Family, Gender & Children

In early 2014, Alec Karakatsansis, ’08, used some of the money that he and a Harvard Law School classmate had recently received from the school’s Public Service Venture Fund seed grant to buy a plane ticket to Birmingham, Alabama, and rent a car.

In a three-part lecture, Martha Minow, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, discusses the legacies of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the Supreme Court declared state laws concerning the segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional.

Legal scholars from across the globe gathered at HLS in July for a two-day conference on law and development, the latest iteration of a series of conferences held periodically by a loose consortium of schools including Harvard Law School, the University of Geneva, Renmin University of China, and the University of Sydney, Australia.

In a victory for Harvard Law School’s Crimmigration Clinic, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that state authorities cannot detain someone for a U.S. immigration violation based solely on a Detainer.

From the Supreme Court, to the SEC, to an unidentified city under siege: legal analysis, memoir, a documentary and more works from HLS alumni.

Over the course of her career, as Bonnie Docherty ’01 has emerged as an international expert on civilian protection in armed conflict, she has also mentored scores of clinical students, from field researchers in conflict zones to advocates inside the halls of the U.N. in Geneva.

The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program has released a far-reaching report, “Fulfilling U.S. Commitment to Refugee Resettlement,” that offers critical recommendations for resettling refugees, and recommendations for Congress and the Executive Branch on enhancing security, job creation, and equal treatment for all.

Sabrineh Ardalan ’02, assistant director of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program and a lecturer in the fields of immigration and refugee law and advocacy and trauma, refugees, and the law has been appointed assistant clinical professor at Harvard Law School.

On May 18, on behalf of affected Colombian communities, a coalition of human rights groups including the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the complicity of executives at Chiquita Brands International in crimes against humanity.

Martha Minow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor at Harvard Law School, was presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Buenos Aires on May 15. She is the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the University of Buenos Aires.

As he prepares to graduate, Mario Nguyên ’17 can stand as an example as someone who has overcome hardship and doubt, who has achieved more than he ever thought possible and plans to achieve much more. He will soon begin a job at a firm in his native Texas, with a goal of using his legal skills to bring about systemic change to benefit disadvantaged and marginalized people.

On March 23, William B. Schultz, former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011-2016), discussed the complicated politics surrounding the Affordable Care Act and possible policy options for the next phase of the law’s evolution.

Anna Lvovsky ’13, a scholar of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law and evidence, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July.

More than 350 students raced through the halls of Harvard Law School solving clues, answering trivia questions, and taking selfies with professors as part of the school's first ever Public Interest Scavenger Hunt, which had students competing for prizes as the community came together to show support for students working in public interest law.

During a Library Book Talk at Harvard Law School, writer Gish Jen discussed her latest book, “The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap,” making the case for the sociological and cultural patterns that influence many aspects of identity.

Harvard Law Today recently spoke with three of the 11 Harvard Law School students who were selected as Cravath International Fellows this year, who traveled during winter term to Bogotá, Colombia, Paris, France and Singapore to pursue clinical placements and independent research.

As part of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association’s (APALSA) annual conference, “Soft Power Hard Knockout: The Asian American Punch,” on Feb. 4, Harvard Law School presented a reenactment of the Vincent Chin trial, written by Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Anna Crowe, clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, traveled to Jordan to interview Syrian refugees about the difficulties of obtaining legal documentation and the precarious existence of living and traveling without papers.

On the morning of Jan. 9, Dayne Lee ’17, a student practitioner with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, slipped into a suit after three sleepless nights leading up to his major argument before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in a case pitting federally controlled mortgage giant Fannie Mae against homeowner Elvitria Marroquin – a Lynn, Mass. homeowner who has been fighting foreclosure since 2008.

Two Harvard Law School teams competed at the 13th annual Williams Institute Moot Court Competition at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law earlier this month. The event, which featured 30 teams from law schools nationwide, is the only national competition dedicated exclusively to the areas of sexual orientation and gender identity law.