Public Service

In March, the Harvard Federalist Society, an organization of conservatives and libertarians espousing individual freedom, limited government, and judicial restraint, held its first alumni symposium on campus.

President Donald Trump taps alumni for White House and agency hires

Looking back and ahead with Dean Martha Minow

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.

For five years in the Army, including one in Afghanistan, David E. White Jr. was zealous about leadership and public service. At Harvard Law School, he added to his passionate pursuits. “At the end of the day, it’s about justice,” said White, J.D. ’17. “In everything I pursue, my goal is to do justice.”

Erika Johnson is this year’s winner of the David A. Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award, which is named in honor of the late Clinical Professor David Grossman ’88 and recognizes students who have demonstrated excellence in representing individual clients and undertaking advocacy or policy reform projects.

The abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey has caused much consternation among Democrats and Republicans alike. Alex Whiting, professor of practice at the Law School, spoke with the Harvard Gazette about the ramifications of Comey's dismissal.

Since its founding nine months ago, Harvard Law School’s Access to Justice Lab has aimed to revolutionize thinking about access to legal help. Often misunderstood and sometimes controversial, the lab sponsored a five-hour symposium in April that drew scholars from across the country to Harvard Law School.

HLS student Bradley Pough ’18 and Qian Wan, a mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate at Harvard's Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have co-written “Digital Analytics and the Fight Against Blight: A Guide for Local Leaders,” a paper that provides data-driven recommendations city officials can use to battle urban housing blight.

The Harvard Law Review has announced the creation of a public interest fellowship, which will enable one recent Harvard Law graduate to spend a year following law school working in public service.

On April 5, the Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB) hosted Stephen Schwarzman, chairman, CEO and co-founder of the Blackstone Group -- the largest alternative asset management firm in the world -- to discuss lessons from his long career in business, and his many years of work as a philanthropist.

The Harvard Law School mock trial team of Kaitlyn Beck ’19, Haydn Forrest ’19, Rahul Garabadu ’19, and Marilyn Robb ’18 took Fifth Place at the National Student Trial Advocacy Competition March 30–April 2 in Cleveland.

Harvard Law School student William Ahee ’17 and alumnus Lam Nguyen Ho ’08 have received the Gary Bellow Public Service Award, established in 2001 to honor HLS Professor Gary Bellow ’60, his commitment to public service, and his innovative approach to the analysis and practice of law.

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.

Samantha Power, who served as the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 until 2017, has been named to a joint faculty appointment at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School.

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.

Neil M. Gorsuch, a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, was sworn in today as the 113th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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.

William T. Coleman Jr. ’46, the former secretary of transportation and one of the lead strategists and co-authors of the legal brief for the appellants in Brown v. Board of Education, died March 31.