Holger Spamann examines the myths and reality of common and civil law Harvard Law School 2026-09-22 | Holger Spamann examines the myths and reality of common and civil law
Jazz Night in Langdell Leap Into Spring Edition Harvard Law School 2024-04-24 | Back by popular demand, HLS Beyond and the HLS Library offered another opportunity to enjoy the stylin' sounds of Harvard Law School students and their musical friends on February 29th, 2024.
2024 Last Lecture Series | Niko Bowie Harvard Law School 2024-04-22 | The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class. On April 18, Nikolas Bowie ’14, the Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, shared parting thoughts with students.In addition to Bowie, this year's other speakers are Professors Alan Jenkins '89, Sharon Block, and Christopher T. Bavitz.
Richard Lazarus, The Portent of the Current Supreme Court on the Future of Environmental Law Harvard Law School 2024-04-22 | On April 16, Richard Lazarus, Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law at Harvard, gave a talk on the conservatism of the current Supreme Court and its impact on environmental law. At Harvard Law, Lazarus teaches environmental law, natural resources Law, Supreme Court advocacy, and torts. He has represented the United States, state and local governments, and environmental groups in the United States Supreme Court in 40 cases and has presented oral argument in 14 of those cases. His primary areas of legal scholarship are environmental and natural resources law, with particular emphasis on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Celebration 70+ (2024) Harvard Law School 2024-04-16 | On April 4 and 5, 2024, HLS commemorated 70+ years of alumnae at Harvard Law School at their C70+ reunion.
Elizabeth Papp Kamali Chair Lecture: Felony and the Holy Face Harvard Law School 2024-04-15 | On April 9, a lecture by Elizabeth Papp Kamali '07 titled "Felony and the Holy Face" marked her appointment as Austin Wakeman Scott Professor of Law at Harvard.Professor Kamali teaches criminal law and English legal history, and her research focuses on the medieval English common law and the history of criminal law, with a particular interest in the early criminal trial jury. Her current projects include studies of doubt and proof in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century English law, medieval understandings of the effect of intoxication on legal responsibility, and the influence of Roman- and canon-law ideas on the early development of the common law.
2024 Vaughan Lecture: Joel Alicea, The Natural Law Moment in Constitutional Theory Harvard Law School 2024-04-15 | On April 9, Harvard Law School welcomed Joel Alicea ’13, co-director of the Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, and associate professor of law at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, to deliver the Herbert W. Vaughan Memorial Lecture, "The Natural Law Moment in Constitutional Theory." Jack Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law, gave introductory remarks.
2024 Last Lecture Series | Sharon Block Harvard Law School 2024-04-05 | The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class. On April 3, Sharon Block, professor of practice and executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, shared parting thoughts with students.In addition to Block, this year's other speakers are Professors Alan Jenkins '89, Chris Bavitz, and Niko Bowie '14.
2024 Last Lecture Series | Alan Jenkins Harvard Law School 2024-04-03 | The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class. On March 26, the series kicked off with Professor of Practice Alan Jenkins '89.In addition to Jenkins, this year's faculty lecturers are Professors Sharon Block, Chris Bavitz, and Niko Bowie '14.
Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program Book Talk: Elaine Lin Hering, Unlearning Silence Harvard Law School 2024-03-28 | In March, the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) hosted a conversation between HNMCP instructor and lecturer on law Morgan Michelle Franklin and HNMCP alum Elaine Lin Hering, the author of the forthcoming book “Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully.”In this conversation, Hering and Franklin discuss the ways in which, and the reasons why, we silence ourselves — and others — and the impact silencing has on our work and personal lives and our culture more broadly.From the publisher: "Having a seat at the table doesn’t mean that your voice is actually welcome. Knowing something is wrong doesn’t mean it’s easy to speak up. In fact, there are incentives for many of us to stay silent. Why speak up if you know that it won’t be received well, and in fact, often makes things worse?In Unlearning Silence, Hering explores how we’ve learned to be silent, how we’ve benefited from silence, how we’ve silenced other people—and how we might choose another way. She teaches how to recognize and unlearn unconscious patterns so we can make more intentional choices about how we want to show up at home and at work. Only by unlearning silence can we more fully unleash talent, speak our minds, and be more complete versions of ourselves… and help other people do the same.With compassion, clarity, and understanding, Hering guides readers through real-life examples and offers a concrete road map for doing this vital and challenging work."
HLS Library Book Talk | Cass Sunstein, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There Harvard Law School 2024-03-27 | On March 19, the Harvard Law School Library welcomed Robert Walmsley University Professor Cass Sunstein '78 for a talk on his latest book, co-authored with neuroscientist Tali Sharot, titled "Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There."From the publisher: "[Sunstein and Sharot] investigate why we stop noticing both the great and not-so-great things around us and how to “dishabituate” at the office, in the bedroom, at the store, on social media, and in the voting booth. This groundbreaking work, based on decades of research in the psychological and biological sciences, illuminates how we can reignite the sparks of joy, innovate, and recognize where improvements urgently need to be made. The key to this disruption—to seeing, feeling, and noticing again—is change. By temporarily changing your environment, changing the rules, changing the people you interact with—or even just stepping back and imagining change—you regain sensitivity, allowing you to more clearly identify the bad and more deeply appreciate the good."Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including "Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness" (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), "#Republic: divided democracy in the age of social media" (2017), "How Change Happens" (2019) and "How to Interpret the Constitution" (2023).
2024 Scalia Lecture | Aditya Bamzai, Statutory Interpretation and the Separation of Powers Harvard Law School 2024-03-27 | On March 27, Harvard Law School welcomed Aditya Bamzai, Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, as the 2024 Scalia Lecturer. Bamzai's talk was titled "Statutory Interpretation and the Separation of Powers."At UVA Law, Bamzai teaches administrative law, advanced administrative law, civil procedure, computer crime and conflicts of law, and he has written about these and related subjects. His work on the development of American administrative law has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Harvard Law Review and various other journals. He is a coauthor of the forthcoming ninth edition of the casebook “Administrative Law: The American Public Law System, Cases and Materials.”Bamzai has argued cases relating to the separation of powers and national security in the U.S. Supreme Court, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, D.C. Circuit and other federal courts of appeals. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a federal agency charged with ensuring that the government’s national security efforts are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.The Scalia Lecture Series, which was established by an anonymous donor in 2013 in honor of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia ’60, is aimed at promoting and advancing the understanding of the founding principles and core doctrines of the U.S. Constitution.
Andrew Manuel Crespo, Root and Branch: Lawyers, Movements, and The End of Mass Incarceration Harvard Law School 2024-03-27 | On March 21, to mark his appointment as Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law, Andrew Manuel Crespo '08 delivered a lecture titled "Root and Branch: Lawyers, Movements, and The End of Mass Incarceration." Professor Crespo's research and scholarly expertise center on the institutional design, legal frameworks, and power structures of the American penal system, and on the relationship between lawyers, organizers, and social movement actors in effecting transformational change. In addition to his professorship, Professor Crespo is faculty director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, where he works to develop modes of legal practice that integrate lawyers effectively and responsibly into organizer-led anti-carceral campaigns and movements.
2024 Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture | Cristina Rodriguez, Equality, the Polity, and Immigration Harvard Law School 2024-03-26 | On March 25, Cristina M. Rodriguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, delivered the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture at Harvard Law, titled "Equality, the Polity, and Immigration." Rodriguez' fields of research and teaching include constitutional law and theory, immigration law and policy, administrative law and process, and citizenship theory. In recent years, her work has focused on the relationships between administrative and executive governance and democratic politics and decisionmaking. She has turned to immigration law and related areas as vehicles through which to explore how the allocation and exercise of power (through federalism, the separation of powers, and the structure of the bureaucracy) shapes the management and resolution of legal and political conflict. Her work also has examined the effects of immigration on society and culture, as well as the legal and political strategies societies adopt to absorb immigrant populations.The Biddle lecture is named for Francis Biddle, a 1911 HLS graduate, who served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, solicitor general, and U.S. attorney general during World War II. He was subsequently a judge at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg.After Biddle’s death in 1968, his widow Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle endowed the lecture in his honor, with a request that the selection of lecturers reflect “that civil liberties and civil rights were of particular concern to my husband and thus particularly appropriate subject areas for the lectures.”
Berkman Klein Center presents (Deep) Learning From the Bench: A Conversation on Algorithmic Fairness Harvard Law School 2024-03-20 | As algorithmic decision-making becomes increasingly pervasive, it raises challenging issues pertaining to equality and equity. This timely discussion on fairness and technology is grounded in Professor Minow’s forthcoming article about Justice Abella's equality jurisprudence. The conversation delves into Justice Abella’s pivotal contributions to defining equality in Canada, and how they might guide our approach to algorithmic fairness. As machine learning and other algorithmic predictive tools rely on biased data and produce disparate outcomes, they highlight unresolved tensions and limitations in legal frameworks in the U.S., Canada and EU pertaining to equality and non-discrimination. Exploring the tension between formal and substantive approaches, the speakers unpack the renewed challenges we face today as discrimination manifests through algorithmic systems, and suggest paths forward to better confront algorithmic harms on the ground.This conversation was moderated by Maroussia Lévesque.
Transform: Justice — Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.Org | Library Innovation Lab Harvard Law School 2024-03-15 | On March 8, the Library Innovation Lab is hosted a conference titled “Transform: Justice” at Harvard Law School. A celebration of the full, unqualified release of the data from the Caselaw Access Project anchored the event, focused on the future of the access-to-law movement. Speakers across government, academia, and industry sketched out the opportunities ahead for expanding access to legal data and its waterfall effects across society and justice.To close the conference, public domain advocate Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.Org, delivered remarks on opportunties ahead in the access-to-law space.
Transform: Justice — The Future with Open Legal Data | Library Innovation Lab Harvard Law School 2024-03-15 | On March 8, the Library Innovation Lab is hosted a conference titled “Transform: Justice” at Harvard Law School. A celebration of the full, unqualified release of the data from the Caselaw Access Project anchored the event, focused on the future of the access-to-law movement. Speakers across government, academia, and industry sketched out the opportunities ahead for expanding access to legal data and its waterfall effects across society and justice.In this session, we hear from Mike Lissner, founder of the Free Law Project; Sara Frug, director of the Legal Information Institute; and Angela Jaffee, an account director at vLex and former national programs administrator for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, about what it takes to make the law free for everybody.
Transform: Justice — The Story of the Caselaw Access Project | Library Innovation Lab Harvard Law School 2024-03-15 | On March 8, the Library Innovation Lab is hosted a conference titled “Transform: Justice” at Harvard Law School. A celebration of the full, unqualified release of the data from the Caselaw Access Project anchored the event, focused on the future of the access-to-law movement. Speakers across government, academia, and industry sketched out the opportunities ahead for expanding access to legal data and its waterfall effects across society and justice.In this session, leaders of the Caselaw Access Project discuss the release of the trove of seven million digitized cases from the collection of the Harvard Law School Library, detailing how they did it and why it matters. Featuring Professor Jonathan Zittrain, Adam Ziegler (TrueLaw), Nik Reed (Knowable and LexisNexis), Daniel Lewis (LegalOn).
HLS Beyond presents: Why I Changed My Mind 2024 Harvard Law School 2024-03-11 | On March 6, the third iteration of the popular "Why I Changed My Mind" panel featured moderator Jonathan Zittrain in conversation with Professors Janet Halley, Juliette Kayyem, and Ruth Okediji, each of whom shared stories of professional moments of reckoning when ideas they had previously thought settled in their worldview changed. This event is part of HLS Beyond, an initiative led by the Harvard Law School Library that offers workshops on cutting-edge topics and skills for life and lawyering, centered on Harvard Law students, but inclusive of the broader university community.Learn more about the program at https://hlsbeyond.law.harvard.edu/Read more at https://hls.harvard.edu/today/hls-beyond-provides-students-with-opportunties-for-less-formal-learning/
Harvard Law School Library Book Talk: Randall Kennedy, Say It Loud! Harvard Law School 2024-02-29 | On Feb. 27 the Harvard Law School Library hosted Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, for a discussion of his book, "Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture." Prof. Kennedy was joined in conversation by Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor. The event is part of a regular series of book talks hosted by the Harvard Law School Library.
Harvard Law Students Take On Faculty and Staff in Basketball Harvard Law School 2024-02-29 | Harvard Law students pulled off a 45-31 victory against faculty and staff – including Noah Feldman, Phil Torrey, and Stephen Ball – in the annual Courtroom Classic.
Antitrust, Labor, and Economic Opportunity: A Conversation with FTC Chair Lina Khan | HLS CLJE Harvard Law School 2024-02-27 | The Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School recently hosted Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, for a discussion with CLJE Executive Director Sharon Block on how efforts to promote healthy market competition and a vibrant economy can empower working people.
Environmental Constitutionalism with Nepal Supreme Court Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai Harvard Law School 2024-02-22 | Recent constitutional cases in Nepal have elaborated on the right to a healthy and clean environment in the context of natural resource protection, climate change, and wildlife conservation. Nepalese jurisprudence has also interacted with international law, drawing from treaty regimes such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and concepts such as ecocide. On Feb. 9, Harvard Law School hosted Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai of the Supreme Court of Nepal, for a discussion moderated by Clinical Professor Tyler Giannini on the country’s experience with environmental constitutionalism.
Valentines Day 2024 Harvard Law School 2024-02-14 | HLS staff and students share what they love most on February 14th, 2024.
Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum: Rule by One Judge — The Question of Universal Injunctions Harvard Law School 2024-02-07 | On Feb. 7, Harvard Law School hosted a discussion titled "Rule by One Judge: The Question of Universal Injunctions," featuring Sam Bray, John N. Matthews Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School; Mila Sohoni, Associate Dean of Faculty and Herzog Research Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law; and moderator Guy-Uriel Charles, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School.The event was part of the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum series, established in 2020 to promote and model rigorous, open, and respectful discussion of vital issues facing the world.Panelists:- Sam Bray, John N. Matthews Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School- Mila Sohoni, Associate Dean of Faculty and Herzog Research Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of LawModerator:Guy-Uriel Charles, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law SchoolRead more on Harvard Law Today https://hls.harvard.edu/today/do-universal-injunctions-lead-to-national-rule-by-one-judge/
Harvard Law Library Book Talk | Daniel Medwed, Barred: Why the Innocent Cant Get Out of Prison Harvard Law School 2024-02-01 | On Jan. 31 the Harvard Law School Library hosted author and Harvard Law Visiting Professor Daniel Medwed '95 for a discussion with Alexandra Natapoff, Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law at HLS, on his book "Barred: Why the Innocent Can't Get Out of Prison." Medwed, a leading authority on criminal law, focuses his research and pro bono activities around the topic of wrongful convictions. "Barred" explores the range of procedural barriers that so often prevent innocent prisoners from obtaining exoneration. This event is part of the ongoing series of book talks sponsored by the Harvard Law School Library each academic year since 2014.
HLS Rappaport Forum: Trump v. Anderson: Does the 14th Amendment Disqualify Trump from Public Office? Harvard Law School 2024-01-26 | On Jan. 25, Harvard Law School hosted a discussion titled "Trump v. Anderson: Does the Fourteenth Amendment Disqualify Trump from Office?", featuring Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale Law School and Michael Mukasey, of counsel to a New York City law firm and former U.S. Attorney General and Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a conversation moderated by Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School. The event was part of the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum series, established in 2020 to promote and model rigorous, open, and respectful discussion of vital issues facing the world.Panelists:- Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale Law School- Michael Mukasey, of counsel to a New York City law firm and former U.S. Attorney General and Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New YorkModerator:- Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law SchoolRead more on Harvard Law Today https://hls.harvard.edu/today/does-the-14th-amendment-bar-donald-trump-from-running-for-president/
Making Acceptance Calls to the Harvard Law Class of 2027 Harvard Law School 2024-01-11 | Take a look behind the scenes as the Harvard Law School J.D. Admissions team make their first acceptance calls to the future Class of 2027.
2023 Klinsky Lecture: Sherrilyn Ifill, Reimagining American Democracy: Becoming Founders & Framers Harvard Law School 2023-11-29 | On November 29, civil rights lawyer and scholar Sherrilyn Ifill, Steven and Maureen Klinsky Visiting Professor of Practice for Leadership and Progress at Harvard Law, delivered a lecture titled "Reimagining American Democracy: Becoming Founders & Framers," to mark the appointment. From 2013-2022, Ifill served as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), where her voice and analysis played a prominent role in shaping the national conversation about race and civil rights. In 2024, Ifill will become the inaugural Vernon L. Jordan Chair in Civil Rights at Howard Law School, where will become founding Director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy.The Steven and Maureen Klinsky Professorship of Practice for Leadership and Progress was endowed in 2013 as the first endowed professorship of practice, designed to bring visiting leaders from a wide range of fields beyond law to campus to teach and bring inspiration and broad perspective to the school and, more generally, to Harvard University.
A Conversation with Viet D. Dinh ’93, Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Fox Corporation | CLP Harvard Law School 2023-11-28 | On October 16, Viet D. Dinh ’93, chief legal and policy officer at the Fox Corporation, joined David B. Wilkins, faculty director of the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, in conversation about Dinh’s career, including what it is like to be a chief legal officer at a well-known, publicly-traded company. The event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Association for Law and Business.Learn more about the Center on the Legal Profession: https://clp.law.harvard.edu/
Ames Moot Court Competition 2023 Harvard Law School 2023-11-27 | On November 15, 2023, the Ames Moot Court Competition Final Round took place in Ames Courtroom at Harvard Law School. The competition was presided over by Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court; Goodwin Liu, Supreme Court of California; and Rachel Kovner, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. This year's case was United States Occupation Safety and Health Administration v. Federici Contracting, LLC.The Patsy Takemoto Mink Memorial Team (Petitioner):Derek ChoiKunal DixitDaniel Flesch (oralist)Phoebe KotlikoffYusuke TsuzukiMonica Wang (oralist)- Meet the Team: youtu.be/GfQ__ry_mKwThe Judge Laurence H. Silberman Memorial Team (Respondent):Max AlvarezEric BushRichard Dunn (oralist)Hayley Isenberg (oralist)Jessica FloresBrandon Sharp- Meet the Team: youtu.be/y0UolOpmzJYWatch past competitions here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2q2U2nTrWq0nkcMz1SdTVz-9aGbAwcCRRead more about the Ames Moot Court Competition Final Round here: https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/bsa/final-round/For full coverage of the competition, visit Harvard Law Today: https://hls.harvard.edu/today/the-2023-ames-moot-court-competition-final-round/
A Conversation with D. Y. Chandrachud LL.M. ’83, S.J.D. ’86, Chief Justice of India’s Supreme Court Harvard Law School 2023-11-21 | On October 21, the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession hosted a conversation between D. Y. Chandrachud, chief justice of India’s Supreme Court, and David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession, on the state of the legal profession and the role of the judiciary in India and around the world. Co-sponsored by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University.
HLS Library Book Talk: 1/6: The Graphic Novel Harvard Law School 2023-11-16 | This discussion features author and Harvard Law School Professor of Practice Alan Jenkins in conversation with illustrator and cartoonist Peter Kuper on the history of comic book culture. "1/6: The Graphic Novel" asks and answers the question: “What if the January 6, 2021 Insurrection had been successful?”This event is one of a regular series of book talks hosted by the Harvard Law School Library each semester.
Stephen Sachs Chair Lecture: Life After Erie Harvard Law School 2023-11-16 | On November 1, Professor Stephen Sachs marked his appointment as the inaugural Antonin Scalia Professor of Law with a lecture titled "Life After Erie," in which he presented an argument for overturning the Court's 1938 decision in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins. In his lecture, Sachs explained why he believes the Depression-era justices erred, discusses the possibility that general law might be returned to its “rightful place,” and explores what that might mean for the U.S. legal system.
Alexandra Natapoff Chair Lecture: Redistributing Law: A View From Below Harvard Law School 2023-11-15 | On the occasion of her appointment as the Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law, criminal justice expert Alexandra Natapoff delivered a lecture on inequalities in the criminal justice system titled "Redistributing Law: A View From Below."
Countdown to Ames 2023 | Meet the Patsy Takemoto Mink Memorial Team Harvard Law School 2023-11-14 | Team members Derek Choi, Kunal Dixit, Daniel Flesch (oralist), Phoebe Kotlikoff, Yusuke Tsuzuki and Monica Wang (oralist) will serve as counsel for the petitioner in this year's competition.The Ames Moot Court Competition is one of the most prestigious competitions for appellate brief writing and advocacy in the country. Students participating in the Final Round start the competition in the fall of their 2L year. From there, two teams progress to the Final Round through their strong research abilities and excellent written and oral advocacy.The final round arguments will take place on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Countdown to Ames 2023 | Meet the the Judge Laurence H. Silberman Team Harvard Law School 2023-11-14 | Team members Max Alvarez, Eric Bush, Richard Dunn (oralist), Hayley Isenberg (oralist), Jessica Flores, and Brandon Sharp will serve as counsel for the respondent in this year's competition.The Ames Moot Court Competition is one of the most prestigious competitions for appellate brief writing and advocacy in the country. Students participating in the Final Round start the competition in the fall of their 2L year. From there, two teams progress to the Final Round through their strong research abilities and excellent written and oral advocacy.The final round arguments will take place on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum: Intellectual Property and the Dawn of Generative AI Harvard Law School 2023-11-02 | On October 30, Harvard Law School hosted a discussion on “Intellectual Property and the Dawn of Generative AI,” featuring Justin Hughes '86, the Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, and Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law at Berkeley Law and co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, in a conversation moderated by IP expert Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’96, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard. The event was part of the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum series, established in 2020 to promote and model rigorous, open, and respectful discussion of vital issues facing the world.In 2023, ChatGPT and other Large Language Models captured the attention of the world. But these are only the tip of the spear for generative artificial intelligence technologies. These technologies are poised to transform industry, education, and social relations. They raise a large number of challenges for law, perhaps none more so than for intellectual property.We are seeing significant lawsuits in the U.S. and UK over the massive amounts of copyrighted materials ingested for the purposes of training generative AI models. There are also important legal questions associated with the output of generative AI, including: When do their outputs infringe copyright and how should responsibility be allocated between the AI developer and the user whose prompt caused the infringing output? Should generative AI works be copyrightable and, if so, how do we decide who is the owner or author? Will generative AI change the contours of what we protect in copyright, such as a human artist’s “style?” Will the law’s decisions on these and related questions disrupt the livelihoods of workers in creative industries?These technologies also pose challenges for patent, trade secrecy, and right of publicity law. For example, what should be patent laws standards for “obviousness” and “enablement” — concepts the law has always measured by the human mind — going forward? Should AI developers have to disclose the data sets on which they trained their models, or is this data a protectable trade secret? This Rappaport Forum will explore these and other questions, including how IP policymakers in the U.S., the EU, and in other jurisdictions have been responding to the rise of another wave — this time, perhaps, a tsunami — of disruptive technology.Speakers:- Justin Hughes, Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Law School- Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law, Berkeley LawModerator:- Ruth Okediji, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Jazz Night in the Harvard Law School Library Harvard Law School 2023-10-25 | The Harvard community gathered in Langdell Hall for an evening of warm apple cider, jazz music, and jazz education led by Harvard Law students. #Harvard #Jazz #Music #Fall
The Resurgence of Child Labor and the Rights of the Child in the United States | Harvard Law HRP Harvard Law School 2023-10-24 | On October 17, the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School sponsored an event titled “The Resurgence of Child Labor and the Rights of the Child in the United States,” a moderated discussion featuring experts on labor, human rights, and child welfare. Panelists:- Terri Gerstein is director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Center for Labor and a Just Economy;- Benjamin Smith is the Senior Child Labour Specialist of the International Labour Organization (ILO) where he supports member states in the development and implementation of policies and programs to tackle child labor;- Benyam Dawit Mezmur is Professor of Law at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child;- Gerald L. Neuman (moderator) is the Director of the Human Rights Program, and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School.The event was co-sponsored by: - The Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/- The Harvard Center for Labor and a Just Economy https://clje.law.harvard.edu/- The Youth Advocacy and Policy Lab at HLS https://ylab.law.harvard.edu/
HLS Library Book Talk: When Misfortune Becomes Injustice Harvard Law School 2023-10-12 | On October 4, the Harvard Law School Library hosted a book talk and discussion on "When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: Evolving Human Rights Struggles for Health and Social Equality" by Alicia Ely Yamin, lecturer on law and the Senior Fellow on Global Health and Rights at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Yamin was joined by panelists Aziza Ahmed, co-director of the Boston University Law School Program in Reproductive Justice; Jesse Bump executive director of the Takemi Program in International Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Louise Ivers, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella: Film Screening and Discussion with Justice Rosalie Abella Harvard Law School 2023-10-10 | On October 5, Harvard Law School hosted a film screening and discussion of "Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella," a film about the life and career of Rosalie Abella, a former member of the Supreme Court of Canada. The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring Justice Abella, director Barry Avrich, and producer Mark Selby. The discussion was moderated by Martha Minow.Read more https://hls.harvard.edu/today/without-precedent-the-supreme-life-of-rosalie-abella/
Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi on nuclear energy Harvard Law School 2023-09-25 | On September 21, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, delivered a talk at Harvard Law School titled "Whatever Happened to Atoms for Peace?"In his talk, Director General Gross addressed the major global challenges and solutions of today, and examined the extent to which that bold vision — to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons while extending access to life-affirming applications of nuclear science and technology — has been realized.
Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum | Censorship, Content Moderation, and the First Amendment Harvard Law School 2023-09-25 | On Friday Sept. 22, Harvard Law School hosted a panel discussion "Censorship, Content Moderation, and the First Amendment" as part of the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum, an ongoing series of discussions designed to promote and model full, vigorous, and civil discourse on critical and complicated issues facing our community, our nation, and our world. Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, moderated the conversation with guest speakers Jameel Jaffer, Adjunct Professor of Law and Journalism, Columbia Law School & Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University, and Daphne Keller, Lecturer on Law, Stanford Law School & Director of the Program on Platform Regulation at the Stanford Cyber Policy CenterThe Rappaport Forum, funded by the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation, honors Jerry Rappaport '47, who founded the HLS Forum in 1946 to invite speakers to address issues facing the world post-World War II.
Harvard Law School Library Book Talk | John Coates The Problem of Twelve Harvard Law School 2023-09-21 | On September 20, author John Coates, John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics, was joined for a discussion of his new book "The Problem of Twelve: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything," by panelists Guy-Uriel Charles, Charles Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law at HLS, and Shawn Cole, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. The event was hosted by the Harvard Law School Library, part of their ongoing series of book talks showcasing scholarship by faculty, alumni, and affiliated authors.
Harvard Law School Library Book Talk: How to Interpret the Constitution Harvard Law School 2023-09-15 | On September 12, author Cass Sunstein was joined by Steven Pinker and Richard Fallon for a discussion of his latest book, "How to Interpret the Constitution." The event was part of a regular series of talks hosted by the Harvard Law School Library throughout the academic year.
Sama ElBannan honored by the Class of 2023 with the Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award Harvard Law School 2023-05-28 | Sama ElBannan, program manager for the Harvard Defenders, accepted the 2023 Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award during Harvard Law School’s Class Day exercises on Wednesday, May 24. The award is given each year to a staff member who demonstrates commitment to the student experience and concern for students’ lives and work. ElBannan, who was introduced by a Class Marshal, Liesbet van Acker, was recognized by the Class of 2023 for her “selflessness” and “kindness” in supporting students and clients alike.Read more on Harvard Law Today: https://hls.harvard.edu/today/sama-elbannan-receives-2023-staff-appreciation-award/Read full 2023 commencement coverage: https://hls.harvard.edu/today/harvard-law-school-celebrates-the-class-of-2023/
Class Day & Commencement 2023 Harvard Law School 2023-05-26 | A short recap of Class Day and Commencement at Harvard Law School (May 24 - May 25 2023)
Reflections of the Class of 2023 Harvard Law School 2023-05-26 | Members of the Class of 2023 reflect on the meaning of commencement as they look ahead to a new chapter, and look back on the moments of camaraderie, community, and hard work they’ll carry with them as they embark on their journeys.
