Topics
National and International Security
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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‘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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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‘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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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In their honor
November 10, 2021
To mark Veterans Day, Harvard Law Today highlights a few of the profiles and stories that illustrate the profound commitment of those in the HLS community to service and the law.
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‘The journey is the whole point. You can’t just look at the end point, you have to love everything in the middle.’
November 2, 2021
In the fall of 2010, Brad Carney ’24 couldn’t stand what he saw in the mirror. Then he discovered that he could go further than he thought he could.
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‘If I graduate helping one person better understand the military and how national security issues inform that perspective, I will be happy.’
November 2, 2021
An Air Force veteran, community organizer, and counselor to homeless teens, Kristi L. Tanaka ’24 says service will always be part of her plans.
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‘I felt almost like I had a responsibility; people my age were getting blown up, and I’m sitting here in college.’
November 2, 2021
As a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan, Nathan Lowry ’24 led a team of counterterrorism intelligence specialists targeting Taliban operations.
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A 12-year Naval JAG career has taken Lt. Cmdr. Shawn Brennan LL.M. ’22 to Afghanistan, Japan and, most recently, the Pentagon.
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In the Situation Room
October 5, 2021
Professor David B. Wilkins, faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, recently sat down with Jeh Charles Johnson, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP who served as the secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017 during the Obama Administration.
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Studying law while fighting illicit finance
September 28, 2021
Harvard Law student Michael Chang-Frieden ’23 discusses writing a global watchdog report on Japan’s ability to fight money laundering, terrorist financing, and nuclear proliferation financing.
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John B. Bellinger III ’86: ‘I really mostly worry about the future’
September 10, 2021
Former legal adviser to the National Security Council during the Bush administration says 20 years after 9/11, he's frustrated there hasn't been more progress toward an international legal framework for dealing with terrorism.
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Juan C. Zarate ’97: ‘There’s a lot of presumption of the demise of American power, and I’m raging against that’
September 10, 2021
A counterterrorism czar in the Bush administration, and the first-ever assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes, says the U.S. needs to reconceptualize what power means in the 21st century.
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Jane Harman ’69: ‘We haven’t learned that when we work together we overcome’
September 10, 2021
Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, a former California congresswoman and ranking member of House Intelligence Committee reflects on events of that day and the calamities we still confront.
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Twenty years after 9/11, leaders in the nation’s response reflect
September 9, 2021
On the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Harvard Law Today asked five Harvard Law School alumni and a former adjunct professor, all of whom had prominent roles in counterterrorism and other national policies during and after 9/11, to share their reflections about the events of that day.
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Michael Chertoff ’78: ‘What are we going to do to make sure it doesn’t arise again?’
September 9, 2021
The former head of Homeland Security and co-author of the USA Patriot Act says the U.S. needs a strategy for dislodging terrorist groups.
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A co-author of the 9/11 Commission report, who served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, says engaged citizenry united in its efforts will make this country safer.
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A special responsibility
September 9, 2021
As special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, or VCF, Rupa Bhattacharyya ’95 is working to ensure that fair compensation goes to the victims of the attacks.
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Katherine Tai represents
July 23, 2021
In her new role as U.S. trade representative, Tai ’01 brings legal expertise, political savvy, and a deep commitment to American workers.
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Cuba’s ‘uncertain future’
July 19, 2021
Harvard Law Today recently reached out to Visiting Professor Rafael Cox Alomar ’04 to learn more about what is behind recent protests in Cuba, the Biden administration’s response, and whether there is likely to be a lasting impact.
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Is the U.S. in a cyber war?
July 14, 2021
Harvard Law Today recently spoke with homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem ’95 about what the U.S. can do to deter future ransomware attacks.
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The Pentagon Papers case today
June 21, 2021
Does the First Amendment still protect the press when it lawfully receives classified information unlawfully obtained?
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Examining international, comparative, and foreign law
March 23, 2021
Seven HLS students were recently named Cravath International Fellows in recognition of the significant, internationally-focused independent clinical or research/writing projects they undertook during Winter Term in January.
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‘A sense of duty and honor’
March 17, 2021
In a Q&A with Harvard Law Today, Congressman Jamie Raskin ’87, who served as lead House impeachment manager, reflects on a time of trauma and hope.
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Modirzadeh briefs UN on self-defense and state silence
March 5, 2021
On Feb. 24, Professor of Practice Naz Modirzadeh ’02, founding director of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC), briefed a United Nations Security Council Arria-formula meeting convened by the Permanent Mission of Mexico.
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What does the growing individualization of U.S. foreign and security policy mean for national security?
February 24, 2021
Elena Chachko’s award-winning scholarship is informed by her work as a former Israeli intelligence analysis officer and diplomat.
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Since President Joe Biden took office in January, dozens of Harvard Law community members, including faculty and alumni, have been tapped to serve in high-profile positions in his administration
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As the trial of Donald Trump takes place in the Senate on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, renowned journalist Bob Woodward wondered during a Harvard Law School-sponsored webinar on Wednesday whether Trump also could have been impeached for his role in the COVID-19 crisis.
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Capitol losses
February 2, 2021
A virtual gathering titled “The Events of January 6 and the Future of American Democracy” featured HLS Professor Richard Fallon and other Harvard experts assessing the damage done by the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
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Gaining power, losing control
January 28, 2021
As the 2020 Tanner Lecturer on Human Values at Clare Hall, Cambridge, Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain explores the clash of free speech and public health online.
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Harvard Law Professor Ruth Okediji believes recent events can reinvigorate American democracy and serve as a lesson for the world.
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Presidential picks
January 19, 2021
Harvard Law Today has compiled the names of just a few of the HLS graduates who are expected to fill some of the most high-profile posts in the new Biden administration.
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Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program blocks another Trump administration asylum rule
January 13, 2021
In a case brought by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, a California District Court last week issued a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration rule that would gut protections for people fleeing persecution and torture.
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Trusted to listen
December 28, 2020
After her first interview in Afghanistan, Nicolette Waldman ’13 realized she had found the career she was meant to pursue.