Ethics

David Wilkins, the Lester Kissel Professor of Law and director of the Program on the Legal Profession at Harvard LawSchool, was selected to receive the first-ever J. Clay Smith Award from Howard University School of Law.  A member of the Harvard Law School faculty since 1986, Wilkins specializes in studying the structures, norms, and practices of the legal profession, as well as legal ethics.

What if the government forced all citizens to get genetic testing to find out if they were carriers of a deadly disease such as Tay-Sachs? “Any constitutional problem with that?” I. Glenn Cohen ’03 asks the 25 students in his popular course, Genetics and Reproductive Technology: Legal and Ethical Issues, as he paces before the blackboard in a Hauser classroom.

Todd Lantz ’09 received the 2009 Law Student Ethics Award from the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Northeast Chapter in April.

On April 24, Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Bernard Wolfman, a leading tax law expert, spoke on “Ethical Problems in Tax Practice” at the Sixth Annual Institute on Tax Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions. The event, held at the offices of the New York City Bar, was presented by the New York City Bar in conjunction with the Center for the Study of Mergers and Acquisitions of Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law.

Harvard Law School Professor Andrew Kaufman '54 has been appointed to an ad hoc committee that will advise the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on whether to adopt changes to ethical rules disfavoring public comment by judges.

Peter Carfagna '79 has negotiated for Tiger Woods and other marquee athletes. As sports law has become increasingly diversified, so has he. He now owns two baseball teams.

Law, too, is going offshore. Two Harvard Law students are getting a firsthand look.

Best known for his mystery novels and a memoir about his first year at HLS, author Scott Turow ' 78 spoke on campus in mid-October about a weightier issue: the death penalty.

Most law school grads who began their careers at large law firms probably remember the research assignments they received as young associates, with the long hours, the frustrating Lexis searches and the overbroad results--all for an answer that a more experienced lawyer could have found in 10 minutes.

Ira Burnim's clients are not like the rest of us. They don't want any help. They're just not worth the money, the time, the trouble. They're better off locked away, out of sight.

A panel that included many former members of the Harvard Defenders marked the 50th anniversary of the group by examining the widely misunderstood role of the defender in the courtroom and in society.