Recent Highlights

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  A Shared Vision: The growth of a friendship and a professional collaboration

  It’s hard to remember now what she said. But it was vintage Marissa—something others would not have thought, or had the courage to say. She raised her hand in the first week of law school, and spoke her mind.Right away, Ben wanted to be her friend. He flagged her down on the crosswalk after class. He asked if she wanted to bat around some ideas. And that was how Ben Hoffman and Marissa Vahlsing started Harvard Law School: side by side. Three years later, they graduated the same way.

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  Moot points, well made (video)

  The experience of earlier moot court contests and many hours of rigorous study can seem to melt into the ether when surviving third-year Harvard Law School students face not just any panel of esteemed judges but one led by a U.S. Supreme Court justice. On Thursday, November 17, 2011, the teams in the showdown round of the Ames Moot Court Competition tried to persuade a panel headed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to change the law of the land.

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  The Lawyerpreneurs: HLS helps students get their ideas off the ground

  The focus on and support for entrepreneurship have recently intensified at Harvard Law School. Last year, Dean Martha Minow announced the creation of the Public Service Venture Fund, which in 2013 will start awarding $1 million in grants each year, some of them targeted toward graduating students trying to get nonprofit startups off the ground. A group of students and practicing attorneys recently formed the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project to provide free legal research and advice to budding entrepreneurs.

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  Exit Interviews: A look at seven new graduates and where they're headed

  In her commencement address to the Class of 2011 on May 26, Dean Martha Minow praised students’ accomplishments at HLS and their vast array of skills and achievements. As they prepared to receive their diplomas, she urged them to cherish their talent for asking good questions: “Indeed, the questions asked by Harvard Law School’s Class of 2011, now and in the future, will define law and leadership in the years to come. Your influence reflects what Harvard Law School is and who you are and who you will become. I simply ask you to use your influence to better your communities and the world,” she said. Here, seven members of the class reflect on influences during their educational journey and how they intend to use their education to influence others.

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  Harvard Law School celebrates 2011 Commencement (video)

  Harvard Law School graduation festivities began on Class Day, Wednesday, May 25, and continued through Commencement Day on Thursday, May 26. This year, the Law School conferred a total of 790 degrees—585 J.D.s, 195 LL.M.s, and 10 S.J.D.s.

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  At HLS symposium, the 'godfather of grassroots basketball' decries exploitation of college athletes (video)

  With a mixture of storytelling about his groundbreaking role in amateur basketball and critiques of the NCAA and NBA, former sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro gave the keynote address at the third annual HLS Sports Law Symposium on March 25.

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  Chief Justice Roberts presides over Ames

  Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. ’79 presided over the final round of Harvard Law School’s 2010 Ames Moot Court Competition on Nov. 16 in Ames Courtroom. He was joined by Judge Julia Smith Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, and Judge Diana Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

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  Lawyers in summer, at home and abroad

  Five HLS students reflect on their summer legal work at home and abroad.

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  On their way to the next adventure: A look at five new graduates

  Seven hundred and sixty-one members of the Class of 2010 celebrated the end of their HLS journey at Commencement Exercises on May 27. As they are about to start their next journeys, five students from the graduating class take a look back at their time at HLS and share their plans for the future.