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111 Harv. L. Rec. 1 (2000)

handle is hein.journals/hlrec111 and id is 1 raw text is: ~ arvard RLaw America's Frst Law School Newspaper 35 CENTS Volume 111, No. I Cunbridge 02138 Friday, September 15, 2000 Presidential race not a party for two, says Nader '58 by Justin Herdman Harvard blood runs like a river through contemporary presidential politics. Demo- cratic candidate Vice President Al Gore attended the college, while his Republican opponent Gover- nor George W. Bush received a degree from the business school. But only one presiden- tial candidate could tell you the way to Jarvis Field - Ralph Nader '58. Running under the banner of the Green Party, Nader is waging an insurgent campaign based on disillusionment with mainstream party politics. Campaign finance reform is just one of the issues that coaxed Nader into the race, but he points to it as a ques- tion of primary importance. In a recent interview with the RECORD, Nader derided the current system for sewing politicians into the purses of the wealthy. Money is king, Nader said, and cash register politics are making it hard for citizen groups here in Washington to get anything done. A former editor and presi- Ralph Nader '58 spoke with RECORD editors this week before his appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. dent of the RECORD, Nader's law school career was occupied less with academic excellence than it was with insightful journalism. As a student, Nader wrote celebrated arti- cles that detailed the hard- ships of Native Americans, the commonwealth status of Puerto Rico, and state dis- crimination of women jurors. As might be expected from a man who once admitted to reading his case books after the exam, Nader hesitated when asked if any lessons from HLS were applicable on the campaign trail. It never occurred to me, he said. Though failing to cite non- mutual claim preclusion as a guiding light in his quest for the presidency, Nader eventu- ally pointed to a few enduring lessons from law school. I learned how to distinguish reality from pantheons, he said, and I learned how to focus on the pursuit of justice and not to be detoured by all kinds of secondary issues. Making of a Candidate Harvard provided the spar- ring ring for Nader's career as a heavy-hitter for the truth. While still a student at HLS, Nader penned an article for the RECORD entitled American Cars: Designed for Death. This article caught the eye of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, now the retiring senior senator from New York, who had been appointed in 1961 as an Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Kennedy administration. When Moyni- han decided to launch an investigation of automobile safety, he named Nader to head the study. The result was a book pub- lished in 1965 that outlined the dangerous defects of General Motors' Corvair. Unsafe at Any Speed became a best-seller and made Nader into a nation- al figure. He used his newfound fame to recruit Nader's Raiders - a group of activists who flocked to Washington, D C. to lobby for consumer pro- tection legislation. As a result of these endeav- ors, Nader is uniquely posi- tioned to offer advice to young lawyers who are desperate to make a diftbrence. The chal- lenge begins with finding out what lawyer means, accord- ing to Nader. You have to define the profession as one that's supposed to further jus- tice, he said, which means that it has to have a dimension exclusively devoted to public interest law that's well funded. He pointed to the Appleseed Foundation - an organization that promotes electoral reform - as an example. Perhaps not coincidentally, Nader is a member of the Appleseed Foundation's Board of Directors. When asked about potential sources of financing for public interest law, Nader reacted with skepticism to corporate efforts in the area. I don't think you're going to get fun- Please see NADER, p. 13 Sears Prize winners share secrets of success by Juan Pablo Alban In the hierarchy of life at HLS, there are the smart, the really smart ... and the Sears Prize winners. On Sept. 7, the Law School announced the four winners of the coveted Joshua Montgomery Sears Jr. Prize. The prize is awarded annually to the two students with the highest grade point averages in the 1L and 2L classes. Joshua Feltman '02 and Steven Lehotsky '02 received the honor for their 1L grades. Elizabeth Saylor '01 and John O'Quinn '01 accomplished the same for their 2L work. In contrast to the last several years, only one of the IL recipients of the Prize is on the Law Review. While Feltman is a member, Lehotsky decided not to try out because the only good reason that he could find to become a member is that it looks good on a resume. Lehotsky does not question that the Law Review presents an invaluable social and educational experience for many, but he could not personally justify the time commitment it requires. Neither Saylor nor O'Quinn is on the Law Review. Saylor is on the Board of the Legal Aid Bureau, while O'Quinn is the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. And then they were law students Some gifts may come naturally, but the Sears Prize apparently comes at a cost. All four award recip- ients maintained a proactive approach to academics, rarely miss- ing class and keeping up with assigned readings on a regular basis. Says Feltman, I attended pretty much every class, even when hurting physically. In terms of preparing for exams, all four take different approaches. Saylor tends to use old outlines and edit them according to her under- standing of the course, while O'Quinn also uses old outlines but also sometimes writes short self- summaries towards the end of a course. Feltman did most of his own outlining, though some of it was done in groups of people. Lehotsky feels that doing your own outlines is the only way to internalize the material and build connections between different doctrines, rules and policies. The prize-winners all spend quali- ty time studying old exams. O'Quinn and Lehotsky suggest that students can gain a valuable understanding of the types and styles of questions that a professor is likely to use. The winners insist that the award has little to do with intelligence. Saylor, Feltman and Lehotsky men. tion a certain degree of luck. All of them say that they have found most, if not all, of their classes and profes- sors interesting and enjoyable. Saylor finds that good course selec- tion leads to crucial motivation. The professor can be more impor- tant than the topic, she says. O'Quinn says he finds inspiration in his religious faith and in the relentless support of his family. My engineering background also helps because it is a similar type of ana- lytical problem solving, he says. Saylor also recommends involve- Please see SEARS, p. 5 HLS welcomes soldiers, scientists and ballerinas by Phil Barengolts Like the first day of class and last minute scrambling for credits, the arrival of autumn brings with it another new crowd of Harvard law students. There are 555 students in the Class of 2003. And according to Dean Clark '72, they all seem positively wonderful. The difference in the first-year class is not just based on attitude. With more women - 46% of the class are female - and a higher number of ethnically diverse stu- dents -- 31% are from 12MSlDE: TJ minority dons his boat groups -b the Class of Shoe, p. 10. 2 0 0 3 already signals a change from the traditional entering class at Har- vard Law. Dean of Admissions Joyce Curll noted that the level of minority enrollment is actually higher than in recent years. Curll cautioned that some of this increase may be due to the method by which the ethnicity of applicants is reported. Additionally, Curll said that some of these minori- ty applicants are actually fbreign students hailing from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Nonetheless, diversity is a notice- able trait of the first-year class. The minority makeup is 14-percent Asian/South-Asian American, 11- percent African American, 6-percent Latino and 1-percent Native American. And like every group of iLs, these students are culled from a huge pool of applicants. According to CurlI, Please see One-L, p. 11 Faculty, students mourn another loss Charny '82 succumbs to sudden illness by Stephen V. Scali The Law School registered shock and grief at the loss of Prof. David A. Charny '82, who passed away unexpectedly at his home in Cambridge on August 31, 2000 after a brief illness. All of us at Harvard Law School are shocked and saddened by David Charny's death, said Dean Clark '72, David was a genius - a bril- liant scholar and a won- derful teacher. He has left us much too soon. Charny Prof. Howell Jackson '82 and Prof. Terry Fisher '82 were both classmates of Professor Charny at HLS, and spoke of him with admiration. I remember him from my days on the Law Review, said Jackson. Even then he impressed all his classmates with his bril- liance and intensity, and how fantastically well-read he was even as a student. I remember one of our co-editors saying that working with David on an article was the highlight of his law school career, Jackson said. He was incredibly brilliant, there was hardly any subject he hadn't read any literature on. He had an amazing appetite for knowledge, including philoso- phy, politics, science, and literature - the broadness of his appetite was outstanding. Jackson also stated that Professor Charny's dedication to students was impressive, he always put his classes first, and worked to have good classes. I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who wasn't impressed with David, he said. Fisher remembered Professor Charny as both a good friend and a very good col- league. David was brilliant, and has been Please see CHARN, p. 2

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