Constitutional

On September 8 at Harvard Law School's Wasserstein Hall, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice and former HLS Dean Elena Kagan ’86 shared lessons learned from her career and offered a glimpse into the Court’s private world in a talk with HLS Dean Martha Minow.

In celebration of Constitution Day—the annual commemoration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787—several Harvard Law School professors spoke about the document upon which the American legal and political systems have been built.

A study on capital punishment co-authored by Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker ’86 and her brother Jordan Steiker ’88 a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, was influential in Connecticut’s recent decision to abolish the death penalty in that state.

Since at least 1983, when Harvard Law student Evan Wolfson ’83 wrote a third-year paper exploring a human rights argument for same-sex marriage, Harvard Law School has participated in anticipating, shaping, critiquing, analyzing and guiding the long path toward marriage equality.

In late May, four Harvard Law faculty members, Charles Fried, Michael Gregory, Kathryn Spier and David Wilkins, each shared a snapshot of innovative research with the HLS community, followed by discussion as part of the 2015 Harvard Law School Thinks Big lecture.

“Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution,” an assessment of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ’79, written by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe ’66 and Joshua Matz ’12, has been recognized by the American Bar Association, earning the ABA 2015 Gavel Award Honorable Mention.

Several Harvard Law School faculty members delivered commencement addresses this graduation season, including Cass Sunstein, Charles Fried and Kenneth Feinberg.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received the Radcliffe Medal on Friday, May 29. Since the 1970s, Ginsburg has constantly sought to break down traditional male/female stereotypes “that held women back from doing what their talents would allow them to do.”

Daniel J. Meltzer '75, a renowned legal scholar and expert on federal courts and criminal procedure, and a valued legal advisor to President Barack Obama ’91, died on May 24, after a courageous battle with cancer. Meltzer was the Story Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he served on the faculty since 1982.

As he prepares to finish his LL.M. year at Harvard Law, Lor Sok recalls all the benefits the experience has provided him. But the real test of the experience, he says, is what it will mean for Cambodia, his homeland.

After their warnings about excesses and corrupt practices on Wall Street went unheeded but proved accurate, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, formerly a bankruptcy professor at Harvard Law School, set about trying to institute meaningful financial reforms from inside federal agencies and through politics.

Bryan Stevenson ’85 on race, poverty and the things worth fighting for

On Dec. 15, 2014, 34 Harvard Law alumni, from the Classes of 1971 to 2010, gathered at the U.S. Supreme Court to join the bar for the highest court in the nation.

Kannon Shanmugam on making his case before the Supreme Court

John Coates argues that extending speech protections to corporations is bad—not just for democracy but for capitalism.

800 years later, the ‘great charter’ still fascinates

When HLS Professor Lawrence Lessig was named as the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard in 2008, he…

Loretta Lynch ’84 becomes the 83rd attorney general of the United States.

Last year, HLS Professor Jon Hanson and Jacob Lipton ’14 launched the Systemic Justice Project, a new venture intended to provide students with a new way to think about the role that law and lawyers play in society.

Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, and an expert in constitutional studies, international law, and the history of legal theory, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, humanities, and the arts.

Daphna Renan, a scholar of administrative governance, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July.