Public Service

A tribute to retiring Harvard Law School Professor Daniel I. Halperin ’61, written by his colleague, fellow HLS Professor Alvin C. Warren.

The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School has released a report, authored by Chike Croslin '16, Justin Dews, and Jaimie McFarlin '15 of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, titled Independent Lens: Toward Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness in Police Tactics. The report explores the potential and limitations of body-worn cameras for police.

Several Harvard Law School faculty members delivered commencement addresses this graduation season, including Cass Sunstein, Charles Fried and Kenneth Feinberg.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received the Radcliffe Medal on Friday, May 29. Since the 1970s, Ginsburg has constantly sought to break down traditional male/female stereotypes “that held women back from doing what their talents would allow them to do.”

This year’s Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award was presented to Chad Baker, honored for demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to improving and delivering high quality volunteer legal services to disadvantaged communities. Baker contributed over 2000 pro bono hours working with the Tenant Advocacy Project, the Prison Legal Assistance Project, and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

Daniel J. Meltzer '75, a renowned legal scholar and expert on federal courts and criminal procedure, and a valued legal advisor to President Barack Obama ’91, died on May 24, after a courageous battle with cancer. Meltzer was the Story Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he served on the faculty since 1982.

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow has appointed Clinical Professor Daniel Nagin as Vice Dean for Experiential and Clinical Education. In that role, Nagin will help to further expand the Law School’s extensive offerings in the area of experience-based learning, and he will work to develop new initiatives drawing upon the school’s wide array of clinics, student practice organizations, and other opportunities for learning through hands-on experience.

The Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) at Harvard Law School is making news for work it has done to promote civil discourse in town government and to help police mediate civilian complaints.

After their warnings about excesses and corrupt practices on Wall Street went unheeded but proved accurate, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, formerly a bankruptcy professor at Harvard Law School, set about trying to institute meaningful financial reforms from inside federal agencies and through politics.

Students represent the indigent in courts where judges ask, ‘Is Harvard in the building?’

Jorge Elorza wins the battle to lead the city where he fought for social justice

Brett Stark co-founds a medical-legal partnership to assist children who seek asylum in the U.S.

From London to Iran and beyond, Barton J. “Bart” Winokur ’64 has had a robust career as an international deal-maker and expert in mergers and acquisitions.

For Freshman Senator Tom Cotton, politics and patriotism are nothing new.

For Lani Guinier, the mission of higher education is—or should be—democracy.

In July, HLS Professor Daniel Halperin, will retire after after more than a half-century as a tax lawyer, professor and government official as will Duncan Kennedy who in 30 of his years on the faculty has taught one-fourth of every HLS entering class contracts, property or torts.

On April 20, Harvard Law School honored two members of its community—Donna Harati ’15 and Laura Maslow-Armand ’92—with the Gary Bellow Public Service Award, established in 2001 to recognize commitment to public interest work.

Loretta Lynch ’84 becomes the 83rd attorney general of the United States.

Daphna Renan, a scholar of administrative governance, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July.