On February 5 at Harvard Law, Kenji Yoshino, author and Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU, gave a talk on "Civil Ceremonies: Same-Sex Marriage on Trial". The talk is part of the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture series sponsored by the HLS Dean's Office.

In 2013, Prof. Vicki Jackson marked her appointment to the Thurgood Marshall Professorship of Constitutional Law with a lecture titled "Proportionality and Judging in American Constitutionalism."

On April 10, 2013, Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus '79 delivered a lecture entitled "Environmental Lawlessness" on the occasion of his appointment as the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law.

Harvard Law School Prof. John Goldberg marked his appointment as Eli Goldston Professor of Law in 2013 with a lecture on "Inexcusable Wrongs." Goldberg focuses his scholarship on questions of responsibility, studying how law balances liberty of action against accountability for wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow sat down for a talk with Benjamin B. Ferencz '43, who served as a chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials. Ferencz has written extensively on the importance of a permanent international criminal tribunal to ensure enforcement of international law.

Lawrence Lessig marked his appointment as Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School with a lecture titled "Aaron's Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age." The lecture honored the memory and work of Aaron Swartz, the programmer and activist who took his own life on Jan. 11, 2013 at the age of 26.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, reflected on her career during a discussion with Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow on Monday Feb. 4 before a packed room in Harvard Law School's Wasserstein Hall. Date: 02/04/2013

As part of the Herbert W. Vaughan Lecture Series at HLS, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas participated in a discussion with Dean Martha Minow after a day meeting with faculty and students.

In a talk co-sponsored by the Harvard Federalist Society, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels shared his experience in leading the charge for a new law that enacted a series of secondary education reforms in Indiana last year—reforms which many observers have called the most far-reaching changes yet adopted by any state. Date: 12/5/12

David Gergen '67, a former adviser to four presidents, a regular contributor to CNN and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, put the presidential race between fellow HLS graduates Mitt Romney ’75 and President Barack Obama ’91 in historical perspective, analyzed its development, and talked about its import in a talk at the Harvard Law School Fall 2012 Reunions. Date: 11/29/12

In a talk sponsored by the Law and Government Program of Study at Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. spoke about the difficulties and challenges of the position that he refers to as 'the greatest legal job one could ever have.' Date: 11/29/12

On April 3, Brigadier General Mark Martins ’90, chief prosecutor at the Office of U.S. Military Commissions in the Department of Defense, delivered a major address at Harvard Law School on Legitimacy and the Limits of Command in Reformed Military Commissions. The lecture was sponsored by the National Security Journal and the National Security & Law Association. Date: 5/15/12

In a program sponsored by the Harvard Law School Federalist Society, Randy Barnett '77, Georgetown University Law Center professor and libertarian legal theorist, joined HLS Dean Martha Minow April 12 to discuss his ongoing constitutional challenge to the individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Date: 5/4/12

Ralph Nader '58 and Bruce Fein '72 visited Harvard Law School for a talk sponsored by the HLS Forum and the Harvard Law Record. At the event, "America's Lawless Empire: The Constitutional Crimes of Bush and Obama," both men discussed what they called lawless, violent practices by the White House and its agencies that have become institutionalized by both political parties.

Former White House Counsel Robert Bauer addressed students at Harvard Law School in October, sharing his insights on the lawyer’s role in law and politics. Bauer, who served as counsel to President Obama from November 2009 to June 2011, is currently a partner at Perkins Coie and is now representing the president’s re-election team and the Democratic National Committee. Date: 12/22/11

President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, told conferees in a keynote address at HLS that the U.S. must not let down its guard in fighting terrorist organizations on a broad front. Brennan’s remarks, “Strengthening our Security by Adhering to our Values and Laws,” were delivered as part of a two-day conference on terrorism and national security, "Law, Security, and Liberty after 9/11: Looking to the Future," hosted by the newly-inaugurated Harvard Law School-Brookings...

In 1961, Newt Minow — then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — delivered a landmark speech to the National Association of Broadcasters on "Television and the Public Interest," in which he described television programming as a "vast wasteland" and advocated for public interest programming. Fifty years later Newt Minow — and a slate of distinguished guests — reflect upon the changed landscape of television and dramatic shifts in the broader media ecosystem, and identify lessons...

During the Honorable S. William Green Lecture in Public Law, established by Patricia Freiberg Green in honor of her husband Congressman Bill Green ‘53, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan ’86 and HLS Dean Martha Minow engaged in a wide-ranging conversation about the current high court, Kagan’s storied career, and other issues. 11/07/11

During a discussion at Harvard Law School, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff '78 outlined a paradigm shift in the nation's approach to security, one he argued happened before the attacks of 9/11. The event was sponsored by the Harvard Law School chapter of The Federalist Society. 11/07/11

Former Louisiana governor and 2012 presidential candidate Charles "Buddy" Roemer gave a lecture at HLS earlier this year on the subject of "fixing Congress." Roemer was invited by Professor Lawrence Lessig to present the Republican perspective on the matter as "a complement to the insights of Jim Cooper," the Democratic congressman who had appeared earlier in the lecture series. The event was sponsored by the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard Law School. Date: 3/24/2011

In a lecture titled “The Supreme Court and Race” at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, HLS Professor Michael Klarman challenges the idea of the U.S. Supreme Court as "an heroic defender of the rights of racial minorities." Klarman is introduced, and then joined in conversation, by HLS Professor Randall Kennedy. Date: 3/10/2010

In a November lecture marking his appointment as the Henry N. Ess III Professor at Harvard Law School, Professor John G. Palfrey ’01 called for a new legal information system "grounded in a set of open data." Palfrey is vice dean for library and information resources and faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at HLS. Date: 12/09/2010

On the occasion of his being awarded the Medal of Freedom—the highest honor conferred by Harvard Law School—Army Brigadier General Mark Martins ’90, commander of the Rule of Law Field Force-Afghanistan, gave the inaugural Dean’s Distinguished Lecture on April 18 at HLS. In June, the Department of Defense announced that Martins was appointed to be the chief prosecutor in the Office of Military Commissions.

Actor and activist Alec Baldwin, a life-long New Yorker who refers to Harvard Law School as the “New York Yankees of legal education,” spoke to HLS 2011 graduates as the official Class Day Speaker on May 25. Date: 5/25/11

The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at HLS founded as a think tank to respond to the need for leading legal scholarship at the intersection of medicine, science, and law, tackles a wide range of issues, bringing together top scholars from a variety of fields in an interdisciplinary approach to some of the thorniest problems faced by society today. Date: 4/21/2010