Mediation & Negotiation

In June, Harvard Law School’s World Trade Organization (WTO) moot court team won the 15th Annual European Law Students Association (ELSA) Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, marking the first win for an HLS team, and making them the first team from North America in the history of the competition to take top honors.

Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge in Massachusetts who is now a senior lecturer at Harvard Law School, spoke with the Gazette about the legal issues swirling around President Donald Trump and FBI Director James Comey's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Each May since 2011, Harvard Law School has presented "HLS Thinks Big," a TED Talks-style event that invites faculty members to present a "big idea" in front of an audience of faculty, students and staff.

The Harvard Law School World Trade Organization (WTO) moot court team won the North America regional competition at the European Law Students Association (ELSA) Moot Court Competition (EMC2) on WTO Law in March.

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.

Several members of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Countering Violent Extremism gathered at HLS in March to discuss findings from the commission's November 2016 report, which outlines a strategy for the United States to diminish the appeal of extremist ideologies and narratives.

A look back at 2016, highlights of the people who visited, events that took place and everyday life at Harvard Law School.

In November, the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program celebrated its 10th anniversary, marking its evolution into a robust program of global clinical work in dispute systems design, innovative pedagogy around teamwork, and expanded course offerings in multiparty negotiation, group decision-making, teams and facilitation.

During the fall 2016 semester, a group of leading scholars came together at Harvard Law School for the lecture series, "Diversity and US Legal History," which was sponsored by Dean Martha Minow and organized by Professor Mark Tushnet, who also designed a reading group to complement the lectures.

Last December in suburban Paris, 195 countries reached a landmark agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions. For Todd Stern ’77 the Paris accord capped two decades of work to curb climate change.

The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University today released a set of legal and ethical recommendations to address a series of structural factors that affect NFL player health. The Football Players Health Study is a research initiative composed of several ongoing studies examining the health and wellbeing of NFL players.

HLS students Tony Garofano LL.M. ’17 and Sarah Grant ’19 spoke with writers for Harvard Law Today about their experiences serving in the military and studying at Harvard Law.

Harvard Law School is pleased to announce that a $1 million gift from Ada Tse ’91 and James Yang through their family’s YangTse Foundation will expand and enhance the Law School’s signature Negotiation Workshop, an intensive course that combines theory and practice to improve students’ understanding of negotiation and their effectiveness as negotiators.

In late October Harvard Law School celebrated National Pro Bono Week with a number of events to honor the outstanding work of lawyers who volunteer their time to help people in their communities.

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, Harvard Law School Professor Alex Whiting moderated a conversation between Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, permanent representative of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, and Harold Hongju Koh ’80, who served as legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State.

Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program Director and Clinical Professor Robert Bordone and Assistant Director and Lecturer Rachel Viscomi offer advice on how to talk about the election and other contentious topics without alienating family, friends and your social network.

As the final speaker in this year's "Last Lecture" Series was Bob Bordone, Thaddeus R. Beal clinical professor of law and director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, who spoke about a how simple Facebook status update from 2013 led him to consider the elements of a successful career today.

Early in the spring, first-year Harvard Law School students Chloe Goodwin, Nora Ellingsen, and Josh Looney jumped at the opportunity to volunteer with a national organization to help felons get a second shot at life: Clemency Project 2014, a coalition that supports petitions by nonviolent drug offenders for executive clemency.

This spring, Jeff Kindler ’80, CEO of Centrexion and former chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc, joined the president of the Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB) Alex Rienzie ’16 for a discussion about Kindler's career, and issues in the business world, particularly as they intersect with the law.