Speakers
Through the Guest Lecture series students gain a wide-ranging introduction to the field of law. Trials students meet prominent legal scholars and practitioners as well as leaders in the private legal and financial sectors. Some of the speakers who have addressed Trials students are listed below.
John Manning is the Dean of Harvard Law School. He is also the Morgan and Helen Chu Professor of Law. He served as the law school’s Deputy Dean from 2013 – 2017, and from 2007 – 2017, Dean Manning was the Bruce Bromley Professor of Law. He serves on the Harvard University Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging and on the HarvardX faculty committee. Dean Manning is a prolific scholar of public law, focusing on statutory interpretation and structural constitutional law. He is a co-editor of Hart & Wechsler’s Federal Courts and the Federal System (6th ed., 2009) and Legislation and Regulation (2d ed., 2013). Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, he was the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Dean Manning was a law clerk to the Hon. Robert Bork on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dean Manning is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Trevor Morrison is the Dean and Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. He was previously the Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he was also faculty co-director of the Center for Constitutional Governance and faculty co-chair of the Hertog Program on Law and National Security. In 2009 he served as associate counsel to President Barack Obama. Dean Morrison's research and teaching interests are in constitutional law (especially separation of powers and federalism), federal courts, and the law of the executive branch. His scholarship has appeared in multiple journals including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
Dean Morrison previously served as a clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. He received a B.A. (hons.) in history from the University of British Columbia in 1994, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School Dean Morrison is a member of the American Law Institute and the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Law. He was awarded the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching by the Columbia Law School Class of 2011, and he was elected Faculty Convocation Speaker by the Cornell Law School Class of 2007.
Martha Minow is Dean Emerita of Harvard Law School and the Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence. An expert in human rights and advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children, and persons with disabilities, she also writes and teaches about law, culture, and narrative. Her recent books include Government by Contract (co-edited, 2009) and Just Schools: Pursing Equality in Societies of Difference (co-edited, 2008). (For a list of Dean Minow’s books and publications, please visit her faculty page.) Ms. Minow served on the Independent International Commission Kosovo and helped to launch Imagine Co-existence, a program of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, to promote peaceful development in post-conflict societies. During a 5-year partnership with the Federal Department of Education and the Center for Applied Special Technology, she worked to increase access to the curriculum for students with disabilities. Her honors include the Sacks-Freund Teaching Award, selected by the Harvard Law School Class of 2005, the Holocaust Center Award, 2006, and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Toronto, 2006. Ms. Minow chairs the board of directors for the Revson Foundation (New York) and serves on the boards of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Covenant Foundation (New York and Chicago), Facing History and Ourselves, and the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center. In 2008, she served on advisory committees addressing legal policy and educational policy for the Obama campaign.
John Edward Sexton is the President Emeritus of New York University, as well as the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and NYU Law School’s Dean Emeritus. President Sexton is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of both the Association of American University Presidents and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the Boards of the New York State Commission on Higher Education, the American Council on Education, the Institute of International Education and the Association for a Better New York. While Dean of the Law School he was President of the Association of American Law Schools. President Sexton has received a B.A. in History from Fordham College, an M.A. in Comparative Religion and a Ph.D. in History of American Religion from Fordham University, and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before coming to NYU, President Sexton served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court, and to Judges David Bazelon and Harold Leventhal of the United States Court of Appeals.
Richard Revesz is the Dean Emeritus of New York University School of Law and the Lawrence King Professor of Law. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University and holds a M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from Yale Law. Dean Revesz’ scholarly work has been influential in the fields of environmental and regulatory law and policy. His article “Rehabilitating Interstate Competition” received the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law’s 1994 award for most distinguished article or book. He is the author of the casebook Environmental Law and Policy and the co-author of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health. Prior to joining the NYU Law faculty, Dean Revesz served as Law Clerk to Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. is a Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His areas of interest include criminal law, criminal procedure, legal ethics, and race theory. Prior to teaching at Harvard, Professor Sullivan served on the faculty of the Yale Law School, where, after his first year teaching, he won the law school’s award for outstanding teaching. Professor Sullivan is the faculty director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute. He also is a founding fellow of the Jamestown Project at Yale. Professor Sullivan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College, and the Harvard Law School.
Robert C. Bordone is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School and a Visiting Clinical Professor of Conflict Transformation at the Boston University School of Theology. Previously, he was a Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a Director and Founder of the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program. He taught several courses at Harvard Law School including the school’s flagship Negotiation Workshop.
In 2007, Professor Bordone received The Albert Sacks-Paul Freund Teaching Award at Harvard Law School, presented annually to a single member of the Harvard faculty for teaching excellence, mentorship of students, and general contributions to the life of the Law School.
His research interests include the design and implementation of dispute resolution systems, the development of a problem-solving curriculum in law schools, and ADR ethics. Professor Bordone is the co-editor of The Handbook of Dispute Resolution (Jossey-Bass, 2005), recipient of the 2005 Book Award from the National Institute for Advanced Conflict Resolution, awarded to a book published in the United States that shows the best promise of promoting and contributing to the field of conflict resolution. He has published articles in leading dispute resolution journals including the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, and Negotiation Journal.
Professor Bordone has also done work in the corporate, governmental, and non-profit sectors for clients such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Professor Bordone received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
J. Tomilson Hill was President and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone’s Hedge Fund Solutions Group and Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group where he served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Hill was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the firm's marketable alternatives group, including investment management, client relationships, marketing, operations and administration. He also served as a member of Blackstone’s Management and Executive Committees as well as the Private Equity group’s Investment Committee. Mr. Hill has over three decades years of financial industry experience. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Business School. Mr. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he chairs the Investment Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Center Theater, where he serves as Vice Chairman. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. In addition, Mr. Hill is a member of the Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution's endowment. He formerly served on the Board of Trustees of Milton Academy and The Nightingale-Bamford School. Mr. Hill is a founding member of the Advantage Testing Foundation's Board of Trustees.
James Jacobs was the Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Professor of Constitutional Law and the Courts and the Director of the Center for Research in Crime and Justice at the NYU School of Law. His areas of research included Gun Control, Fraud, and the Dissemination and Use of Criminal Records. In 2002, Mr. Jacobs was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. Mr. Jacobs was the author of numerous books and articles including Mobsters, Unions and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement and Can Gun Control Work?. Mr. Jacobs was a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, and earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Philip Lee is a Professor of Law at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. He is also the former Assistant Director of Admissions at Harvard He is a magna cum laude graduate in psychology and sociology of Duke University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he interned at Harvard Defenders, the US Attorney’s Office in Boston, and the Criminal Justice Institute. Prior to joining the admissions staff at Harvard, he was an associate at a white-collar criminal defense boutique in Manhattan and an Assistant Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department. Mr. Lee is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
David W. Pollak is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Securities and Mergers and Acquisitions Practices, focusing on public and private offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, and advising clients on matters under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He represents clients in a variety of fields, including the financial services, healthcare, technology, sporting goods, biotechnology, information services, investment banking, and printing industries. Mr. Pollak earned his J.D. from University of Chicago Law School and his B.A. from Princeton University. Mr. Pollak is admitted to practice in New York.
David B. Poole is an Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court. Before his appointment in 2008, Judge Poole was Litigation Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, where he was also a clinical instructor and Lecturer on Law. From 1990 to 1997, Judge Poole was a trial lawyer in the Boston and Roxbury offices of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, where he represented both adult and juvenile clients. Before becoming a public defender, he was a housing lawyer at Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell, Massachusetts, and a law clerk to the Hon. Frederick H. Weisberg on the District of Columbia Superior Court. Judge Poole is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, and he holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Alexa Shabecoff was the Assistant Dean for Public Service at Harvard Law School. She previously served as Director of the Office of Public Interest Advising at Harvard Law School where she advised thousands of students on pursuing careers in public service. Prior to joining Harvard Law School, Ms. Shabecoff worked with Middlesex Legal Services and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Ms. Shabecoff received her B.A. cum laude from Brandeis University and is a graduate of the New York University School of Law.
Gloria Tan is an associate justice of the Middlesex Division of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court in Middlesex County. Previously, she was a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, where she taught and supervised law students representing indigent adults and youth in criminal and delinquency proceedings. After graduating from Yale Law School, Gloria Tan worked as a staff attorney the Boston Trial Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (the Massachusetts Public Defender), where she represented indigent adult clients charged with serious felonies. Gloria also worked in the juvenile unit of the Public Defender’s office, the Youth Advocacy Project, where she represented juvenile and youthful offender clients in all aspects of their cases. Gloria has lectured and taught at continuing legal education courses and has served as a panelist at juvenile law conferences. Gloria chaired the Massachusetts Bar Association Criminal Justice section. She has served as a member of the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts.