Today Posts

At first, the notion that Israel could sit down with its sworn enemies and achieve a limited agreement to protect civilians seemed far-fetched to Gabriella Blum LL.M. ’01 S.J.D. ’03. The year was 1997, Blum was a young officer in the Israel Defense Forces, and she’d just been assigned to a group with the task of monitoring that noble, if dubious, effort.

For all his eloquence and conviction, Jack Goldsmith is a quiet man. For three years, he remained silent about his brief and controversial stint as head of the Office of Legal Counsel in George W. Bush’s Department of Justice. And even following the much-publicized publication of his book “The Terror Presidency” in September, Goldsmith does not relish the steady demand for comment about his Department of Justice tenure.

Two years ago, HLS Professor Roberto Unger LL.M. ’70 S.J.D. ’76 publicly denounced the government of his native Brazil, calling it “the most corrupt in history.” He also called for the impeachment of its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known throughout Brazil as “Lula.”

A renowned expert on trusts and estates, Professor Robert Sitkoff joined the HLS faculty this fall from New York University School of Law. He says we are in the midst of a “quiet revolution in modern American trust law.” Here, he explains.

Four authors of articles in the November Supreme Court issue of the Harvard Law Review offered an in-depth look at the Court’s 2007-8 term in a panel discussion on November 18.

IS THERE a legal basis for the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan for genocide?

After an election that mobilized legions of diverse voters, what can be expected from the 44th president? Three weeks after the victory of Barack Obama ’91, panelists considered the question at an event moderated by Professor Charles Ogletree ’78, director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

There has been much speculation about how the Obama administration will deal with what many view as the Bush administration's harsh, abusive and illegal interrogation program.

HLS Professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Chicago Law Professor Eric Posner ‘91 wrote “Does Europe Believe in International Law?” an op-ed published in the Nov. 25, 2008, edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Amalia Amaya LL.M. ’00 S.J.D. ’07 has been awarded the European Award for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Legal Theory. The award is given every three years by the European Academy of Legal Theory in Brussels.

Annette Gordon-Reed ’84 won this year’s National Book Award for nonfiction for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” which examines three generations of a slave family owned by Thomas Jefferson.

On Friday November 14, Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren was appointed to a five-member congressional oversight panel that will monitor the Treasury’s economic rescue plan and report back to Congress. Warren was one of three experts nominated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to the bi-partisan panel.

Brazilian Supreme Federal Court President Gilmar Ferreira Mendes discussed the development of Brazilian constitutional law since 1988 on Monday, October 27 in Pound Hall.

Deborah Anker, director of the HLS Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program and a clinical professor of law, has received an award from the Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN) in New York recognizing her pioneering work in humanitarian protection for immigrants fleeing protection.

The final round of Harvard Law School’s 97th Ames Moot Court Competition was held on November 18 in the Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall.

Craig Newmark, noted philanthropist and founder of the wildly successful no-frills website Craigslist, visited HLS in a Berkman Center-sponsored informal discussion on November 14. 

This year, Summer Public Interest Funding enabled HLS students to explore public service in 27 states and 35 countries around the world. More than $1.8 million Summer Public Interest Funding was awarded to 373 students this summer. Here’s a look at what four students did with their summer funding.

Rutherford B. Hayes, Harvard Law School class of 1845, was the first and only other HLS alum to be elected president of the United States.

During its 40th anniversary celebration, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) recognized Professor Emeritus Frank E.A. Sander ’52, and Harvard Law School as a whole, for historic efforts to increase the numbers of minority students in law schools.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Facing History and Ourselves and Harvard Law School convened some of the world’s leading human rights scholars, practitioners, and educators for an international conference entitled, “Universal Rights in Societies of Difference."