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National and International Security

  • An Ounce of Prevention

    July 15, 2022

    “Lawyers are supposed to be problem solvers," says Justin Herdman ’01, "and that means identifying problems before they are at your doorstep.”

  • An illustrated battle scene where cursor arrows are being launched

    Faculty Books in Brief: Summer 2022

    July 2, 2022

    From the Hughes Court to stock market short-termism to the U.S.'s "defend forward" cyber strategy

  • Nixon giving

    Watergate-era reforms 50 years later

    June 8, 2022

    Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith says laws and norms established after President Nixon's resignation 'had a great run,' but the Trump presidency proved that new reforms are needed.

  • Two men speaking at a meeting

    ‘There’s just no experience that replaces asking people for their vote’

    April 5, 2022

    The Harvard Law School Democrats recently hosted a Q&A with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain ’87. who answered students' questions on the administration’s agenda on voting rights, student loan debt, global vaccine inequities, the war in Ukraine, and other hot topics.

  • Group photo of five women and one man

    HLS team advances in the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition

    March 21, 2022

    Harvard Law School’s team has won the national round of the 2021-2022 Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition and will advance to the international round, to be held from March 24 through April 10.

  • Gorbachev and Bush at White House Summit

    ‘There was no promise not to enlarge NATO’

    March 16, 2022

    Robert Zoellick, the U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the end of the Cold War, says Vladimir Putin’s claims about Ukraine are part of a disinformation campaign.

  • Luxury yacht sailing at sea

    Combating corruption

    March 9, 2022

    Professor Matthew Stephenson, an anticorruption law expert and founder of the Global Anticorruption Blog, explains the myriad ways corruption may play a role in Russia's war in Ukraine.

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    The International Criminal Court: Explaining war crimes investigations

    March 4, 2022

    Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Alex Whiting, deputy specialist prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, outlines the path from investigation to trial, and ultimately to justice.

  • Firefighters work to contain a fire of a building during a shelling

    Russian forces are using weapons widely banned across the world, says Harvard Law expert

    March 3, 2022

    As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, of particular concern, says arms expert Bonnie Docherty, is the reported use of cluster munitions and other explosives in highly populated areas.

  • Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov speaks on a screen at a UN meeting

    The war in Ukraine and international law

    March 2, 2022

    To understand the implications of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine under international law, Harvard Law Today reached out to Professors Gabriella Blum and Naz K. Modirzadeh, both experts in the laws of war.

  • Crowd of people in New York City's Times Square carrying a large Ukranian flag

    ‘We Ukrainians know Putin all too well’

    February 28, 2022

    For international law expert Svitlana Starosvit LL.M. ’13 S.J.D. ’22, Russia's military assault on Ukraine is horrifying yet unsurprising because, she says, “We Ukrainians know Putin all too well."

  • Two men speaking at white podiums with flags behind them

    Ukraine in the balance

    February 20, 2022

    Harvard Law negotiation expert Rachel Viscomi ’01 analyzes the playing field as the U.S. and its allies confront Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders.

  • Two men shaking hands

    When Nixon went to China

    February 17, 2022

    On the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit, China experts William Alford and Mark Wu discuss whether the president may be getting too much credit for his history-making journey.

  • A soldier sitting on top of a military tank that is flying the Ukranian flag

    Russian incursion into Ukraine ‘very likely,’ says John B. Bellinger III ’86

    February 10, 2022

    John B. Bellinger III ’86, a former State Department and national security legal adviser, sees ‘echoes of the Cold War,’ and says Biden should make ‘crystal clear' to Putin the consequences of an invasion.

  • Book cover

    HLS Authors: Selected Alumni Books Winter 2022

    January 31, 2022

    When Tibor Várady began looking through more than 100 years of files of his family’s law firm in a Serbian city in Eastern Europe, he found not only client information. He uncovered a history of the people of the region during world wars and under control of multiple states.

  • US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with detainee

    Supreme Court preview: Garland v. Gonzalez

    January 4, 2022

    Two Harvard Law School scholars explain why the Garland v. Gonzalez case could have broader implications for immigrants and advocates.

  • Crowd of protesters waving flags at the U.S. Capitol

    January 6, 2021: Harvard Law experts reflect a year later

    January 4, 2022

    Harvard Law Today asked experts from across Harvard Law School to share their perspectives on January 6, 2021, the events that have unfolded since, and the implications for American democracy going forward.

  • Man sitting at desk cluttered with papers

    In Memoriam: Philip B. Heymann 1932 – 2021

    December 2, 2021

    When asked what he wanted to be remembered by, longtime Harvard Law Professor and former Watergate prosecutor Philip B. Heymann ’60 replied: “Speaking truth to power.” Heymann, a beloved colleague and distinguished public servant, died Nov. 30 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89.