Clinical Practice

Bernard Wolfman, a renowned scholar of tax law and the Fessenden Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, died on August 20, 2011. One of the preeminent tax professors in the United States, Wolfman clarified the world of tax law for generations of lawyers through his teaching and scholarship. He was also a leading expert in the ethics and rules of professional responsibility for lawyers.

It was the first real case Nneka Ukpai ’11 had ever tried. But by the second day of trial, her skillful advocacy created such a buzz in the Suffolk County courthouse last spring that the courtroom was packed with fellow HLS students, prosecutors, defense lawyers, even judges.

In an opinion piece posted on July 22 in the 'Boston Daily' section of Boston Magazine online, HLS Professor Alan M. Dershowitz looks at the Whitey Bulger case, voicing his opinion that the government needs to focus its attention on Bulger’s relatives and closest acquaintances in trying to determine who may have facilitated his fugitive status.

In an op-ed titled “Too Hot to Handle ,” which appeared in the July 1 American Lawyer, Harvard Law School Professor David B. Wilkins ’80 and Ben W. Heineman, Jr. explore how law firms should evaluate a partner’s wish to represent a controversial client.

Robert J. Katz ’72 is the new chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board. Katz is a senior director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., for which he served as general counsel from 1988 through 2000.

Where others see entrenched problems, the HLS Mississippi Delta Project—an interdisciplinary effort in the HLS Clinical and Pro Bono Programs—sees opportunity for transformation. Since launching less than three years ago, the project has made strides in improving public health, promoting economic development and assisting children in the Delta.

Arraignments on drug charges. Restraining orders in cases of domestic violence. Default judgments on overdue credit card payments and appeals on speeding tickets. When Judge…

At an event hosted by the Harvard Women’s Law Association on April 19, 2011, Joseph M. Sellers, head of the Civil Rights and Employment practice group at Cohen Milstein, shared his experience working on Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, the largest civil rights class action suit in the United States.

Harvard Law School student Emily Inouye ’11 and alumna Cynthia Chandler ’95 have each received the Gary Bellow Public Service Award for their commitment to public interest and social justice work.

In a Mar. 28 panel discussion moderated by Harvard Law School lecturer and former Maine Attorney General Jim Tierney, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen ’80 sat down with HLS students to discuss challenges they face in office.

Harvard Law School has been rated number one in the first-ever ranking of best law schools based on a survey of hiring partners and recruiters at the country's top law firms, U.S. News and World Report announced March 7.

In a lunch with Harvard Law School students, Jeffrey Cohen ’88, Managing Director and Global Head of Retail at Lazard, discussed his journey from a law school and legal training to investment banking.

HLS Professors John Goldberg and Henry Smith are working to reinvigorate the study of contracts, torts, and property with the new Private Law Workshop, which they co-teach as part of the Project on the Foundations of Private Law at Harvard Law School. The workshop, said Goldberg, is “an opportunity to introduce students to some of the emerging literature that’s aiming to rethink the significance of private law in modern legal systems.”

Joseph H. Flom ’48, the last living named partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and a leader in the field of mergers and acquisitions, died February 23, 2011 in New York City. He was 87. Flom helped transform a small New York firm into one of the most powerful legal institutions in the world, and he was also a dedicated philanthropist and supporter of Harvard Law School.

In a Jan. 27 talk titled “Line of Fire: On Being a 'Fortune 10' General Counsel," sponsored by the HLS Program on the Legal Profession, Stephen F. Gates ’72 (M.B.A. ’72) addressed the role and responsibilities of in-house counsel in today’s changing world of legal practice, and he spoke candidly about some of the specific situations he has faced in the “line of fire.”

Standing on principles shaped at HLS, Steven Goldberg ’72 wins a landmark ruling in a case involving one of the most controversial initiatives surrounding the War on Terror. For Goldberg the case exemplifies overreach at the highest level of government.

Groundbreaking legislation originally drafted by students from the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) to protect tenants from losing their homes after foreclosure was signed into law on August 7 by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ’82, former president of HLAB.

During January term, 2010, 13 Harvard Law School students traveled to 11 countries on Cravath International Fellowships to do clinical work and independent research.

Robert Greenwald, Managing Director of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center at HLS, was appointed on Feb. 1 to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). PACHA provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the President regarding programs and policies intended to promote effective care, treatment, and prevention of HIV disease, and to advance research on HIV disease and AIDS.

Ashish Nanda, Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at HLS, wrote “Lawyers should be recruited like doctors,” an op-ed that appeared in the October 13, 2009, issue of The American Lawyer. Nanda is the faculty director of executive education, and research director at the Program on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School.