.

HLS Professor Elizabeth Warren was named the “Bostonian of the Year” for 2009 by the Boston Globe. The annual award, which recognizes people who have made the greatest impact on the region, was awarded to Warren for her role as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

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.

Professor Mark Roe's op-ed entitled “End bankruptcy priority for derivatives, repos and swaps,” appeared in the Dec. 16, 2009, edition of the Financial Times.

In their book,“No Place to Hide: Gang, State, and Clandestine Violence in El Salvador” (Harvard University Press, 2009), Clinical Professor James Cavallaro and Spring…

Harvard Law School Professor Hal Scott's op-ed, “Do we really need a systemic regulator?” appeared in the December 11, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal.