YLS Community Server

“Slavery and Race: Monticello Legacies” 2011-2012 James A. Thomas Lecture

tyson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:36:00 GMT

March 5, 2012
Annette Gordon-Reed, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Professor Annette Gordon-Reed delivered the 2011-2012 James A. Thomas Lecture on March 5, 2012, at Yale Law School. In her lecture – titled “Slavery and Race: Monticello Legacies” – Professor Gordon-Reed discusses the struggles implicit in Jefferson’s Monticello and their relationship to our national identity and ideals.

Gordon-Reed is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Professor of History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her epic work, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History, as well as the 2008 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, as well as some twelve other awards. Gordon-Reed was awarded a 2009 National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama and was named a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow in 2010.

Interview: The Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic

tyson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:30:00 GMT

February 16, 2012
Michael Wishnie, William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization
Muneer Ahmad, Clinical Professor of Law

In 2007, on the heels of a controversial decision by New Haven's Board of Aldermen to grant municipal identification cards to all residents of New Haven (regardless of immigration status), Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted a series of immigration raids in New Haven, arresting dozens of Latino residents.

Since that day, students in Yale Law School's Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic have represented many of those arrested, filing Freedom of Information requests, federal and state lawsuits, and working on policy intervention in addition to representing those arrested in their immigration cases.

On February 14, 2012, the federal government agreed to settle a civil rights lawsuit that arose from those raids. The landmark settlement will include a payment of $350,000 to 11 of those arrested in the raids and immigration relief for the plaintiffs.

In this podcast, Yale Law School Professors Michael Wishnie and Muneer Ahmad talk about the clinic's involvement representing those arrested beginning in 2007 and continuing through the settlement.

“Gene Patents: Advancing Medicine or Capturing Humanity?” Sponsored by the Information Society Project

tyson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:26:00 GMT

February 14, 2012
Chris Hansen, attorney for the ACLU
Richard Marsh, General Counsel of Myriad Genetics
Rochelle Dreyfuss, Pauline Newman Professor of Law at NYU
Dr. Allen Bale, Director of the DNA Diagnostic Lab and Professor of Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine

On February 14, 2012, Yale Law School’s Information Society Project hosted the following panel discussion about gene patents at Yale Law School. Panelists included: Chris Hansen, attorney for the ACLU; Richard Marsh, General Counsel of Myriad Genetics; Rochelle Dreyfuss, Pauline Newman Professor of Law at NYU; and Dr. Allen Bale, Director of the DNA Diagnostic Lab and Professor of Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine. The panelists discussed whether human genes should be patentable. Is isolated DNA a "product of nature" or a "man-made invention?" Do gene patents on balance promote innovation or harm it?

“Climate Change in the Courts” panel discussion sponsored by The Yale Law Journal, ACS, Federalist Society, and YELA

tyson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:22:00 GMT

February 25, 2012
Professor Douglas Kysar (Yale Law School)
Professor Richard Epstein (Chicago/ NYU)
Professor Daniel Farber (Berkeley)
Benjamin Ewing

The following panel discussion on “Climate Change in the Courts” features Yale Law School Professor Douglas Kysar; Benjamin Ewing ’11; New York University School of Law Professor Richard Epstein; and Berkley Law Professor Daniel Farber, who debate the role of courts in responding to global warming.

“National Security Law, Lawyers and Lawyering in the Obama Administration.” Dean’s Lecture

tyson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:18:00 GMT

The Honorable Jeh Charles Johnson, General Counsel of the Department of Defense
February 22, 2012

Jeh Johnson delivered the following Dean’s Lecture at Yale Law School on Feb. 22, 2012. Johnson discussed lawyering in the Obama Administration in this lecture, titled “National Security Law, Lawyers and Lawyering in the Obama Administration.”

"Legality" – A book discussion with Professor Scott Shapiro

tyson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:13:00 GMT

Scott J. Shapiro, Professor of Law and Philosophy at Yale Law School discusses his book “Legality” in this talk, which took place on February 21, 2012. Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken provides commentary. Sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library
Feb 21, 2012

“Ungoverned Territories or New Types of Rights and Authority?” 2012 Storrs Lecture (Part II)

tyson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:11:00 GMT

Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and co-chair of The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University
January 31, 2012

In this, the second lecture in the two-part Storrs Lecture series of 2012, Professor Sassen discusses “Ungoverned Territories or New Types of Rights and Authority?”

“The Making of New Bordering Capabilities” 2012 Storrs Lecture (Part I)

tyson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:07:00 GMT

Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and co-chair of The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University
January 30, 2012

In this, the first lecture in the two-part Storrs Lecture series of 2012, Professor Sassen discusses “The Making of New Bordering Capabilities.”

“The Dictates of Justice: Essays on Law and Human Rights”

tyson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:58:00 GMT

Owen Fiss, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law
A Book Discussion, sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library
February 1, 2012

In this discussion, Yale Law School Sterling Professsor Emeritus Owen Fiss reflects upon his time advising Argentinian President Raúl Alfonsín and his administration during the human rights trials that the country conducted in the mid 1980s.
From that experience, Professor Fiss came to see human rights as universal social ideals that are also deeply rooted in a country's processes of national self-determination. In his talk, Professor Fiss explains how states engaging in the transition from dictatorship to democracy, like Argentina, can protect human rights through civil, not just criminal, proceedings. Professor Fiss also takes on the human rights issues posed by the fight against terrorism in the post-9/11 era within the context of national law.

“Democracy, Expertise, Academic Freedom: a First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State”

tyson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:18:00 GMT

Robert C. Post ’77, Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law
A book discussion with commentary by Professor Jack M. Balkin
Sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library
February 7, 2012

In his new book, titled Democracy, Expertise, Academic Freedom: a First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State, Yale Law School Dean Robert C. Post ’77 shows that the familiar understanding of the First Amendment, which stresses the "marketplace of ideas" and which holds that "everyone is entitled to an opinion," is inadequate to create and preserve the expert knowledge that is necessary for a modern democracy to thrive.
This book discussion took place on February 7, 2012, at Yale Law School.

A Talk with Jose Antonio Vargas

tyson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:05:00 GMT

Jose Antonio Vargas, journalist and founder of Define American
December 1, 2011

Jose Antonio Vargas is a journalist who has written substantial articles for noteworthy newspapers and magazines such as the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and the New Yorker. In 2011, Vargas wrote an essay for The New York Times Sunday Magazine titled “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” in which he chronicled the years he has spent hiding his immigration status after learning as a teen that his green card was fake.

In 2011 Vargas founded Define American, a nonprofit that seeks to change the conversation on immigration reform.

Vargas spoke about his personal story and Define American at Yale Law School on December 1, 2011. The talk was sponsored by several Yale groups, including Yale Law School’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.

“Your Guantánamo Moment”

tyson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:57:00 GMT

P. Sabin Willett, Partner, Bingham McCutchen
October 24, 2011

P. Sabin Willett, Partner at Bingham McCutchen, delivered the 2011-2012 Preiskel-Silverman Lecture, titled “Your Guantánamo Moment” on October 24, 2011. In this lecture, Willett discusses his own work trying to win freedom for Uighur prisoners seized during the Afghanistan War and held at Guantánamo Bay.

“The Judge Who Cried: Social and Economic Rights as Judicially Enforceable Fundamental Rights”

tyson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:51:00 GMT

Albie Sachs, former South Africa Constitutional Court Justice
September 21, 2011

Renowned human rights activist and former South Africa Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs delivered the Robert P. Anderson Memorial Fellowship Lecture at Yale Law School on September 21, 2011. The lecture, titled “The Judge Who Cried: Social and Economic Rights as Judicially Enforceable Fundamental Rights.”

In his talk, Justice Sachs reflects on the demand for housing made by South African activist Irene Grootboom and other evicted shack dwellers, and on the demand for anti-retroviral drugs made by HIV-positive women about to give birth. He addresses the question, “Can the Constitutional Court of South Africa grant constitutional remedies without intruding unduly on the legitimate spheres of decision-making by the legislature and executive?”

Lincoln’s Code: The Puzzling History of the Laws of War

lisa.cook — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:51:00 GMT

February 28, 2011

An expert in American legal history, John Fabian Witt joined Yale Law School in 2009. In this, his inaugural lecture as the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law, Witt discusses the puzzling history of the laws of wars, dating back to the time of the Civil War and the wartime instructions known as "Lieber's code."

Is Civility Important?

lisa.cook — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:25:00 GMT

February 17, 2011

Yale Law School Professor Stephen L. Carter, author of "Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy," shares his thoughts on the issue of civility in politics in this lecture, sponsored by the Yale Law Democrats and Yale Law Republicans.

Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught since 1982. Among his courses are law and religion, the ethics of war, contracts, intellectual property, and professional responsibility. Much of his work focuses on the creationof conditions for rational dialogue, while preserving a rich diversity of points of view, whether at home or in international affairs.

Whatever Happened to Freedom of Association?

tyson — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 20:04:00 GMT

February 7, 2011

Stanford law professor Michael W. McConnell, an expert on freedom of speech and religion, delivered the 2011 Ralph Gregory Elliot Lecture on February 7, 2011, at Yale Law School.

McConnell is the Richard & Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, as well as Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is a leading authority on freedom of speech and religion, the relation of individual rights to government structure, originalism, and various other aspects of constitutional history and constitutional law.

Before joining Stanford in 2009, McConnell served as a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is the only full-time professor of law in the nation who has previously served as a federal appellate judge. He has argued 13 cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, in 2010.

Lessons from Two Decades of New Business Creation-From Satellite Television to Electric Cars

lisa.cook — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:51:00 GMT

January 31, 2011

Kevin R. Czinger '87, co-founder and strategic advisor to CODA Automotive has extensive experience operating start-up and growth companies. The following lecture, titled "Lessons from Two Decades of New Business Creation-From Satellite Television to Electric Cars" was delivered on January 31, 2011 as part of the Yale Symposium on Law and Management, which was co-sponsored by Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management.

Czinger previously served as president and CEO of CODA, an electric car and battery company headquartered in Santa Monica, California,where he oversaw the management and strategic direction of the company. Prior to CODA, he was a partner and managing director at Fortress Private Equity, an alternative asset management firm, and an entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. He also served as senior vice president, Operations and Finance, and chief financial officer of Webvan Group.

Prior to Webvan, Czinger was a managing director in the media and telecommunications group at Merrill Lynch and also served as the CEO of Volcano Entertainment, a record and music publishing company he founded. In the early 1990s, he was executive director and head of the media-banking group at Goldman Sachs International in London.
Czinger holds a B.A. from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Dignity, Voice, Story

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:34:00 GMT

January 24, 2011

The following podcast is a recording of Jean Koh Peters’s inaugural lecture as the Sol Goldman Clinical Professor of Law. The lecture, titled “Dignity, Voice, Story,” touches upon Professor Peters’s work representing children and refugees and her approach to clinical law teaching.

An expert in children, families, and the law, Peters joined Yale Law School in 1989 as an associate clinical professor and supervising attorney for The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. She was named clinical professor in 1993 and was named the Sol Goldman Clinical Professor of Law in October 2009. She previously was an assistant clinical professor at Columbia Law School and associate director of Columbia’s Child Advocacy Clinic. Prior to that, she served as a staff attorney in the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York City, after clerking for the late William P. Gray of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:26:00 GMT

December 9, 2010

In this book discussion, Reva Siegel ’86, the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law and Linda Greenhouse ’78 MSL, the Knight Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence, discuss their book, “Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling.” Yale Law School Professor Jack M. Balkin provides an introduction and commentary to frame the discussion.

Vision, Values, and Environmental Law

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:23:00 GMT

December 2, 2010
In this podcast, Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar speaks on his book "Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental Law and the Search for Objectivity." Following Kysar’s remarks, Robert Verchick, Gauthier-St. Martin Chair in Environmental Law, Loyola University New Orleans, discusses Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World. These remarks were delivered on December 2, 2010 at Yale Law School.

Reflections on Promoting Liberty and the Rule of Law, and the Curious Case of DADT

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:19:00 GMT

Lecture sponsored by the Yale chapter of the American Constitution Society
December 1, 2010
Professor Dawn Johnsen ’86, former acting assistant attorney general under President Clinton and two-time President Obama nominee to head the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel, spoke at Yale Law School on December 1, 2010 about reproductive rights, torture, the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and the confirmation process, among other topics.

Climate Change, Courts, and the Common Law

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:17:00 GMT

Inaugural Lecture - Douglas A. Kysar, Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law
November 15, 2010
Doug Kysar is a path-breaking scholar in the areas of environmental law and torts. His book "Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental Law and the Search for Objectivity" (Yale University Press 2010) seeks to reinvigorate environmental law and policy by offering novel theoretical insights on cost-benefit analysis, the precautionary principle, and
sustainable development. Professor Kysar is also the co-author of a leading casebook, The Torts Process (2007).
When asked about his Inaugural Lecture, Professor Kysar responded: “To date, scholars exploring the connection between climate change and tort law have tended to ask what the latter can do about the former. With a few notable exceptions, they have answered, ‘Not much.’ This lecture will pose the inverse question: What can climate change do about tort law? As it turns out, the answer is, ‘Quite a bit.’”

Hard Evidence on Soft Skills: The GED and the Problem of Soft Skills in America

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:08:00 GMT

The 2010 James A. Thomas Lecture
November 1, 2010
James Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago speaks on the topic of “Hard Evidence on Soft Skills: The GED and the Problem of Soft Skills in America.”
Professor Heckman’s work has been devoted to the development of a scientific basis for economic policy evaluation, and his research has given policymakers important new insights into areas such as education, job training, the importance of accounting for general equilibrium in the analysis of labor markets, anti-discrimination law, and civil rights.
In 2000, he won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He directs the Economics Research Center and the Center for Social Program Evaluation at the Harris School for Public Policy. In addition, he is the Professor of Science and Society in University College Dublin and a Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation.
Professor Heckman is author of hundreds of articles and several books, including, most recently, Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law and the forthcoming Hard Evidence on Soft Skills: The GED and the Problem of Soft Skills in America.

The Decline and Fall of the American Republic

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:00:00 GMT

October 20, 2010
Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale Law School, discusses his new book, "The Decline and Fall of the American Republic," with Stephen Skowronek, Acting Chair of the Political Science department, Yale University.

Law and Morality in the Jewish Tradition

lisa.cook — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:34:00 GMT

Dean's Lecture
October 5, 2010
Justice Izhak Englard (Ret.) Supreme Court of Israel
Izhak Englard, former justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, delivered this Dean’s Lecture at Yale Law School October 5, 2010. Justice Englard served on the Israeli Supreme Court from 1997 to 2003. He is the Bora Laskin Professor of Law (Emeritus) at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he was Dean of the Law Faculty from 1984 to 1987. He has served as visiting professor and lecturer at many universities, including Yale Law School, USC Law School, University of Rome, University of Zurich, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Columbia Law School.