Video & Audio

Professor Anne Coughlin delivers the annual Charge to the Class, an inspirational speech to graduating students.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain is the most comprehensive attempt yet to explain the role of international law in U.S. courts, but the issue remains clouded with uncertainty, said William B. Fletcher, a judge on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, at the Ola B. Smith Lecture April 20.

Americans should turn to universal principles, such as the concept of personal responsibility, to decide whether their society should follow a tolerant religious model or a tolerant secular model, said Jefferson Medal in Law recipient Ronald Dworkin at a lecture April 12.

A gathering of those close to Armstead Robinson convened to discuss his intellectual legacy in Caplin Pavilion at an event sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law and the Black Law Students Association.

Kevin Anderson, an attorney from Wiley, Rein, & Fielding (WRF), explained their strategy in prosecuting Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the Blackberry wireless platform, for patent infringement against their client, NTP.

Attorneys from McGuireWoods discussed how to succeed as a summer associate.

The Constitution was far more democratic, slavocratic, geostrategically motivated and unfinished at its inception than contemporary wisdom often suggests, Yale Law School Professor Akhil Amar explained during a panel discussion of his most recent book, America’s Constitution: A Biography.

Is honor relevant to future lawyers? "Ethical advocacy—honorable advocacy—is good advocacy," argues Professor Earl Dudley Jr. at an event sponsored by the Student Bar Association and the Honor Committee.

Public service lawyers are the perfect models for how to face the decisive issues of the 21st century while upholding the values and ideas of the Constitution, said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

The government must change how ...

Nonviolent civic resistance movements have been the most powerful forces in creating democracies, according to Peter Ackerman, the keynote speaker for the J.B. Moore Society of International Law symposium, "Democracy in the Middle East: Prospect for Political Reform” Feb. 24.

The controversial use of extraordinary renditions to interrogate or detain suspected terrorists has evolved since its first use by the United States in 1995, but the practice fails to address concerns about torture and may be ineffective in quashing terrorism, said panelists at a Feb. 16 discussion at the Law School.

Although political pressure, lawsuits, and even the U.S. Department of Justice helped initiate the statistical tracking of racial profiling, police also may have discovered something that helped them change their ways, according to Professor Brandon Garrett.

Increasing cooperation between nongovernmental organizations and multinational corporations is creating a new type of diplomacy, attorney Owen Pell '83 explained during a lecture Feb. 6 at an event sponsored by the Career Services office.

Virginia death-row inmate Earl Washington's exoneration due to DNA testing may have changed forever how Virginia handles death penalty cases. Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, details lessons learned from the case and proposes further reforms to criminal investigations and trials.

While U.S. officials in the past have made mistakes regarding the treatment of detainees, the Department of Defense and lawmakers are taking steps to clarify procedures and ensure that the United States is transparent in its policies, said panelists.

While U.S. officials in the past have made mistakes regarding the treatment of detainees, the Department of Defense and lawmakers are taking steps to clarify procedures and ensure that the United States is transparent in its policies, said panelists at a Nov. 17 discussion at the Law School of the treatment and interrogation of detainees.

The war on terror, in which information from interrogations is a key tool in thwarting attacks, has been muddied by the difficulties of handling detainees in a legal system that was not designed for such use, said panelists during a forum at the Law School Nov. 10.

In states that have capital punishment, institutional pressures in the justice system skew the outcome in death penalty cases toward conviction and execution, law professor Stephen Smith said in lunch remarks to a Board of Trustees and Alumni Council meeting.

The P. Browning Hoffman Memorial Lecture in Law and Psychiatry features Rebecca Dresser, Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law and Professor of Ethics in Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

Guy Carmi LL.M. '05 discusses the FCC's relinquished Fairness Doctrine and its reinstatement prospects from a comparative perspective.

The 2005 Supreme Court Roundup

U.S. Senator Evan Bayh '81 Speaks at Commencement

Governor Janet Napolitano '83, Recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Alumna Award, discusses "Closing th e Leadership Gap."

Linda Fairstein '72, best-selling author and former sex crimes prosecutor for the New York county district attorney's office, discusses her work.