class of 2022 1l guide The Harvard Law Record hlrecord.org Independent at Harvard Law School since 1946 Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Difference between Thought and Opinion Contents Welcome to Harvard Law School! change, that is great! But every so you to confront topics very close to question ourselves, to learn about Welcome to a place that is going to often, it may be worth pausing to ask home. This is hard. and refine how we look at the world. teach you about the law – and, if you what you personally want to get out To say that all we know is that we It can also fill rooms with an energy Professor let it, about yourself. You worked of this place. know nothing may be “Socratic”, but that makes it hard for others to dis- Carol Steiker 1 incredibly hard to come here. Enjoy You will encounter many people it is also an oversimplification. Still, agree constructively. As you embark it. Make the most of it. here and, along with them, many dif- as humans, somewhat inevitably, we on this journey, don’t forget why you My name is Robert. I came to HLS ferent ways of looking at the world. have a limited perspective. When are here but do keep an open mind – after studying chemical engineering Law school does a pretty good job we encounter disagreement about be wary of opinions you do not like because I want to work and study providing us with opportunities to topics we feel strongly about, it is to question – and try hard to leave Advice from at the intersection of law and tech- think about what we think. Given the very hard to prioritize “productive wiser than you arrived. Student Groups 2 nology. If your goals are different, topics that we discuss, both in class dialogue”. It is easy to cling to our broader or narrower, loftier or more and beyond, you will inevitably have beliefs, to our opinions. Yet, doing Robert Mahari, Editor in Chief – pragmatic, set in stone or subject to the type of disagreement that forces so deprives us of an opportunity to Harvard Law Record Professor 3 Interview with Joi Ito Advice from Professor Carol Steiker an Alumnus: 5 Ralph Nader The Record: Professor Steiker, did professors. And I remember that one before I did. He used to call me up you always know you wanted to of the things that solidified my desire on the phone, and say, “Hello, this is teach criminal justice, and how did to become a law professor was that Professor Steiker, is Assistant Profes- Advice and you end up at HLS? one of the professors I had was Mar- sor Steiker there?” Prof. Steiker: When I was growing tha Minow, who was essentially a The September of the year I started perspectives 6 up, I did not want to be a law profes- baby professor back then. She was an teaching, I got a call from the Yale from others sor; I did not even want to be a law- assistant professor and had only been Law Journal, and they said, “we have yer! All the time people would ask here for a couple of years. I remem- a book review that we wanted to pub- me, “what do you want to be when ber asking her, do you like being a lish in December and the person who you grow up?” My answer was: a law professor? And she said instantly, was supposed to write it dropped out. And more! writer. I wanted to be a writer. without missing a beat, “I love it!” I You could write it on whatever book I came to Harvard College where I even remember where her office was, you want. And we promise we will concentrated in history and litera- and I can just picture her, her face publish it, but you have to get it to us ture. It is a unique major. I loved it, lighting up and saying, “I love it”. in four weeks.” And I said, “I don’t Credit: Martha Stewart and I decided I wanted to be a pro- After HLS I clerked for two years at know, can I get back to you?” And fessor. But I was also very interested the appellate level, at the D.C. Circuit they said, “this afternoon you can I mean, we are blood. There is also that he invited, and reveled in, push- in politics and in the world and I and then at the Supreme Court. First get back to us.” I hung up with them, a degree to which – because even ing and pulling and turning thoughts worried about being a professor. for Judge J. Skelly Wright on the D.C. called my brother and told him “I just though he is younger just by a little bit, over and over and over. He was such Even though I loved the idea, I was Circuit, a great liberal lion of the D.C. got an offer to publish a book review, 18 months – I am unbearably bossy, a great model for that. He and I concerned about being too ivory-tow- Circuit, and then for Justice Thur- but I don’t know. I just started teach- but he puts up with me in a way that I co-taught some of the time and I can ered, not being relevant enough. But good Marshall at the U.S. Supreme ing, I am working really hard on my do not think many other people could. still hear him and see him in the class- I thought that law professors write Court. And I thought, if I am going classes and my teaching notes, I just Just because he is used to me being room. Sometimes when I feel I haven’t about justice. They write about how to become a law professor, and if I don’t know if I can do this.” He said unbearably bossy, because I am his done that well in the classroom, I will the world ought to be, and that is am going to teach and write about that I could not turn down a guar- older sister. go back to my office and think, what what I thought I wanted to do. So, I criminal justice, I need to learn some anteed publication in the Yale Law The Record: On that subject of would Bill have done? applied to law school and came here. more about the criminal justice sys- Journal in my first semester. I told disagreement, in one of your law So how should we disagree with one When anyone asked what I wanted to tem itself. While I was at law school, him that I hadn’t even read any books review articles you name two of another? I do not know if there is a do with my degree, I’d say, I want to the one thing I did not do much of lately and he said, “sure you have, we your colleagues in the very first line clear answer, but there is one piece of be a law professor. was clinical education, although I did read that book over the summer, we and disagree with them throughout advice – really listen! Another is per- belong to, and had worked a little bit both read that book about the death the rest of the piece. In law school we haps to try to think about times that for, the Harvard Defenders. Yet, I was penalty.” The book he was referring disagree all the time. As an academic you changed your own mind and real- I thought that law very involved with the Law Review to was not academic, it was the story and as a pedagogue, what are your ized that you were wrong about some- and it was simply not possible – or of a woman on death row in Texas, thoughts on how we should disagree thing, or at least only partially right. professors write about at least it did not seem to be possible but I told him that, yes, I could prob- with each other? That helps me when I am struggling to me – to do both. So I didn’t have ably do something with that. He was Prof. Steiker: That is such a great to be forbearing and really listen to justice. They write much relevant experience, did not on leave at the time and he offered to question, I really love this question something that I feel in my heart has know much about the criminal justice come up to HLS. I called Yale back, because I do think that it seems to just got to be wrong. This is not easy, about how the world system. I felt like I should change that. my brother came here, and in the have become harder for people to and it is not easy not to rush to push So, I joined the D.C. Public Defender end, we wrote something so exten- disagree about something that is away ideas that you think just have to ought to be, and that Service and worked there for four sive they had to call it a review essay important to them without vilifying be wrong, as opposed to really think- years before I came back here to teach. – it went beyond the bounds of an the person they disagree with. And ing them through and thinking about is what I thought The Record: And then you even- ordinary book review. Looking back, one of the things that is so great about what you can learn from them. And tually developed a focus on capital it actually wasn’t that good a piece, universities is that they are devoted to talk in a non-defensive, non-dis- I wanted to do. punishment. but it was full of the type of ideas you to the truth, and to the idea that truth missive way with people who have Prof. Steiker: That particular inter- get when young scholars are think- emerges out of robust debate and fundamentally different views. est arose during my second clerkship ing about an issue. Since that piece, disagreement. It is so important that The Record: Another thing that we While it is sometimes hard to recall when I clerked for Thurgood Marshall this place be a site for that, and that struggle to do in law school, and as when exactly you decided to go down because he cared a lot about the capi- those habits and experiences accom- lawyers, is making mistakes. You a certain path, I know for a fact that I tal cases. He and Justice Brennan dis- I do think that it seems pany people for the rest of their lives. gave a Last Lecture talk where you wanted to be a professor from my first sented in every single capital case that When I think about this, I often think wished the outgoing class much suc- week at law school. There was a col- did not otherwise yield a reversal. He to have become harder about my late colleague, William cess, many mistakes, and fortuitous league from one of my college classes believed that capital punishment was Stuntz, who was one of my closest failures. How do we square a law- that I ran into during one of my first unconstitutional per se, as did Bren- for people to disagree friends on the faculty. He died of can- yers’ natural risk aversion with the weeks at law school. He was also in nan. They were the only two voices on cer in his early 50s and I miss him all need to make mistakes? my law school class. He had gone to the court who did at that time. When about something the time. One of the things I really Prof. Steiker: That’s another great medical school after college while I I first started my clerkship, the out- loved about him was how much he question. I mean, I think anyone who had accepted a fellowship to study going clerks told us, “you guys really that is important enjoyed being disagreed with. He was never makes a mistake is just not French poetry in France. We ran into need to learn the Court’s capital cases, used to it because he was unusual in reaching high enough. If you never each other under the International because the boss” – that’s what we all to them without the sense that he was an Evangelical make a mistake, it just means that Law Library, near the soda machines used to call him – “cares a great deal Christian in a place where that is not a you are doing things that are too easy right down there. He asked me, about those.” And they handed us vilifying the person common thing. He also had some very for you. But I do think that law stu- “what are you doing here? I thought these two giant black three-ring bind- radical views that would be embraced dents – and Harvard Law students in you were studying French poetry.” ers that had all of the Court’s capital they disagree with. by the left, but then he also had some particular – are very high-achieving It turns out we had both decided we cases up to that point in them. remarkably conservative views. I and are used to being high-achiev- wanted to be law professors. That I found that stuff really, really inter- think that, in general, he was more of ing. They are worried more than colleague was Einer Elhauge, and he, esting, and that is where my interest my brother and I have been writing a small-c conservative in a lot of the most about not being great, or not too, ended up on the HLS faculty. in capital punishment started. When together for almost 25 years. We ways that he looked at the world. He being the best at what they do. I While I knew that I wanted to be a law I joined the faculty here in 1992, the have also done some litigation work absolutely liked nothing better than think this makes people less willing professor, I did not know I wanted dean at the time, Bob Clark, said to together – he is based in Texas – and for people to tell him how and why he to risk making mistakes. But it is to focus on criminal justice. At that me, “we want you to teach Crim- this has become our mutual project, was wrong. And he was just delighted, hard to talk people out of that sen- time, I knew nothing about criminal inal Law, and we want you to teach and a tribute to Justice Marshall. truly delighted, to hear other people’s timent. I remember one of my kids justice. It was not even on my radar. I Criminal Procedure, but you can also The Record: You clearly have a views. He was always thinking and told me about an elementary school had been very interested in women’s teach a seminar on any topic of your very close relationship with your rethinking his own thoughts. I just rights. I went to college in the late choice.” And I immediately thought, brother, what are your thoughts on learned so much from the lovely way Steiker continued on page 3 1970s, so this was when the women’s a seminar on any topic of my choice? family and family relationships? movement was happening, and I was How about capital punishment? So, Prof. Steiker: My brother and I very interested in civil rights and I started teaching a seminar on that like to say that we are like a walking racial justice. During law school, in and about ten years later, I turned it Rorschach test for people’s family Advice from the Harvard Law the 1980s, I started to become inter- into a course. And about five years relationships. For one, when people ested in criminal justice. Because it after that, I added a clinical extern- who do not know us meet us at con- seemed to me – this is in the middle ship component to it. ferences, they assume we are a cou- Women’s Law Association of the ramp up to mass incarceration The Record: Working on such a ple. After all, we have the same name. – that criminal justice was one of the morally and politically charged It is interesting to me that, when you Dear 1L Women, main engines driving inequality in topic that puts the U.S. in a global see people of the same age, with the Some advice from the Women’s Law Association, is best explained by our society. spotlight must be quite difficult. How same name, you always assume that Beyoncé hit song titles. The Record: What was your biggest did you decide to dedicate a signifi- they are married and not siblings. First and foremost, know that you are “Irreplaceable.” You, “Flawless” take-away during your time at law cant portion of your life to this par- People sometimes ask, “how did the 1L, belong here: we are so grateful for the passion and brilliance you bring school? ticular topic? two of you meet?” and I always say, to this community. Never be “Sorry” for letting those passions drive your Prof. Steiker: Even though I Prof. Steiker: I built it over time. “my parents brought him home from time here at HLS. While we know that “Ego,” may plague many a lawyer, wanted to be a law professor, I did Part of it was because of my younger the hospital.” for women it is very often the opposite: we are told to make ourselves small, not think I was going to like law brother, Jordan Steiker, who also When people learn that we are actually to be “Nice,” to “Bow Down” to tradition, and to downplay our accomplish- school itself, because I thought that went to Harvard Law School. He was siblings, they react in one of two ways: ments for fear of coming off like a “Diva.” law school is like a trade school, it is two years behind me in law school, they either say, “oh, that’s so great” or But that cannot stand: we know you will “Rocket” to great heights, where you learn to become a lawyer so he was a 1L when I was a 3L. We they say, “I could never!” People have and as you do so, we encourage you to own your success here and share it and it will not be as intellectually shared an apartment in Somerville very different relationships with their unabashedly with our community. Women at HLS are “Boss,” thriving as interesting as studying history and while we were here. He also clerked siblings. One thing that is good about some of our most driven and devoted leaders in academia, activism, men- literature had been. However, I was for Justice Marshall two years after working with a sibling is that we are torship, and pro bono and clinical work. We help drive this community very pleasantly surprised, perhaps I did. But unlike me, he went imme- going to be siblings no matter what. “Forward,” and we can’t wait to see all that you, too, will accomplish here. even shocked, by how intellectually diately into the legal academy upon We can yell at each other – and we Now, in all “Honesty,” some days you might want to “Start Over” or “Dis- engaging this law school was. I loved finishing his clerkship. He actually do – and disagree with each other – appear.” It may be a constant “Countdown” to the weekend, waiting to find law school, I thought it was fascinat- became senior to me in the academy: and we do that, too. But it is not going yourself “Drunk in Love” (with the law). But know this: you can and will ing. I had many extremely interesting he became a professor two years to affect the underlying relationship. ace 1L. Because in the end, it’s girls who “Run the World.” 2 The Harvard Law Record September 3, 2019 The Harvard Law Record Independent at Harvard Law School since 1946 · September 3, 2019 · Volume 146, Issue 1 The Record If you have a response is looking for 1L writers, to any piece in Editor-in-Chief Editors: editors, and designers. The Record, Robert Mahari ’21 Rex Bray ‘20 Chloe Field ‘21 Contact us at email us at Ryan Giarusso ‘20 Gavriel Schreiber ‘21 [email protected] [email protected].

American Constitution La Alianza Alliance for Reproductive Justice Society (ACS) Advice and Random Thoughts on 5. Leaving Cambridge every once in Read. I know, you’re looking at consistently. So just try to read some- Welcome 1Ls! We are the Ameri- 1L a while, even for an afternoon, will this right now and laughing because thing, anything, that isn’t for law can Constitution Society (ACS), a big 1. Write down 2 or 3 priorities for make the year more enjoyable. all you’ll be doing in 1L is reading. school and isn’t news. It’ll remind you tent progressive organization work- the year (i.e., get direct services 6. Know that a lot of the learn- But seriously, try to read something who you were before law school, it’ll ing at the intersection of law and pol- experience, take care of family, do ing you’ll do this year won’t be that isn’t in a case book and is lon- keep you connected to the world out- icy. In the spirit of being pragmatic all readings, make friends). When from your professors. Engage ger than a Tweet or Instagram post. side of Harvard, and it will help you policy wonks, here’s a list of opera- you’re overwhelmed or feel your- with the people around you – Some ideal version of us would tell remember that reading can be joyful tional things we didn’t figure out till self swept up in the anxiety of the section-mates with different you to read fiction every night before and transcendent. way too late into 1L: crowd, look back at your list. backgrounds and experiences, bed. And I’m sure doing that would P.S. We highly recommend the • The HLS printers have a hidden 2. There’s lots of free candy at this custodial staff, neighbors, cli- both help you sleep and expand Cambridge Public Library. There’s fax setting (for the old school school. The most easily accessible ents, students in other graduate your mind, but we aren’t that into no need to spend any more on books judges/employers who require you between classes is in the Dean of schools, LLMs. giving advice we could never follow than we already are. fax things) Students’ office on the third floor, 7. Affinity groups and student prac- • In spring term, you’ll all have to or the Office of Public Interest tice organizations can be a source write a brief for Legal Writing and Advising on the fourth floor. of comfort and support during Coalition of International Students and you’ll all inevitably pull an all- 3. There’s trivia at the pub every stressful times (they were for us!). nighter. The printers in WCC and Wednesday. Also, they’re a great way to meet Global Affairs (CISGA) Langdell will run out of paper by 4. Trust yourself – you got yourself 2Ls and 3Ls who can answer Finding Home Away from Home around 2am – go to the 3rd floor here, and you can get yourself questions about classes, profes- journals office (which you all have through. sors, and legal work. HLS’s percentage of international multiple identities. And, of course, our swipe access to) and take reams students – a staggering 17% – is LLM class has historically been one of of paper from their cabinet to feed higher than any of its peers. HLS is the most diverse in nationalities and into the downstairs printers. HLS Antitrust Association working to create more global cur- cultures represented. We hope that • In the main Harkness dining area, ricular offerings, extracurricular you will take advantage of the global you’ll see cabinets under the sta- Law school is a vortex. If you stop paying attention, you’ll get sucked onto opportunities, and alumni networks, diversity within and outside HLS. tion where you get condiments a conveyer belt. Swim against the current. Swim towards whatever you came and as international students, we are When classes or long-term career and napkins. Those cabinets are here for. As leaders of a new student organization, we want to stress that Har- a valued part of this community. Yet, planning starts to feel overwhelming, always unlocked and come in vard’s resources are at your disposal and you shouldn’t hesitate to take a gam- from uncertainty about work visas to know that we are here to support you. handy when you need a fork for ble on things you care about. We found out that there was a November dead- the novelty of being one of the first Every international student deserves to your UberEats delivery that came line for creating new student organizations TWO DAYS before the deadline. from your country to attend HLS, we graduate with an experience they are at midnight with no utensils. Until then, we hadn’t considered starting an organization, but we decided to also know that there are unique chal- proud of and a future they are excited • Book WCC study rooms at haphazardly pull together the materials and shoot our shot. lenges facing international students. about. Know that there is a community myrooms.law.harvard.edu. Far We also want to encourage you to swim against the grain when it comes CISGA is a space where you can at CISGA that has your back. better than the stress of the to what job you want out of law school. Harvard is a high-volume factory that get informal information and advice Sabrina Singh, JD ‘20, Nepal library and almost as silent. is excellent at delivering corporate results en masse, and it will nudge you from international 2 and 3Ls, learn Ayoung Kim, JD ‘20, Korea • For an affordable lunch spot other towards those results if you let it. At the same time, Harvard can open doors more about formal resources on cam- Matthew Farrell, JD ‘21, Canada than Cambridge Common, check to jobs that will let you do good work for the world and pay off your debt. You pus, and build community. In addi- Jeff Ong, JD ’20 Canada out Grendel’s! They have a super are talented, and after paying ungodly amounts of money and sinking 3 years tion, HLS has several country-based Shuyu Sun, JD ’21 China cheap lunch special. into a degree, you can do something that you’re actually excited about instead and regional affinity groups spanning Grace Zhu, JD ’20 China • Use TooDope and HLS Intel for of something you hope will give you access to maybe one doing something you outlines, exam answers, used might be excited about. books, and course evaluations. Harvard Federalist Society • Most of the student practice orgs have free coffee, so if you don’t Harvard Law School Christian Fellowship Welcome to Harvard Law School! My name is Chance Fletcher, and I am like the free morning Hark coffee the VP of Membership for the Harvard Federalist Society. We are a group of or Langdell coffee, go stalk PLAP Welcome to law school Class of affinity group or student organi- conservatives, moderates, and libertarians who seek to provide respectful, or TAP’s office. 2022! You have probably heard that zation is a good way to start mak- open, and challenging debate at HLS. Additionally, we offer mentorship, aca- • New Hampshire is only about an law school is hard, and 1L year par- ing friends outside of your section demic and career support, and a strong community. hour away, so go see the presiden- ticularly so, whether you got that idea too. Make sure you also maintain We want to congratulate you on coming to HLS. While you are probably just tial candidates in person! Some- from Legally Blonde, Paper Chase, friendships outside of law school. starting your legal career, arriving at this point is the culmination of years of one gives a speech nearly every or a law student meme page. A bit When you are stressing out about effort. You have also enjoyed the help of mentors, friends, and family along the week, and HKS typically has free nervous? That’s natural and healthy. a misplaced comma, these are the way (and more than a little luck). So in addition to taking the time to celebrate transportation. Excited? I hope you are. While you people who will be there to remind and enjoy your achievement, it is worth commencing your time here with a • Ask 2Ls and 3Ls for help. Assum- might be flooded with advice on how you that everything will be ok. sense of gratitude. ing you know what you’re doing is to succeed academically and eager 3. Seek help when you need to. Make the worst way of approaching 1L. to learn more about the law, there is sure there are people you can No question is too dumb! nothing more important than taking reach out to for significant issues Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB) Radhe Patel and the 2019-2020 care of yourself. Here are some tips such as personal crises or financial ACS Board from one survivor of 1L to the next to worries. Mental health is prolific On behalf of the Harvard Associa- other schools, organizations, and help you do just that. problem for lawyers, and unfor- tion for Law and Business (HALB) – students pursuing interesting careers 1. Get into the habit of exercising. tunately the problem may start congratulations, and welcome to your outside the law. Explore what the Exercise reduces stress level, as early as 1L. If you find yourself 1L year! entire university has to offer. Harassment Assault Law- counteracts the harmful effects struggling, understand that many 1. Broaden your horizons (and eat 3. Stay true, and gather the skills Student Team (HALT) of sitting all day, makes you sleep people are experiencing this, and free food) with lunchtime speaker you need to impact the world. better, improves your memory, etc. never hesitate to seek help. events! Like any challenging experience, Dos and Don’ts for 1Ls Interested 2. Have a network of support. No one The bottom line is that 1L year is Don’t (i) spend lunchtime alone this first year of law school will test in Social Justice can do law school alone. Get to a uniquely challenging and exciting with your books or (ii) pay for lunch! your mind as well as your heart. But Do: know your section mates because year for most people. Make sure to Whether you choose to attend events that same inner strength that brought 1. Keep an open mind about your they will be with you through all take care of yourself, work hard, and hosted by HALB or another organiza- you here will be your strongest ally. interests! You don’t need to com- the ups and downs. Joining an remember to have lots of fun! tion, capture these incredible opportu- Find inspiration in the people around mit to a practice area on Day 1. nities to meet distinguished speakers. you, and in the leaders and pioneers 2. Prioritize self-care. Fighting the 2. Remember the entire Harvard that Harvard attracts. HALB is avail- good fight is strenuous, and HLS Korean Association of Harvard Law School (KAHLS) community. able as a platform for you to meet the does not encourage prioritizing Tap into the networks beyond people who have the skills you want mental health. Welcome! Please consider these what excites you. Each of us has your 1L Class! HALB strives to build to build to change the world. Engage, 3. Speak up when your experience is words of advice as you begin your the power to diversify the narra- bridges between law students and and stay true to yourself. relevant, and listen when it isn’t. HLS journey: tive of success at HLS. Don’t: • Prioritize self-care. It’s crucial • Remember that everything is 1. Feel the need to join every orga- that you evaluate your well-being optional. You need not join a journal/ Jewish Law Students National Security and nization and fight for every cause. regularly. When stressed or over- SPO, work as an RA, or attend partic- The world is a mess; focus on whelmed, admit it and seek sup- ular events, unless you wish to. But be Association Law Association using your skills to fix one thing port. Doing so is a sign of strength, proactive in exploring your passion and fix it right. not weakness. and take advantage of the incredible Finding a community at HLS may Harvard Law School is a shiny 2. Worry too much about what other • Chart your own path and define resources at HLS. Be curious and feel like a daunting task. As a 1L, your place, filled with shiny objects: jour- people are doing. Other people your own success. At HLS, you take initiative. And don’t forget why section will serve as a natural com- nals, research assistant gigs, prizes, doing great work doesn’t make may feel pressured to “follow the you came to law school. munity during what can be a busy job opportunities, etc. And don’t your work less important. mainstream” in choosing classes, • Always study the law with a critical and overwhelming year. Take advan- get us wrong; these are great things extracurricular activities, and eye toward the persisting forms of tage of that built-in support sys- that you should pursue… if you want jobs. You’ll also hear a lot of “pres- discrimination and inequality in tem and also feel free to explore the to. But time is short, and our advice tige” talk. Don’t let others define our legal system. Think carefully many other communities at HLS. But is: spend your time intentionally. Tax Law and Financial what your law school experience about how you can contribute to remember that while some of your You came here for a reason, and you Regulation Students should be like. Use your 1L year to advancing social justice. peers may get involved right away, shouldn’t forget it. If you want to work explore possibilities and discover Good luck! that doesn’t mean you have to. We’re with tech start-ups, become a public Association not going anywhere! defender in your hometown, or work The rumors are true: law school on a political campaign, make sure From the Harvard Law School Tax HLS Student Government can be stressful. Many see law stu- you put yourself in a position to do Law and Financial Regulation Students dents as hypercompetitive because it. Sometimes that might mean going Association (TaxFin), welcome to the Dear Class of 2022, uncertainties, and you will succeed. we’re motivated. But there’s a dif- after some of those lauded, shiny Harvard Law School community and Welcome to Harvard Law School! During your time at HLS, you are ference between motivated and objects, but sometimes it will mean to the amazing journey that you are We’re Princess Daisy Akita and Dan- bound to see some things that you like cutthroat. We are no experts in the declining a seemingly great oppor- beginning. Graduation may seem like iel Egel-Weiss, your Student Body and some that you don’t. The most human condition, but if, for some tunity because there’s something an abstraction, but, in fact, it is right Co-Presidents, and we are thrilled to important piece of advice we can offer is inexplicable reason, you are inter- unconventional that better suits your around the corner. Your years on cam- welcome you to the HLS Community. this: take ownership of your experience ested in our advice, we would urge unique interests. pus will fly by. Make the most of every There is a reason you’re here. and seek to shape it for the better. HLS is you to be nice. From a purely prac- For example, when former Ambas- moment—even the stressful ones— Always remember that. Over the com- not a static entity; it is a living, breathing, tical perspective, it’s unwise to alien- sador to the UN, Samantha Power, because before you know it, you’ll be ing weeks (years, really) you will hear dynamic institution that morphs and ate your future colleagues. On a more was at HLS, she focused on research- walking across the stage in front of advice from several people who today transforms through the years. Strive to fundamental level, though, it’s simply ing a book about the war in Yugosla- Langdell to receive your diploma and off may be strangers to you. Remember to be part of this change, and make sure nice to be nice. via. A few short years later, she won you’ll go to another beginning. Use the put your reason for coming here above that HLS bears your imprint in some Harvard Law School is huge, but a Pulitzer Prize for it. We encourage tough times as an opportunity to bond all else, and remember that your way by the time you depart. it is home to many kind people who you to also find something you care with your classmates and revel in all the passions and goals are what made Here’s to a transformative and ful- form loose networks of wonderfully about, prioritize it, and embrace positive experiences you will have. Soon you worthy of being here. You can filling year! supportive communities. Welcome, going your own way over the next it will all be a distant memory. press ahead through the inevitable Princess Daisy & Daniel and we look forward to meeting you! three years. September 3, 2019 The Harvard Law Record 3

and law curricula and it seems pos- sible that in the future there will be Interview with Professor Joi Ito different sub-sections of law school: some where the law is used more as their legal rigor. In the same way as has a lot of experience in. The law of a creative tool and others where the The Record: Can you tell me about you could not have the internet with- the internet was a prelude to many law looks more like an audit instru- your path and what made you inter- out engineers, we could not have this of the interesting issues that we have ment or a regulatory tool. I think ested in teaching a course at HLS? sort of free culture movement with- today. I do not think that the law is you might also start seeing different Prof. Ito: Since my early days when out lawyers. going to keep up with AI. AI is going disciplines emerge from this devel- I did commercial work, I always I helped build the first internet ser- to affect the law in many ways – opment. I could imagine that, if the appreciated the importance of law vice provider in Japan, and one of including the practice of law, which ultimate goal were not to pass the bar and lawyers. This appreciation the companies I invested in was is a rich area, and I believe it is also exam and practice law but rather to increased quite a bit when I joined called HavenCo. It was an aban- the area you are interested in. know enough law to be dangerous, the board and then became CEO of doned anti-aircraft platform, in Our course is cross-listed at MIT and to work closely with professional Creative Commons. Creative Com- the English Channel, that had been and Harvard. Roughly half of our lawyers, things might start to look mons was really about trying to bal- students are engineers and the other different. ance commercial interests to lock half are lawyers and policy people. The Record: You have thought a lot up content with the opportunities of Technical people tend I found it very interesting that the about measuring success - is there the internet. We were working with technical people tend to think that something we can improve about 60 or 70 international jurisdictions. to think that there has there has to be a law that fixes an how we measure personal success in For each of those, we had a local issue while the lawyers think that Credit: Mizuka the law? lead and we were trying to harmo- to be a law that fixes we can fix the problem with technol- Prof. Ito: It is funny because in the nize and port the Creative Commons ogy. You end up realizing that nei- forward-leaning builders – their job afternoon I teach at the law school licenses to these local jurisdictions. an issue while the ther side can fix the issue, really. In is usually to tell people why you can- and in the mornings I teach a class What was so interesting was that, many ways, it may seem somewhat not do something. called “Principles of Awareness” in each country, we had to identify lawyers think that we disappointing that the course does The law, as a medium of expression lawyers who also cared about free not end with a solution, it really ends and production, is changing. Law- culture; who also cared about get- can fix the problem with more confusion than it started rence Lessig’s book, Code and Other Lawyers can and ting behind the Creative Commons’ with. Laws of Cyberspace started to bring mission to create ways to provide with technology. The Record: You once said that the code and law closer together in the should be builders! easier and freer access to knowledge MIT Media Lab seems to be a hap- late nineties. Today, with smart and allow genuine creativity online. pier place than HLS because people contracts and other innovations, I The impact that we had once we were taken over by a family and declared are builders. Should lawyers aspire think we are going to see code and together with a monk named Tenzin. able to get law and social impact independent. They built a server to be builders? law become substantially more It is about exploring the inside and coordinated was interesting and farm there, that was supposed to Prof. Ito: I think that lawyers can connected. trying to understand your underlying very exciting to me. Most lawyers be extra-jurisdictional. Many of the and should be builders! Even though One of my friends, Alexander Macgil- motivations – to understand your- serve corporations that pursue com- early internet people really believed public interest lawyers do exist, most livray, was the first product counsel self. To ask, “why are we here?” and mercial interests. It was fascinating that the internet could be extra-ju- lawyers are trained primarily to act at Google. Today, there are 891 prod- “why do we do this?” is immensely to see how public interest lawyers risdictional. This whole idea of in the interest of companies. There uct counsels on LinkedIn but no real important. Very few students take got together and helped enable pro- international law, and the law of the are obvious exceptions, but if you sit training ground exists for these peo- both of my courses. social behavior that would not have internet, is an area that my co-in- at a table, the lawyers are usually risk ple. I talked to Martha Minow and been enabled otherwise without structor, Jonathan Zittrain – JZ, mitigators rather than adventurous others about the future of law schools Ito continued on page 4

Steiker While I am not suggesting that you you can make. I do not think people you. And it’s only if you look inside Kluger, is the story of the Brown v. Continued from page 1 should hugely overload yourself, you totally get just how much money they and are honest with yourself about Board of Education litigation and it should try to wring every last drop you could easily earn until they’re in law what you want that you can be happy reads like a novel. Some of the things can out of this place. Many students school, and it is a lot of money to say in your choice. that happened in it you would never teacher who “loves mistakes”. He leave money on the table. While you no to. People do have debt, which is a The Record: It seems that the legal believe except that they really hap- would write mistakes on the board are here, come to office hours – pro- real thing. profession has not changed all that pened. For example, when Brown because he really wanted the kids to fessors are here waiting to talk to you. But one thing I believe people do not much over the last century. The was first argued and voted on, it was know that this is how you learn. So At least that is what I am doing when I know is that they do not have to do world is quickly becoming more decided 5-4 the other way. Chief Jus- maybe we should write mistakes all have my office hours. corporate law to be very financially global and technological. How do tice Vinson was one of the votes the over the blackboards here at Harvard Most Harvard Law students are super comfortable. My husband and I are you think the legal profession is other way. Then he had a heart attack Law School. involved and kind of overwork them- two fancy-pants graduates of Har- going to change? and died. The new Chief Justice, Earl The Record: During the same talk selves, so maybe this is not really the vard Law School and Yale Law School. Prof. Steiker: Law is often a back- Warren, came in and his vote went you mentioned that we often imbue advice most people need. But there is Me here, him there. We sometimes ward-facing practice: it looks to prec- the other way, so now it was 5-4 the the choices we make during law a lot of stuff to be done here. There are amuse ourselves by calculating how edent, it looks to tradition. These are other way. He felt that this decision school with undue importance and classes and there is meeting profes- much money we could have earned things that have always been part needed to have the moral authority do not give enough importance to sors and getting to know your fellow had we thought that amassing a for- of the lawyer’s toolkit. And I think of the court behind him. He twisted the choices we make afterwards. students, there are extracurriculars. tune was what we wanted to do. On arms, and it came out 9-0, the way That said, there must be important There is just so much available here. the other hand, we live unbelievably we are familiar with it. If someone choices that the incoming class will And I feel that people should try to comfortable lives, incredibly com- School is a great said I am going to write this book be making over the next three year get as much as they can out of it. This fortable lives, without either of us about this topic, you’d be like, no, – how do we know which choices are goes back to disagreeing with people doing corporate law. And I some- place – perhaps one that’s so not realistic! But this is, in the important ones? because you should make friends with times wonder if students do not have fact, what happened. Another book individuals who do not share your enough of those models in mind. It of the last places, to that also involves Justice Marshall is views. One person I was very close to seems that they feel it’s either cor- Devil in the Grove, it is about Thur- If you never make in law school was very conservative, porate law or peanuts. Sometimes be honest – where good Marshall and his representa- and we were quite good friends. And that is the choice, but there is a whole tion of the Groveland defendants, a mistake, it just we would often have long conversa- spectrum in between. And there are you can easily some black men who had been falsely tions, trying to get to the bottom of lots of choices that are neither very accused of raping a white woman in means that you are why it is we thought so differently high paying nor very low paying and immerse yourself, Groveland, Florida. This happened about pretty much everything. I did perhaps people in those jobs are gen- before Justice Marshall was a justice, doing things that are not think that those conversations erally happier. expose yourself, before he was even a judge. It hap- were so unusual then, but as life has I am surrounded by lawyers – I am a pened when he was a Legal Defense too easy for you. gone on, I see how much everyone, lawyer, my husband is a lawyer, my and get guided in Fund lawyer. The book is by Gilbert including myself, gravitates towards two brothers are lawyers, his brother King, and it won the Pulitzer. Terrific, people who share your views, I dis- is a lawyer, his cousin is a lawyer. I something that’s terrific law read. One more, Heather Prof. Steiker: Maybe important is covered that it is hard to develop close have been teaching law students for Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water the wrong word. The choices people friendships with people who are really more than 25 years, so I know a lot totally foreign to you. is a historical account of the Attica make in law school do not tend to be as different. But it was extremely valu- of lawyers, and have seen a lot of prison uprising in the early 1970s and consequential in the long term as some able, and I still think back to some careers. And generally, it’s not that the aftermath of that. Just another of the choices people make after law of those conversations. They helped there are no happy corporate lawyers, many people turn to law, either as incredible book. school. A summer commitment is not me understand the world in a better there certainly are, but that is not, by lawyers or as activists, as a route to The Record: Do you have any part- the same thing as a real job that you way. It is amazing to me how much any means, the category, or even one change. It can be frustrating to see ing words of advice? take for an indefinite future. A boy- people cling to and gravitate to others of the top three or four categories of how slowly things change. One of Prof. Steiker: I said before, don’t friend or a girlfriend is not the same who remind them of themselves; even lawyering, where I would say people the things I look to, and I take great leave money on the table. But there thing as a spouse. There are certain here, where it is so easy to find people are happiest. hope and comfort from, is an experi- are certainly plenty of law students kinds of choices that tend to come a who are not at all like you. My best advice – which has never ence I had as a law student here when who work themselves to the bone. I little bit later down the road. They are been in print, I think – is that there I wrote my note on gay rights. No think you need to take care of your- super important, simply because they are certain things you can get from one has been more surprised than I, self. For me, that involved reading are bigger commitments. Whereas law It’s only if you look your work. You can get money. You even though this was something that outside of law school and being out school is a great time to experiment in can get prestige. You can get the I have followed with great interest, in nature. Exercise is extremely all of those domains. Unless you are inside and are honest freedom to set your own agenda. You and participated in a little bit, how important. Sleep, sleep, sleep! It is so already married, in which case it is can get intellectual satisfaction. You quickly things have moved in the U.S. important. I feel like law school is not not a good idea to experiment in those with yourself about can feel like you are contributing to towards LGBTQ rights, especially in a sprint, so you have to take care of domains, probably. the greater good of society. You can terms of the generational attitudes yourself. Most of you are too young There are a few things I would say to what you want that have power in society. But you cannot towards LGBTQ rights. I have taken to realize that some of your friends students. The first is about the idea of maximize all of those things at the a lot of hope from that and I think from college and law school will making mistakes, trying things that you can be happy same time. You have to choose which we need to study how and why this be your friends for life. You should are beyond your comfort zone. Many of those things are most important happened, in order to see how legal invest in those relationships, and students who feel a little uncomfort- in your choice. to you. You have to decide, and you tools can be crafted and used to bring you should maintain them over the able with, say, quantitative analysis, have to be honest with yourself. Cor- about other change that seems to us years, because it doesn’t just happen, avoid classes that are about economic porate law definitely maximizes the to be too slow in coming. you have to work on it. It has been 30 analysis. We have a great Analytical The Record: Regarding the choices money aspect. To a certain extent, it The Record: Switching gears a bit years since my HLS graduation and Methods for Lawyers class, and they people make, it seems that most of us also maximizes prestige and power. – you have been in Cambridge for I am really grateful for the friends think, “well, I’m not good at that.” But come here to make the world a better It is very low on freedom to set your some time – where do you go to get that I have from law school, and the school is the best time to experiment place. However, most outgoing HLS own agenda. You cannot decide what away from things? friendships that I have maintained – with something that you believe you students go on to work in corporate you will do today, how much you will I often think of the saying “you never are not good at. Or people who are law. The path seems linear – a good work today, tomorrow, next month, can make new old friends.” very quantitative think, “I don’t want GPA and LSAT get you in and then a next year. People can argue about You never can make to take something touchy-feely like good 1L performance gets you to the that, but it is probably not high on Carol Steiker is the Henry J. Friendly jurisprudence or critical perspec- “right” firm. Many people, however, making the world a better place, new old friends. Professor of Law and Faculty tives, that’s just not me”. School is do not seem to be happy in the end. because you are pursuing your cli- Co-Director of the Criminal Justice a great place – perhaps one of the So, what is your advice on becoming ents’ agendas. Sometimes that will Policy Program at Harvard Law last places, to be honest – where you a happy lawyer? make the world a better place, some- Prof. Steiker: When I was a fellow School. She specializes in the broad can easily immerse yourself, expose Prof. Steiker: I keep asking stu- times it will decidedly not. And it may over at Radcliffe about five years ago, field of criminal justice, where her yourself, and get guided in something dents, and I still do not really quite or may not be high in intellectual sat- there was a little sunken garden in work ranges from substantive crim- that’s totally foreign to you. I think understand, why it is that so many isfaction, depending on the person the Radcliffe yard that is one of my inal law to criminal procedure to students tend to shy away from that people say they want to make the and the kind of work. The work that favorite spots in Cambridge. It’s a institutional design, with a special rather than run towards it. world a better place but end up going I picked as an academic is not super small, beautiful, little sunken garden, focus on issues related to capital pun- Second, I will occasionally teach a into corporate law. Because you could high on remuneration. Not super high with a little fountain in it. Another ishment. Professor Steiker is a gradu- reading group. Sometimes when I believe that you are making the world on power in the world. But it is very great place to take a walk that’s also ate of Harvard Law School, where she ask people to write a statement about a better place by doing corporate law, high on intellectual satisfaction. Very not too far is the Mount Auburn Cem- served as president of the Harvard why they want to be in the reading but that is not at all what most peo- high on setting your own agenda. It etery. And the Arboretum in Boston, Law Review, the second woman to group, amazingly enough, some will ple say when they come in. So, maybe is one of the few jobs for a lawyer that which is also owned by Harvard, hold that position in its then 99-year say “I only need X number of credits their views change, and they think you can do that is not client-driven. is just an incredible place to walk history. After clerking for Judge J. to graduate, and so if I do a reading that the best way to make the world It is driven purely by your own intel- around outside. Skelly Wright of the D.C. Circuit Court group, then I won’t have to go over the a better place is to go into corporate lectual interests. And I have a high The Record: Do you have any of Appeals and Justice Thurgood minimum number of credits that I law. I think it is a choice that many degree of freedom with my time. It extracurricular reading advice? Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court, need to graduate.” I am not thrilled to people’s friends and families will might be high on prestige, Harvard is Prof. Steiker: Oh my God. I am an she worked as a staff attorney for read such statements and I would gen- view as prestigious, and no one loves a prestigious place, but in a different obsessive reader; I read, read, read the Public Defender Service for the erally argue that people should not be a little prestige more than Harvard way than corporate law. all the time. There are some great District of Columbia, where she rep- thinking that way. After all, somebody Law students, so there’s that. It is You have to know yourself, and know law reads, if people have not read resented indigent defendants at all is paying a lot of money to be here. really astounding how much money which things are really important to them. Simple Justice, by Richard stages of the criminal process. 4 The Harvard Law Record September 3, 2019 Ito to sometimes being a mentor, I think traditional routine, whatever that is, really the formalization of disagree- – you are sort of Exhibit A. If you Continued from page 3 what is important about finding a and to look at what you are doing ment. In a sense, law is a technical do not understand technology, you good mentor is not just finding one from an entirely different perspec- way for people to disagree. I imag- definitely cannot write laws nor will In law, just like in engineering, but getting them to want to mentor tive. Meeting new people, whether ine that, when lawyers are arguing you provide a valuable service. A lot everything is about solving prob- you. If you are a busy mentor, you at a conference or while scuba div- with each other, it is a lot like fenc- of lawyers became lawyers simply lems, assuming that we know what give a certain amount of attention to ing, and explaining to them what ing: both sides have the same tools because they do not like math and the problems are. We do not chal- everyone in your class, but you really you do gives you humility and forces and the same rules. But when a law- code. But I do not think you can lenge whether we are even asking will give particular attention to you to explain what you do to peo- yer disagrees with an engineer, it is escape it. If you think that you can the right questions or whether we those who will take your mentorship ple outside your field. Learning in like two religions clashing, where avoid it as a lawyer, I think that is are solving the right problems. and convert it into something use- a completely different context also you do not even agree with the other a dumb mistake because technology Engineers and lawyers are usually ful. Usually, that is a combination of allows you to reflect on what you are group’s fundamental framework. has become such an integral part in the service of someone else who them understanding what you have doing. Whether you are in law school Disagreements where paradigms of how contemporary society works has predefined the problem. At the to contribute, of being articulate or studying engineering at MIT, it is clash are harder to resolve because and how it is increasingly going to individual level, a lawyer could ask, about it, and then trying to do some- important to constantly question they are very emotional – almost work. It might be easier for engi- “why am I doing this? Is it because thing unusual with it. what you are doing from a different religious. neers to become lawyers than the my mother told me that, if I am not You need to figure out not only who perspective. What is really challenging, and other way around, but it is also never rich, I am stupid? Or because I am the best mentors are but, as a men- probably really interesting, is to too late. Everybody should take as enjoying it?” If you are enjoying it, tee, you also need to understand disagree with another reductionist many courses related to technology you should ask why that is. If it is what is interesting and different What is important quantitative discipline, such as engi- as possible, or at least pay attention just because you are trying to accu- about what you yourself want to do neering. But then, disagreeing with to and spend time understanding mulate more stuff, then that, to me, and which mentors would be the about finding a a totally qualitative person, like a technology. is a little bit old-school. most appropriate match. The good social scientist, is even harder and This ties back to your earlier question thing is, if you are at Harvard or at good mentor is not more important. I would urge you about our class. One approach to the MIT, you can actually email any fac- to try. I do not think that the point intersection of law and technology In law, just like ulty member and they will usually just finding one but is to disagree, I think the point is to is to start working on projects that respond to you. Then, the next ques- try to take a disagreement and come involve working with technologists. in engineering, tion becomes, what does the rela- getting them to want to some sort of mutual, respectful Simple things like multiparty com- tionship with them look like? understanding. putations or zero knowledge proofs everything is about The Record: In your Wired arti- to mentor you. The Record: In the spirit of encoun- allow you to do things that you could cle, The Educational Tyranny of tering new people and thoughts, not do before. This fundamentally solving problems, The Neurotypicals, you distinguish what should we read? changes what you might put into a between places that are friendly to For me, scuba diving involves a Prof. Ito: I have a new book out that contract, or into a statute, because assuming that we neurotypical people and those that certain mindfulness. Once you are I will give you to read, it is called you can actually create a way to ver- are not. Do you find that law schools underwater – unless you have ridic- Resisting Reduction. Right now, a ify something effectively without know what the cater to the neurotypical? ulously sophisticated gear – you really important theme for me is sharing the underlying data. Just Prof. Ito: They cater to a certain cannot talk. Scuba diving might be race. One good book that I am cur- like the internet created this whole problems are. kind of typical. There is definitely the nerd version of getting into still- rently reading is White Fragility by complexity around jurisdictions, a personality type that is selected ness because there is a lot of tech- Robin DiAngelo. Ibram X. Kendi’s modern cryptography will funda- for in law school. This has a lot to nology involved, but having stillness work is also interesting. He wrote mentally change the way we think I believe that the world is more com- do with what you want to be when forced on you is interesting. a book called Stamped from the about resolving disputes, perform- plex than that. Heterogeneity, people you grow up and how you picture I have advised students who never Beginning, and he has a new book ing audits, or doing other things of pursuing things for different reasons lawyers. If you are just a crazy per- go out and whose coursework is so a legal nature. and resisting reduction of everything son who wants to explore and fiddle heavy that they really end up los- to mere quantitative metrics will help around, you are probably not going ing context. It is a waste because, Understanding Joi Ito is the director of the MIT us tackle complex problems better. to go to law school. I think that it all across campus, there are so Media Lab, Professor of the Practice In that sense, engineering and law would be interesting to think about many interesting people to meet. I technology will be a at MIT and the author, with Jeff both tend to reduce the complexity a kind of law school, or about a track was advising an undergrad whom Howe, of “Whiplash: How to Survive of the real world to the measurable. in law school, where the point is I asked, “what do you want to do?” requirement for the Our Faster Future” (Grand Central Some people really want and need not to go through the pantheon of and they said, “I want to get passion- Publishing, 2016). structure, and it is comforting to legal topics and to become a law- ate about something and do the shit next generation of PureTech Health and serves on have measurable results. Whether it yer when you grow up. Instead, it out of it.” But when I asked what they several other boards, including be grades, degrees or anything of the could provide an opportunity to were passionate about, they said they law and lawyers. The New York Times Company, sort. However, we need some people think about the law really as some- did not know yet. They had spent all the MacArthur Foundation and to question things, because the law thing that you fiddle around with. their energy getting into MIT. Ulti- the Knight Foundation. He is also will not improve unless someone This could also look like what you mately, that student figured out they coming out called How to be an the former chairman and CEO of questions it. are thinking about – conceiving of wanted to pursue the arts and trans- Anti-Racist, which is also an inter- Creative Commons, and a former The Record: Earlier you men- law as something fundamentally ferred out. esting read. Another one I recom- board member of ICANN, The Open tioned Dean Martha Minow, who is cross-disciplinary. You spend all this energy getting mend, by Ruha Benjamin, is called Source Initiative, and The Mozilla one of many people who seem to be The Record: Despite being an into law school and you might forget Race After Technology: Abolitionist Foundation. both friends and mentors of yours. incredibly busy person, you have why you are there, so explaining to Tools for the New Jim Code. The Ito is a serial entrepreneur who How should we think about men- carved out time for personal hob- other people why you study law is a relationship between race and algo- helped start and run numerous torship, and how have you thought bies such as scuba diving. How do good way to reflect. rithms, and race and law, is hugely companies including one of the first about it? you think about work/life balance? The Record: Disagreement is inev- important. It is not going away, and web companies in Japan, Digital Prof. Ito: Mentorship is extremely Prof. Ito: I definitely do less scuba itable, and valuable – especially in we keep dancing around it. Garage, and the first commercial important. I have been unlucky diving than before I was at MIT. I law school. Do you have ideas about The Record: Do you have other Internet service provider in Japan, about a lot of things but the area in used to go every single weekend – how to disagree productively? parting words of advice? PSINet Japan/IIKK. He has been an which I have been the luckiest was and since my daughter was born, my Prof. Ito: This is an interesting Prof. Ito: Understanding technol- early-stage investor in many com- finding great mentors. And now, scuba diving has also been cut back. question because a lot of the law I ogy will be a requirement for the panies, including Formlabs, Flickr, shifting from being mostly a mentee It is important to step outside of your encounter – such as mediation – is next generation of law and lawyers Kickstarter, littleBits, and Twitter.

Scales of Justice Law & Behavioral Science (LaBS)

• Do: Get involved. Join a stu- talking about your big hat, even • Don’t: Go to the Chang Sho buf- At regular intervals, think criti- there by choice, not by default. It will dent organization - it’s a great though it’s the biggest hat you’ve fet and pile food into your mas- cally about who you are, why you’re also help with the day-to-day. 1L has way to meet people outside your ever seen and you won it at a sive hat, and then when you make here, and what you care about. a homogenizing effect: everyone’s section. carnival. eye contact with a waiter, wink at It will help you with the big, long- doing the same work and dealing • Don’t: Wear a big hat that blocks • Do: Go to office hours. It’s them while putting your finger to term stuff. At HLS, a strong current with similar stressors. It is dehu- the view of the person sitting the best way to build relation- your lips, then put the hat back on propels students toward certain jobs manizing to talk only about classes, behind you. ships with your professors, and your head and have chow mein and areas of law. deadlines, and exams. • Do: Socialize with your sec- you’ll be glad you did once it spill out. Amid the torrent of 1L, it’s easy You and your classmates are much tion. Get to know them, because comes time to ask for letters of • Do: Be inclusive. Help make HLS to lose track of your own priorities more interesting than that. Don’t you’re going to spend a lot of time recommendation. a place where everyone feels wel- and adopt someone else’s – to blink forget it. Let HLS shape you, but not together this year. • Don’t: Ask your professors to try come. Make your section a big – and all of a sudden realize you’re replace you. • Don’t: Get angry when someone on your giant, humongous hat, tent. on a path you didn’t expect and you At regular intervals, think criti- asks you to take off your big hat and if they politely demur by say- • Don’t: Only invite people who don’t know why. Maybe that path cally about who you are, why you’re because they can’t see. ing “no thank you, it’s too big,” compliment your enormous hat, is right for you. But you should get here, and what you care about. • Do: Participate in class. Don’t let say “well yeah, that’s the point, even if you’re sure everyone is the same four people dominate the Einstein.” going to say something nice about conversation - speak up, because • Do: Ask your professors out to it, like, “wow, what a big hat.” Harvard Law School Mock Trial Association your voice matters too. lunch. It’s more casual than office • Do: Enjoy it. • Don’t: Spend your cold call hours, and you get free lunch! • Don’t: Wear a small hat. Tips for the incoming 1Ls, from horizons outside the classroom. people who were just 1Ls Class preparation is not necessarily the same as preparing for the exam. Harvard Health First Class Just remember to be nice to your- Taking practice exams is the best way self about feeling clueless, because to prepare for finals (in addition to a Law Society Dear 1Ls, For me, First Class was a place to be everyone does. great Attack Outline). Remember: this is not normal. reminded of these things and feel One highlighter definitely isn’t Know not to worry if some of the Despite boasting over 1600 stu- HLS is exceptional and elitist. Now, grounded. First Class is the organi- enough. advice (including the bullet directly dents, HLS can still be an incredibly so are you. I invite you to think about zation for first generation college stu- In and out of the classroom, sur- above) doesn’t make sense just yet! isolating and lonely place. Invest in what that means to you. You’ve always dents and low-income students. We round yourself with people who remind quality relationships, not to “net- had talent, now you have privilege. come from families of factory work- you that life is about more than school! Honestly, just have a good time, working,” but because it feels good. Where will you put it to use? Which ers, waiters and waitresses, and fam- Never forget to take yourself a little learn a lot, use the amazing resources Sure, time spent catching a movie, communities are excluded from this ilies living on food stamps. It may not less seriously. provided to you, and make sure you playing soccer, or hanging out with privilege? 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HLS First Class The Record – seek to thrive. (Also, get your flu shot!) has helped foster a sense of community at Harvard Law School while providing Texas Club Tips Golf Club an independent outlet for students Do’s of 1L • Do compare cost of living and state and professors to express opinions. On behalf of the Harvard Law • Do get outside of your comfort income taxes across the country Everyone from Barack Obama to William School Golf Club, welcome to Har- zone! Try new things, join new when considering job markets. vard Law School! groups, and meet new people. Don’t’s of 1L Rehnquist has appeared in its pages. We believe you should aim to Take advantage of everything that • Don’t forget that HLS exists out- News stories and analysis pieces graduate with no regrets. HLS has to offer. side of your section. This is a big have been followed by open debate Don’t don your cap and gown in • Do remember to relax by attend- school and your people are here, three years and regret not having got- ing student org events with free you just might have to branch out that is too rare at too many ten involved in initiatives and student barbecue, beverages, and bluebell to find them. law schools. organizations about which you’re ice cream. • Don’t be afraid to SAY NO to Help support passionate, not having gotten to know • Do make time to meet people and joining an org or a journal. You as many people on campus as possi- have some fun! Part of the value of don’t have to do it just because it The Record by donating today. ble, not having explored Cambridge HLS is the network you gain access seems like everyone else is. 1585 Massachusetts Avenue · and Boston (indeed there’s more to to. Your friends here will do some • Don’t neglect to investigate the the area than Harvard Square), and amazing things and you shouldn’t best legal market in the country Cambridge, MA 02138 not having taken the opportunity to feel guilty for spending time with and explore what makes it so great http://hlrecord.org/donate/ enjoy your time in law school. them away from casebooks. to practice law in Texas. September 3, 2019 The Harvard Law Record 5

and the Department of Justice. These As Congress cut the IRS budget and 2006, the normally reticent and agencies recover less than $3 billion over the past decade (with inflation conservative American Bar Associ- of what’s defrauded from Medic- adjusted, down more than 25 per- ation (under its president Michael Land of the Lawless aid, Medicare, and Tricare military cent from 2009), the agency has been Greco) sent three unprecedented insurance each year—appallingly increasingly unable to enforce the white papers to President George W. low, given that commercial crooks law against what it says is $400 bil- Bush asserting that he was in vio- How power in America has turned defraud an estimated $60 billion lion a year in “uncollected taxes”—a lation of the Constitution. Neither from Medicare alone. sum that does not even include huge Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney the rule of law into a mere myth. Even more alarming is what we “avoided taxes” that flow from cor- ever bothered to acknowledge, much learn from a May 2016 report from porate lobbyists driving their agen- less respond to, these charges from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine das through a greased Congress. The the largest bar association in the By Ralph Nader estimating that there are a minimum result of this, says Robert McIntyre, world. of 250,000 lives lost yearly due to who was the director of Citizens for The government continued its preventable problems in our nation’s Tax Justice for many years, is that cit- extensive violations of our constitu- hospitals. That’s an average of 5,000 izen taxpayers have to pay more taxes tional freedoms. In January 2012, an Ralph Nader (HLS ’58) is a lecturer, attorney, author, political activist, deaths a week. These deaths stem and receive fewer public services or extraordinary article was published and four-time candidate for president of the United States. In 2015 he largely from continual negligence— else incur larger government deficits. in the Washington Post by George founded the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, Connecticut. which can include accidents, mis- Ongoing myths about the law Washington University professor Mr. Nader is a former editor-in-chief of the Record. He is the co-author, diagnoses, malpractice, and hospi- serve to camouflage or protect these Jonathan Turley outlining ten of with Wesley Smith, of No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perver- tal-induced infections—but criminal truly dominant acts of power—that’s them, which flowed from the official sion of Justice in America (Random House, 1996). He may be contacted negligence and outright profit-driven an important reason for the near misuses of laws as well as from the by phone (202-387-8030) or email ([email protected]). The Record asked criminality are also prevalent. Though nonexistence of regular compli- instruments of oppression them- Mr. Nader to share his advice for the incoming class in this issue. these mass violations are supposed to ance reports by regulatory agencies selves, including all-too-routine be actionable by public prosecution to Congress and the public. Such prosecutorial abuses and law­lessness In the late 1970s, I had lunch with make the law mean what it should— and by private civil action under our reports would not only show wide- among police and in prisons. New the head of the Internal Revenue Ser- that is, justice. tort laws, far less than 5 percent of spread noncompliance and minimal York governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2018 vice. I broached a subject long on my potential civil cases are brought to enforcement, they would also reveal State of the State address picked mind: “I have been told that the sec- The more laws, the more attorneys by next of kin. Prosecutions just how little help the aggrieved up on a similar theme, giving a tion on insurance in the tax code is lawbreakers. are much rarer. classes receive from legal processes. shocking statistic: 75 percent of all so complex that fewer people under- Also deeply underreported are the And, of course, indentured enforce- inmates languishing in New York stand it than understand Einstein’s —Tao Te Ching, 500 BC crimes that take place in the lawless ment agencies do not have much City jails have not been convicted of theory of relativity.” He replied that zone of wage theft. A recent report interest in publicizing widespread a crime but are simply awaiting trial. he wouldn’t doubt if that were true. Over the past century, as laws by the Economic Policy Institute— violations of such magnitude. Doing (Although not the subject of this So I followed up and asked, “How can have become more remote from pub- which draws on surveys of state labor so might generate an appropriate essay, the lawlessness of the power- it be enforced?” His answer was that lic education and distant from pop- departments and attorneys general level of outrage—which could spur a ful—through their actions or inac- it largely wasn’t. ular access, they have also become as well as data from the Department movement to change the system that tions—have often worked to worsen If this seems shocking, beware— more complex and more pervasive. of Labor and class-action settle- powerful institutions are more inter- the incidence of street and domestic lawlessness is an overwhelming In parallel, the various zones of law- ments—estimates $50 billion a year ested in keeping the way it is. violence.) fact of American life, though little lessness have expanded and the rule is stolen from mostly low-income Why would government want to The view is no better on the attention is paid to this many-un- of power has increased. Occasional workers, while terribly weak enforce- help diminish these zones of law- international stage, where law splendored phenomenon. How many high-profile prosecutions or sanc- ment budgets and priorities led to lessness? It, too, operates in one. cannot keep up with the violent times have we been told that our tions have helped promulgate the the recovery of only some $2 billion Our uncontrollable national-secu- insults of noncompliance with country is under the rule of law and idea that laws are effective in their in 2015 and 2016 combined. rity government has given us secret constitutions, treaties, or statutory that nobody is above it? Yet the coun- coverage, but such prosecutions have The EPI examines wage theft wars, secret law, secret courts, secret restraints—from the general pre- try’s legal life is defined instead by often been ineffective, with corpo- through minimum-wage violations, evidence, secret prisons, unautho- cepts of the laws of war to specific major zones of lawlessness created, rations demanding that Congress overtime violations, tipping vio- rized secret budgets, unlawful sur- provisions of the Geneva Conven- in one aspect, by noncompliance and eliminate criminal penalties for will- lations, and employee misclassi- veillance of attorney-client com- tions. National sovereignties are lack of enforcement and, in another, ful and knowing violation of the law. fications. On average, it finds that munications, blatant snooping on routinely overridden by undeclared by raw power, which can be political, To give just one example, corporate workers suffering minimum-wage all Americans, unauditable secret wars of choice, drone killings, ille- economic, or armed. These multiply- lobbyists succeeded in eliminating violations are cheated out of $64 a expenditures for quagmires abroad, gal armed incursions, torture, and ing zones have pushed the rule of law the criminal penalty from the 1966 week, or $3,300 annually—all while and even redacted published judi- the widening license accorded into little more than a torrent of dys- automobile-safety laws, even when the federal minimum wage has been cial decisions. Though due process military contractors. Greenhouse functional myths. people were killed due to know- frozen at $7.25 an hour. Such theft is of law is arguably the greatest legal gases originate in one nation but You might think attending one of ing violations of the government’s clearly illegal. But in 2016, the EPI achievement of Western civilization, traverse the globe, leading to dev- Amer­ica’s 205 accredited law schools motor-vehicle safety regulations. reports, the Department of Labor’s unlawful imprisonment (now euphe- astating impacts. All are outside of would help a person see through all To see through a myth as per- Wage and Hour Division had only mistically called “detention,” regard- any legal frameworks. this. But with few exceptions, law vasive as our rule of law requires a a thousand investigators responsi- less of duration) of domestic persons The maturation of the so-called schools teach the rule of law as if it journey through these zones of law- ble for 7.3 million workplaces. And and aliens are the stuff of media corporate state has made all this were the norm—as if public condem- lessness. Taking it may provoke the workers rarely file private claims exposés that mostly go nowhere. Our even more entrenched. A major fac- nations of criminal acts and some- constructive outrage that can come anyway, as they are often forced to government has too often shunted tor is military contracting. In Sep- times prosecuted violations mean from an informed sense of injustice. sign away their right to go to court in aside probable cause and upended tember 2007 the government-con- our culture really is defined by its Let’s start with systematic viola- order to have a job in the first place. habeas corpus and other bulwarks tracted Blackwater Corporation laws. Courses push students to hone tions of the law that escape enforce- of due process. And U.S. courts used weaponized vehicles to slaugh- their analytic skills to find conflicts, ment year after year. First, the health All moanday, tearsday, wailsday, contribute to the impunity through ter fourteen unarmed Iraqis in one inconsistencies, distinctions, ambi- care industry, in which at least 10 thumpsday, frightday, shatterday knee-jerk procedures blocking law- of Baghdad’s public squares. This guities, and textual improvements percent of what our country spends till the fear of the Law. suit challenges due to presumed briefly occasioned some attention in the formal legal system. Rarely goes down the drain from computer- “lack of standing” or by saying that a from Congress, but by the end of is the rule of law exposed for what it ized billing fraud and abuse. Accord- —James Joyce, 1939 dispute is “political” and can only be October, Secretary of State Condo- is, though from time to time schools ing to Harvard professor Malcolm resolved between the executive and leezza Rice had officially informed of legal thought do examine this—as Sparrow, author of License to Steal, This is contract peonage, quite legislative branches. the House Oversight Committee did the “legal realists” at Yale Law this 10 percent figure represents the simply. But aside from the rare case that—remarkably—there was no law School from the 1920s to the 1950s or minimum amount. Applying it to this of stolen-wage restitution, employers covering the actions of Blackwater the “critical legal studies” professors year would produce a fraud amount are almost never prosecuted under Laws, like houses, lean on one and their private police in Iraq. It from the 1970s through the 1990s. of about $350 billion. The fraud is criminal laws. The absence of civil another. seems that any crimes commit- But the language of these schools rarely prosecuted. In 1992 the Gov- and criminal deterrence assures that ted by corporations commissioned was too abstruse. The scholars did ernment Accountability Office esti- big-time wage theft is part of the —Edmund Burke, 1765 by the Defense and State Depart- not focus enough on reaching out- mated a comparable 10 percent drain, American worker’s nightmare. ments to perform guard duty and side their academic groves and were but Congress continued to starve the Corporations further assert Then, when legal bodies do other classified tasks fell into a gap mostly unable to foster any kind of enforcement budgets of the Depart- their power over the rule of law attempt to speak out against this law- social justice movement that could ment of Health and Human Services through tax evasion and avoidance. lessness, they are ignored. In 2005 Lawless continued on page 7

Harvard Law School professors Constitution is violated routinely, love to use hypotheticals in their torture and unlawful imprisonment classes. So let’s try one that they have Harvard Lawless School and You (euphemistically called ‘detention’) not subjected their students to in its By Ralph Nader are the stuff of media exposés that go 202 years of storied history. What if nowhere. the Law School split itself into two Domestically, using the law itself parts – each with different professors as an instrument of oppression, pros- and students on its crowded campus in ecutorial abuses, police and prison Cambridge, Massachusetts? One half lawlessness and entrenched procure- would retain the name Harvard Law ment violations between vendors and School, while the other half would be governments are institutionalized called Harvard Lawless School. How dimensions of lawlessness. There would the courses differ? are unconstitutional laws that need Well, the Harvard Law School cur- amendment or repeal. riculum would remain pretty much Who enforces the legal boundaries the same, accepting the law as is, on the Federal Reserve, whose wid- working its interpretation by courts, ening unaccountable penumbras of regulators and legislatures and spec- lawless discretion are worrying Right ulating a little about how it could be and Left in this country. Then Secre- clarified and improved. tary of the Treasury Henry Paulson Harvard Lawless School would told the Washington Post that he had be more grounded in grim realities, “no authorities” to engage in his serial where there are no operating laws bailouts of Wall Street, but somebody to discipline raw power or where the had to do it. laws are so violated as to be system- There are no international laws atically inoperative over a large range regarding the ongoing, growing of activities. cyberwarfare; no laws governing Lawlessness, the kind that is con- the tumultuous nanotechnology, few sidered as factual non-compliance rules that can contain the spread of with existing law, is often far more migrating, untested biotechnology. widespread than the studied phe- When, according to Johns Hop- nomenon known as compliance. kins School of Medicine study, at least I am reminded of the long history Credit: Emily Karakis / Unsplash 250,000 Americans can die yearly of this duality by in a 1932 review by (about 700 a day!) because of medi- Daniel James of The Modern Cor- which is what Harvard Lawless the healthcare industry, despite the are outside the tax laws. cal malpractice, medical error, hos- poration and Private Property – a School would teach and take off from. existing laws against fraud. Starva- As the protections of tort law – pital-induced infections and mis-pre- famous book by Adolf A Berle, Jr. and What’s all this got to do with you? tion enforcement budgets for the fed- the law of wrongful injuries – are scription of medicines and their lethal Gardiner C. Means that documented Just about everything. If you can- eral cops on the corporate crime beat diminished, millions of Americans side-effects, there clearly is no “rule of the split between ownership (the not use the law to pursue your rights are assured by an indentured Con- are left outside the civil justice sys- law” applicable in this realm of pre- shareholders) and control (by the – say health coverage – under fine- gress. Thus, a routinely vast area of tem – unable to hold perpetrators ventable mass violence which has any corporate executives). He wrote then print contracts or gain adequate com- theft and harm drives a political cli- accountable. The forced under-utili- quantitative significance. what is worse now, that “There is a pensation for your wrongful injuries, mate of lawlessness and exacerbates zation of consumer, environmental This short introduction to a hypo- paper government for corporations you are being strapped by lawless- crime in the suites. and worker protection laws by their thetical curriculum at Harvard Law- and there is an actual government. ness through the design of the power When Congress cuts the IRS’s supposed beneficiaries against viola- less School only scratches the sur- The one is embodied in Constitu- elites. They, of course, live under budget year after year, the agency tors is overwhelmingly the norm. face of the “blunt, realistic facts.” tional provisions, statutes, charters, their own rules – monetarily greased cannot collect what it estimates is Expanding areas of lawlessness Students, professors and courses at by-laws, decisions; the other has its through their plunder of the political over $450 billion a year in “uncol- flow wildly away from existing laws. this kind of law school would not be being in the conduct of men who con- economy – and, not surprisingly, use lected taxes.” Add additional massive Criminal wars of choice, mass gov- mired in what Professor Jon Hanson trol corporate activity…With them as these special rules to their advantage sums of “avoided taxes” by corporate ernment surveillance, the tortures, has called “the illusion of law.” with all human institutions there is in ways that disadvantage you and lobbyists driven through a greased and the licenses allowed military Hypotheticals can spark the imag- a divergence of the intended and the most other people. Congress, and you end up paying contractors are examples of ram- ination to connect law to justice in realized, the ought and the is.” Business crooks get away with more taxes, or receiving fewer public pant lawlessness. Wars of aggres- thought and practice. Who knows The “is”, declared Mr. James, is over $300 billion a year just in com- services or incurring larger govern- sion (Iraq, Libya) are not declared, what the future holds for an imagina- “made up of blunt, realistic facts” puterized billing fraud and abuse in ment deficits. Huge sums of money the Fourth Amendment to the tive Harvard Law(less) School? 6 The Harvard Law Record September 3, 2019 So you want to go to work for a large corporate law firm Maybe you should find out more about them than they are willing to tell you

By Ralph Nader

Corporate law firm recruiters will to defang successful prosecution • Shielded tumultuous new tech- pooled assets that are owned by or These work products of corporate tell you about the different depart- of corporate crime. nologies such as biotechnology in clear trust on behalf of the peo- attorneys overwhelm and overcome ments of specialized practice – such • Arranged for continual install- and nanotechnology and arti- ple (see bollier.org). They include what hurdles– legislative, judicial, as mergers and acquisitions, trusts ment of corporate lawyers in ficial intelligence from legal the vast public lands onshore and and regulatory—there are that hold and estates, regulatory practice, the nation’s federal and state and ethical frameworks and offshore, the public airwaves, the corporations accountable. Public criminal defense, taxation, environ- judiciary. accountability. trillions of dollars in government interest lawyers know how powerful mental, health care, trade, commer- • Restricted access to justice by • Become the legal spearheads research and development that these defenses and strategies can cial, intellectual property, real estate lobbying legislatures to enact of avaricious state lobbies such built or expanded many of the old be—for example, in litigation against and the like. But these descriptions limitations on the law of torts, as ALEC, funded in part by the and new industries in our country. corporate-owned prisons or Penta- do not introduce you to the kind jury autonomy and by estab- Koch brothers, to weaken or They attach to the trillions of dol- gon contractors, claiming sovereign of corporate clients, to whom you lishing judicial procedures that repeal safeguards for consum- lars in pension and mutual funds. immunity. ostensibly owe a duty of zealous rep- obstruct the pursuit of justice. ers, workers, patients and the The sheer intricacy and diversity Corporate misbehaviors—either resentation, and the demands these • Expanded systems of corporate environment. of such splintering of publicly statutory crimes, common law gross clients will make. welfare or crony capitalism, “gar- • Elaborated corporate bank- owned resources is testimony to negligence, civil violations of regu- In the past, your predecessors, nished by directed campaign ruptcy laws that now stand as a the intellectual adventures that lations, and regular criminogenic whether through desire or because contributions,” without open pro- cruel double standard between firms have used to attract law abuses—have been subjected to crit- of student debt, defended long- cedures and regular reviews. the corporation and the indi- school graduates looking for rigor icisms by some leading corporate standing or episodic abuses and • Expanded massive government vidual. The GM bankruptcy and and challenge. attorneys. crimes. What you are expected to outsourcing and procurement the emergence of the old GM This partial list should not be About a century ago, the pre-em- do, for a lucrative retainer, is to systems that enable waste, min- and the “new GM” lacerated the concluded without mentioning the inent corporate lawyer, Elihu Root, preserve and expand the privi- imum competition and exagger- rights of creditors and vaporized constant work of corporate law a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leges and immunities of these large ated claims of proprietary infor- cases by injured litigants is an firms to arrange, advice, and defend Secretary of State under Theodore corporations, their profiteering mation which restrict review and advanced case of this lawyerly measures that suppress voters and Roosevelt, declared: “About half of and drives toward greater control, reform. imagination. candidates in the electoral arenas, the practice of a decent lawyer is concentrated power, executive pay telling would be clients that they are packages, and protection or escape damned fools and should stop.” from law enforcement. You might Henry L. Stimson, the early twen- also be asked to draft and lobby tieth century doyen of modern cor- amendments into permissive law to porate attorneys, who served in high achieve these objectives. government positions, wrote about Decade after decade, teams of the necessity of the American law- corporate lawyers have fought for yer to be a defender of the laws and the tobacco, drug, chemical, bank- Constitution. “I felt,” he wrote in his ing, insurance, nuclear, coal, oil, co-authored book On Active Service and hospital industries in direct in War and Peace, “that if the time conflict with consumer, worker and should ever come when this tradi- environmental health and safety. tion faded out and members of the The billings are impressively large bar had become merely the servants with mostly uncontested padding or of business, the future of our liber- fraud. Under the cover of “every cli- ties would be gloomy indeed.” ent deserves a lawyer,” the extraor- That time has come. The inge- dinary lengths these attorneys go to nious advocacy of corporate attor- in fealty to national or global corpo- neys has serviced a stifling matrix rations receive almost no media or of political and economic global cor- governmental scrutiny. That people porate power, deployed over capital, are dying, being injured, sickened labor, and penetrating new technol- or defrauded, before and after pri- ogies. There is an accelerating, huge vate or public legal actions are insti- imbalance between individuals and tuted, provides little or no sense of corporations, both within and out- remorse by these law firms. Protect- side formal legal frameworks. Under ing people is not usually considered such condition, there can be very lit- their professional or moral respon- tle “equal justice under law.” sibility, especially in an adversarial Corporate lawyers going to system in which corporate interests extremes seem wholly unrestrained have all the advantages. They have by their status as “officers of the perfected the gaming of the adver- court” and the larger ethical stan- sary system, should there be one, dards and missions accorded this through deliberate wars of attrition, Credit: Oliver Niblett / Unsplash privileged monopoly known as the overwhelmingly superior resources practice of law. Lucrative corporate and the fact that for aggrieved plain- • Conceived and encouraged ever • Utilized corporate lawyers to unlike, by far, any other western retainers can narrow one’s sense of tiffs with bills to pay, time is more of more permissive tax havens fight against group legal services nation. professional responsibility. the essence than it is for an artificial around the world to evade or and controlled town government Of course, much corporate law Writing in 2009, Law Professor corporate entity and its deductible avoid taxes for the wealthy and where there were large corporate firm work is the tedious handling and leading legal ethics specialist legal expenses. corporations. employers such as those in Butte, of conventional commercial trans- (author of the treatise “Regulation Corporations, with few excep- • Created modes of corporate coer- Montana, the paper mill com- actions, estate planning and the of Lawyers,” Stephen Gillers con- tions, are pitted against consumers, cion via credit and debit cards pany towns in Maine and tex- like. There is, of course, the option cludes: “A lawyer who uses his or her workers, small taxpayers and com- and other payment systems for a tile companies in the Piedmont. to work on behalf of mid-sized legal education and skills to distort munities, and corporations have the cashless economy that constructs They work to strategize, mature, smaller companies who do good the law, to destroy the rule of law, upper hand. webs of incarceration around and entrench the autocratic cor- work, such as Patagonia, Esprit and because he or she is adept at manip- We have seen patients, workers consumers through adhesion porate state, illustrated by Presi- the Interface Corporation and other ulating language, when no judge, no and children die waiting for the contracts, privacy invasions and dent Eisenhower’s farewell warn- companies, often still run by their adversary, is watching, is as blame- deliberately protracted proceed- other deliberate manipulations, ing about the “military industrial founders that belong to the Social worthy as the client. You cannot hide ings of litigation or legislation or dictates, and unresponsiveness. complex.” Venture Network (svn.org). But the behind your professional mask.” regulatory agency action. Delay is a • Molded a patent system that • Imposed a weakened system of big money comes from the big cor- Louis D. Brandeis in 1905 told a long-standing specialty of corporate crushes individual inventors in frozen workers’ compensation porate law firms representing the gathering at Harvard: “…able law- attorneys. Consider the victims of favor of corporate patent con- insurance to limit the liability giant corporations. That is the lure, yers, to a great extent, allowed them- asbestos poisoning, of disease-fes- trols dubiously extended to of corporations to their injured the temptation that requires further selves to become adjuncts of great tering chemicals and particulates reduce competition and increase workers. examination. corporations and have neglected in the workplaces – the factories, consumer prices, as in the drug • Lobbied for decades to pre- A major transition to further their obligation to use their powers foundries, mines and industrial industry. vent single payer, more efficient concentrated corporate power over for the protection of the people. We agricultural fields. • Perfected “document retention” national health insurance to individuals and other institutions, hear much of the corporate lawyer Here are some architectural strategies to destroy evidence in cover all. such as labor unions, makes up the and far too little of the ‘people’s achievements of these corporate law anticipation of forthcoming law • Perfected a revolving-door sys- long-range activities of corporate lawyer.” firms deploying undue power against enforcement. tem so that corporate lawyers can attorneys, with the help of some law Occasionally, law firms heed these the polity and general public. They: • Stifled free speech and citizen go into public service – weakly professors. That mission started admonitions. One of Boston’s largest • Destroyed the freedom of con- criticisms of corporate power enforce the law for a few years with the concept of limited liability corporate firms, Hale and Dorr, insti- tracts by an inscrutable structure by filing or threatening SLAPP to gain “experience” – and then for shareholders (as with the early tuted a policy in the nineteen seven- of adhesion or standard-form (strategic lawsuits against pub- come back out to continue rep- 18th century charters for textile com- ties of not representing any tobacco contracts that kick in at a click lic participation) suits that resenting corporations at much panies in New England) to relentless companies. In the early 1970s, Rob- or a signature, often taking away produce large penumbras of higher pay. expansion of limited liabilities for ert Wald, the attorney for tobacco people’s rights to their day in civic fear, intimidation, and • Tolerated a criminal justice sys- the corporate entities themselves. company, Lorillard, Inc. dropped his court. Consumers cannot usually self-censorship. tem where corporate crime is These shields are often enabled client after he became convinced of obtain the full contract to which • Provided the intellectual grease immunized, poverty is criminal- by statutory limits on liability, as the company’s failure to address the they are bound and if they can, and political muscle to facilitate ized, and the indigents charged with the nuclear power companies health risks of smoking. the text is often incomprehensi- giant anticompetitive mergers paralyzing fees to boot. through the Price Anderson Act, to The above—noted subjects ble and often too small to read – when challenged by antitrust • Replaced judicially supervised the judicially recognized privileges deserve a great deal more time in assuming there is any time. authorities. probation officers for corporate and immunities promoted by corpo- the law school’s curricula and extra- • Perpetuated the worst health • Designed massive executive com- criminals with corporate mon- rate counsel. This includes corporate curricular activities. Think of the insurance chaos in the western pensation packages, marinated itors – approved of and paid for personhood for use of civil rights, engagements, around proper names world, full of trap doors, deduct- by huge unproductive stock buy- by the corporate criminals. civil liberties, and other constitu- and controversies that could flow ibles, co-pays, waivers and exclu- backs that harm workers, pension • Helped set up corporate front tional rights/remedies originally from just one definition in the Amer- sions – all to the corporations’ funds, disempower shareholders, groups – groups whose names enacted for the protection of indi- ica Bar Associations (ABA) Model advantage. and deplete the overall invest- sound like public interest groups, viduals. To repeat “corporations” or Rules of Professional Conduct: “A • Repeatedly structured markets ment practices of the affected but that are in fact funded and “companies” are not mentioned in lawyer is a representative of clients, to be less competitive and more corporations. controlled by corporations. the Constitution. an officer of the legal system and a monopolistic and strip share- • Shielded and defended the • Created the nation’s most pow- Another creation of corporate law public citizen having special respon- holders of any power to control excesses of Wall Street and its erful civil rights movement – the firms relates to restricting the pri- sibility for the quality of justice…” what they own. far flung speculations with other movement for corporate civil vate rights/remedies of aggrieved As inquiring law students, you • Held down law enforcement people’s money, as occurred in rights – putting the corporation individuals vis-à-vis corporate pre- are now as free as ever to contem- budgets of agencies that are sup- 2008 and 2009. Where were – never mentioned in the U.S. dations. There are the many “tort plate and address such conflicts posed to pursue civil and crim- the corporate lawyers to detect, Constitution – on par with living deforms” such as caps on damages within your chosen profession and inal actions against corporate foresee and forestall? They breathing human beings when it in medical malpractice lawsuits anticipate the enormous perils or crimes and other predations. were paid to look the other comes civil rights protections. that further imbalance the power illegal corporate drives over the This is widely true for the mis- way and profit from their past • Advocated and perpetuate a between persons and vendors and next half century of tumult. Think, behavior of the weapons of mass installations of immunities, neither admit nor deny settle- deepen the unequal protection of the for instance, about the personal destruction industry and its rela- impunities, and cover ups (See: ment practice at the SEC that laws. “Tort deform” rarely applies ramifications of either your accept- tions with the Pentagon. http://hlrecord.org/2018/04/ lets wrongdoers off without even to corporate usage of tort law. In ing or turning down a lucrative • Made sure that many health and is-law-still-an-honorable-pro- admitting their wrongdoing. addition, Professor Arthur Miller career defending the perpetuation safety laws do not have a criminal fession/). • Split the ownership from control (HLS ’58) has demonstrated how of the fossil fuel industries and their penalty for willful and knowing • Dominated bar associations with over our public resources and the federal rules of civil procedure greenhouse gases in the face of rapid violations of the law, while freez- their funding and priorities to hand control over to corpora- have been twisted into obstructing climate disruption? ing obsolete civil fine levels. assure that corporate interests tions and their government con- the people’s access to justice (see Think how you want to look back • Utilized deferred and non-pros- are first and foremost, sometimes cessionaires. Surprising to many, more at nyulawreview.org/wp-con- on your legal career fifty years hence. ecution agreements, originally with a modest nod to legal aid for the greatest wealth in our coun- tent/uploads/2018/08/NYULawRe- Looking backward is good way to be designed for individuals, as a way poor, accused defendants. try comprises the “commons” or view-88-1-Miller.pdf). looking forward! You choose. September 3, 2019 The Harvard Law Record 7

Avoid the law—the first loss is weakening labor unions and con- from new technologies to new forms It would be nice to believe such Lawless generally the least. sumer-defense organizations. They of capital to more complex inter-re- actions were aberrations from the Continued from page 5 systematically obstruct use of the lationships between people and arti- rule of law. But they’re not; lawless- between Iraqi law—from which they —Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee, law by the very people meant to be ficial entities like corporations. With ness in its many exercised forms of were exempted by the U.S. military 1844 protected by it. government contracts there are the raw power is itself the norm. What occupation—and the laws of the One pervasive way this affects entrenched, complex, often secret it has wrought is the institutional- U.S. military itself. The rights of the But here, too, powerful forces consumers is in debit- or cred- abuses by corporate vendors, espe- ization of criminality—with over- individual guards were less clear; have fomented a culture of lawless- it-based cell-phone payment plans— cially in the military and corporate world and underworld often blur- though some have been prosecuted, ness. Corporate power has been an intricate system of consumer welfare arenas. These official exer- ring together—producing inequality a single conviction for first-degree able to erode the strength of these incarceration in which cell-phone cises of power without legal author- of wealth and income, planting the murder was overturned in circuit remedies by imposing one-sided users surrender access and privacy ity are bipartisan under both major seeds of political seizures by dicta- court in 2017. fine-print contracts and by lobbying and become beholden to fine-print political parties. torial, plutocratic, and oligarchic Such lawless zones only become legislatures to seriously weaken the contractual servitude. Any attempts Law does not keep up, and the forces. more complicated as technology content and use of tort law. Though to fight back mean one is confronted modern denizens of lawless terri- What can be done? We start advances. The daily evidence of the latter is euphemistically called with a series of difficult tasks, tory like it that way. Just ask Wall with the lawyers, who are not only international cyberwarfare and “tort reform,” it is a reform for cor- including reaching a human being Streeters, whose economic power invested with the monopolistic hacking—as well as corporate espi- porations, not people. Corporate lob- working for the vendors. Consumers allows them to deal in tax havens, right to be attorneys for clients but onage—occurs without any frame- byists have succeeded in having leg- then have to deal with low bargain- complex commercial partnerships, should also be obliged, as officers work of international law. There is islation enacted that arbitrarily ties ing power, nonexistent alternative and speculative derivatives that few of the court subject to their code presently no serious effort by the the hands of judges and juries, who competition, and the potential arbi- humans can even understand, much of professional ethics, to be the community of nations to negoti- are the only ones who see, hear, and trary actions of lowered credit rat- less regulate. Where were the legal sentinels for the administration of ate international treaties regard- evaluate the evidence in each case in ings and credit scores. The judiciary boundaries breached by the Federal justice. ing this volcanic, intrusive tech- court. These lobbyists seek nothing usually protects vendors by invok- Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, and the Some are heroically assuming nology that, apart from stealing less than impunity and immunity for ing the myth of consumer consent White House during the massive this august obligation to the people. personal and official records, can their corporate entities. while precluding practical remedies bailout of Wall Street and other But far too few of the 1.3 million destroy the critical infrastructure Prominent lawyers, too, have by the aggrieved. Computerized companies? George W. Bush’s sec- lawyers in America see the rule of of societies. been involved in weakening these transactions between consumers retary of the Treasury, former chief law for the myth it is; too few see Recourse does—or should—exist. remedies. Their unprofessional and financial vendors have turned of Goldman Sachs Henry Paulson, the rule of power for the lawlessness America inherited from medieval conduct flows from their status as unconscionable penalties and fees openly told the Washington Post it creates. England two great liberation move- so-called officers of the court, whose into corporate profit centers worth that he “didn’t have the authorities More of them must assume the ments for private action against ethical responsibilities should be tens of billions of dollars a year, for anything,” but “someone has to higher significance of their calling, wrongdoers: the law of contract pointing them instead toward wid- especially against the poor, who are pull it all together.” to respond to the silent cries for and the law of torts. These two pil- ening access to justice and its judi- forced into these difficult, rigged justice—which nearly two centuries lars of our private law are meant cial institutions. But corporate law arrangements and so pay more. We are to go to law never to ago Senator Daniel Webster called to empower wrongfully injured or firms are the brains behind the This sort of thing is happening revenge, but only to repair. “the great interest of man on Earth” defrauded people against wrongdo- political and economic dom­ination everywhere. Fast-expanding zones of and “the ligament which holds civ- ers by giving them their day in court of corporatism and its corporate lawlessness emerge from all kinds of —Samuel Pepys, 1661 ilized beings and civilized nations with a trial by jury. state, which runs roughshod over rapid changes occurring in societies, together.” How to Succeed as a Lawyer

By Deborah Beth Medows

Hone both your legal skills and your character. Your current actions determine your future both profes- sionally and personally; the demar- cation will dissolve as you further your career. Treat your classmates with respect; as your lifelong col- leagues, they will impact your pro- fessional reputation. Be fair; never confuse decency with weakness. Be a zealous advo- cate while recognizing that cruelty and indifference comprise an easy path; integrity requires maturity, strength, and leadership. Success in the legal field is analogous to a mar- athon, not a sprint. Help struggling classmates as 1Ls, welcome new stu- dents as 3Ls, and as lawyers, men- tor new attorneys and help others advance. It will make a world of dif- ference to them, and they’ll remem- ber you for it. Earn your degree honestly, and as future attorneys, refrain from mis- representations. You will encounter clients at their most vulnerable, and people will entrust you to protect them; do not betray that trust. You are not above the law. When you are pressured, it can be tempting to act in ways you otherwise think you would not. Keep your perspective and know that otherwise, when jus- tice comes, and it will, you will shame yourself and your family and destroy the career that you invested so much into building. The crux of success lies not in fleeting case victories but in the quiet moments of decisions that encapsulate your career. Navigate boundaries in your life and balance your career with other obligations. As Joseph Story wrote, “the law is a jealous mistress and requires a long and constant court- ship.” Value time with family and friends. Success without someone to share it with is a hollow victory. Broaden your definition of long- term success. You cannot win every- thing; if you do, you are not ade- quately challenged. Your collegiality and reaction to setbacks, and ability to learn from them, determine suc- cess. Law can be thankless; know in bleak moments that success lies in perseverance and resilience. Suc- cess was, to Kipling, the ability to “meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” Consider Teddy Roos- evelt’s “The Man in the Arena” and know that as Churchill said, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.” Congratulate a classmate who pre- vails in moot court. Always shake your opposing counsels’ hands, wish them well, and mean it. The definition of success may change throughout your career, but not its fundamental principles. It may currently feel like you are tak- ing law school day by day; that itself is a victory in the beginning as you navigate your growth trajectory. As Seneca said, “Non est via e terra ad astra mollis,” or, there is no easy way from the earth to the stars. Keep striving through your career to earn your success. You will Credit: Ellen Miller be proud of yourself when you do. 8 The Harvard Law Record September 3, 2019

by the intermittent pro bono work But after Brown vs. Board of Educa- they do. If you want to use the law to tion and Arkansas Governor Orville An Open Letter to help solve serious societal problems Faubus’s opposition to desegrega- – here and abroad- look somewhere tion, you had to go outside of the law else. school to understand the law itself as Harvard Law Students 8. Don’t trivialize your estimable an instrument of oppression. talents for lucrative returns. Keep- 13. Don’t get too mired into your By Ralph Nader ing your conscience at home while day-after-day academic routine. selling your talents is a very high Sample the public events at the Law price to pay during the fifty years or School and the rest of this vast Uni- Alumni can make an important a judge’s order to represent an impe- care costs, and could be consider- so you will practice law. Note it has versity. Amplify and render more contribution to students presently cunious defendant in a criminal case ably higher. By my calculation, if become easier to perform conscien- intrepid your curiosity and your enrolled in their alma mater by call- very seriously, predicting that in a just ten percent losses are applied to tious work earlier because expanded imagination by showing up at events ing attention to frames of reference few years attorneys might be sent to this year’s expected expenditure of financial aid lessens the burden of and meeting people, often dynamic often unmentioned or little dis- jail for refusing such an instruction. $3.5 trillion, then fraud and abuse law student debt, in addition to other public interest lawyers, outside your cussed at Harvard Law School as the Well, that has not happened, but are draining at least $350 billion enabling programs post-graduation inner circle – who know and who do curriculum focuses on developing clearly, law students should start fill- out of the U.S. health care system by Harvard Law School. justice – what Senator Daniel Web- analytic legal skills and discerning ing in the ethical blanks about what annually. The broad and deep range 9. Take a course or two in legal ster generations ago called the “great legal concepts. Some alumni wish being an “officer of the court” should of commercial crimes, and examples history, or jurisprudence to absorb work of man on Earth.” Know your that they were accorded these larger mean beyond obeying the crimi- of where there is no criminal law the big picture of the law over time. law school’s history and your profes- perspectives when they attended nal laws and judicial rules. It could to curb criminogenic behavior, are Don’t miss out on such broadening sion beyond their conventional and Harvard Law School. A brief men- mean not lobbying to block access reported weekly in the Corporate of your intellectual development often mythic portrayals. tion of a few advisories that might to courts, or pushing to contract the Crime Reporter (available in Har- because questions from such sub- 14. During the past two years, enhance your grasp of the meaning law of torts and distort the law of vard Law School’s great library). jects are not asked on bar exam- Harvard Law students published of legal education in addition to contracts by legislating or pressing 5. Why are there no courses inations. Know that bar exams are What Harvard Law Students Need legal training: for onerous restrictions. (The usual and seminars about lawlessness quite crammable with the help of to Know, and just last October, Pete 1. During the orientation meet- euphemisms are “tort reform” and – regarding runaway presidential result-directed cram courses. Davis 3L issued his challenging, ing in September 1955 with Dean mythical consents to “standard form actions, widespread violations of 10. Learn more about your profes- timely report. Our Bicentennial Cri- Erwin Griswold, he welcomed us contracts.” environmental, consumer, labor, sors. Knowing about their academic sis: A Call to Action for Harvard Law and promptly pronounced that we 3. Given Harvard Law School’s tax and civil rights laws, public cor- production, their accomplishments, Schools Public Interest Mission. The were right then members of the many clinics (there was only one in ruption of procurement contracts, their activism or lack thereof and, facts and conclusions might con- legal profession. I remembered say- 1955), there needs to be a deeper and the trampling of international importantly, their moonlighting structively startle you into public ing to myself, “What? On the first awareness of the distinction between law – to name a few sectors? The consultantships (reported to some interest law activity – that is, if you day?! Before we’ve passed the bar charity and justice. For example, taxonomy of systemic violations, of degree on http: //hls.harvard.edu/) have a proper estimate of your own and received our license to prac- soup kitchens are a necessary char- non-compliance, of fudged report- will enrich the quality both of class- significance over the next half cen- tice?!” A few days later, while try- ity in a society with widespread pov- ing and intricate artifices of escape room experience and your seeking tury. These publications are online ing to understand this remarkable erty. A just economy with livelihoods are demanding topics for any realis- advice from them. They will bene- at hlrecord.com, with print copies accolade to our class, there emerged for all would prevent the daily hun- tic curricula. fit from your informed feedback as available at the offices of the Har- the distinction between the roles of ger that flows from systemic impov- 6. Why not evaluate how corpo- well. They know that Harvard Law vard Law Record, which is your voice “lawyers” and “attorneys.” The attor- erishment. Charitable work by law- rations exercise their rule of power School’s declared mission statement on the law writ large. (See also Pub- neys “attorn” vigorously for their cli- yers is about immediate assistance, over the rule of law even during occa- is “to educate leaders who contribute lic Citizen Litigation Group’s book, ents, while lawyers, licensed or unli- while advancing justice is structural sional enforcement actions? Why not to the enhancement of justice and Courting Justice.) Should you wish censed, pursue the broader goals for work that foresees and forestalls dig deeper into how governments the well-being of society.” to delve deeper into the conduct of improving the administration of jus- the conditions that give rise to the run a criminal injustice system 11. Read some books and articles the legal profession itself, the latest tice. Our professional codes of eth- ever-growing need for charity. ranging from unwarranted arrests about what is going on in our politi- edition of Regulation of Lawyers by ics and conduct embrace both roles 4. Lawlessness is far more prev- to the courts and prisons? Lawless- cal, technological and economic sec- NYU Law Professor Stephen Gillers because all attorneys should spend alent, far more entrenched and far ness should be a high-priority focus tors. Such engagement will reduce is a robust read. some time also being lawyers, look- more above and beyond the unen- of the Law School’s curriculum. the tedium of coursework and reify 15. It is not too early to envision ing out for the big picture of a just forced rule of law. There are also 7. Large corporate law firms are for you the old Roman adage that the collective significance of your legal system. The Dean was saying the many laws enacted to provide not a subject of regular study. They “out of the fact comes the law.” Facts classmates once they become the that we were budding lawyers join- privileges and immunities for the are noticed mostly for their pay about greed and power or about vir- alumni classes of 2018, 2019 and ing a learned profession, with many few over the many up and down scales and their hospitality to law tues and democracy fuel professional 2020. It took our class of 1958 a privileges and a tradition of public the hierarchies of our society so students during annual recruit- enlightenment. That extracurricular while to do this; but when we started service. Unfortunately, I don’t ever grossly unequal in power, wealth ment periods. Yet they are the brain reading worked to get me interested the Appleseed Network (appleseed- recall a serious discussion in class and income. Corporate crimes, such trusts, the enablers, the protectors in unregulated auto design hazards network.org) in 1993 to establish about this duality of obligations. as massive billing fraud in the health of corporate power moving toward when I was a Harvard Law student. law and justice Centers in numerous 2. Even less attention was given to care industry continue year after ever more concentration and the 12. Passionately attach yourself states, we were the first alumni class our status as “officers of the court” year with disgracefully minimal overall maturation of the autocratic to some mission for more structural in American legal history to embark upon being admitted to the Bar. This enforcement. Professor Malcolm corporate state. Because most of you justice, to a cause with the civic on such extensive institution build- poorly defined, but unique quasi-of- Sparrow, of the Harvard Kennedy will be working at corporate firms, community while you are at law ing. You’re cordially invited to stand ficial role of all licensed attorneys School, author of License to Steal, it makes sense for you to know what school or from your clinical prac- on our shoulders. If the law is to should imply some special respon- while not in a position himself to you’re getting into. These law firms tice work. I was fortunate to venture mean anything, it must be the insti- sibilities. Former American Bar quantify fraud and abuse losses pre- are creating far more deep and into the civil rights arena during the tutional vanguard for a just soci- Association President (1973-1974), cisely, believes evidence suggests damaging injustice for our society, nineteen fifties when there were very ety. Replacing complicity with con- Chesterfield Smith took that status that losses due to overpayments fortifying perpetrators and more few women, African-Americans and science, you can be both its sentinels to require attorneys to comply with exceed ten percent of total health corporate supremacy than is offset other minorities at the law school. and its tribunes. Deconstructing the perpetual war machine How Democrats and Republicans keep us constantly engaged in conflict

By Leonard C. Goodman

I know it’s bad form to say any- of wars that can never end because thing positive about President Don- they are designed to spread violence ald Trump. But his decision to call off and chaos. Then later, more military a planned air strike against Iran last spending and war are required to month should be applauded. deal with the new dangers created by The decision was made, according the past wars. to the New York Times, with planes Under this dysfunctional system, already in the air and targets picked the main job of a commander in chief out. John Bolton, Trump’s national is to maintain enough conflict zones security adviser, urged the strike around the globe to keep the war to retaliate against Iran for shoot- machine funded to the tune of about ing down an American surveillance a trillion dollars annually. On June drone. The easy thing for Trump to 19, the Democratic-controlled House do would have been to let the gener- of Representatives passed a nearly $1 als blow things up and kill people. trillion appropriations bill, the vast Trump explained in a tweet majority of which was for defense thread that he canceled the planned funding. attack after being informed by a gen- Trump deserves credit for at least eral that roughly 150 people would acknowledging the influence of the die in the assault. He decided that for-profit war industry on his foreign the possible loss of life was “not . . . policy. “Don’t kid yourself,” Trump proportionate to shooting down an told Fox News, “you do have a military unmanned drone.” industrial complex. They do like war.” In the corporate press, there was As an example, why are we help- some recognition that Trump’s calcu- ing Saudi Arabia and its murderous lation might be correct—the downed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sal- drone was not worth 150 lives and a man fight its cruel and brutal war potential new war in the Mideast. Yet in Yemen, targeting civilians, bomb- the New York Times editorial board ing hospitals, factories, mosques, expressed concern with Trump’s schools, using starvation and dis- “chaotic decision-making process,” The perpetual war machine is a bipartisan creation, fed by Republicans and Democrats alike. ease as weapons of war? Trump will finding it “strange and disturbing” Credit: Maria Oswalt / Unsplash tell you why. We do it for the weap- that Trump would have considered ons contracts with the Saudis. But the “possible death toll only at the PR firm Hill & Knowlton. Corporate encourage mass rape, and that he by the fact that President Obama Obama, the president who got us last minute.” media sanitized its coverage of the was planning to massacre civilians used the AUMF 19 times to justify into the war in Yemen, while he also While I don’t endorse chaotic war, known as Desert Storm, almost in Benghazi. The NATO bombing new bombing campaigns in Paki- negotiated huge weapons contracts thinking about foreign policy, it is entirely ignoring the human cost. plunged Libya into a humanitarian stan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Soma- with the Saudis, never offered any worth recalling what normal-think- The campaign of lies and propa- disaster, killing thousands of people lia, all without any action by Con- coherent explanation. ing foreign policy looks like. Past ganda that got us into the second war and displacing hundreds of thou- gress. Obama even used the AUMF Accepting that you have a problem wars in the Mideast were profes- against Iraq in 2003 is well known. sands more, transforming Libya to justify the killing of a U.S. citizen, is the first step to changing course. sionally sold to the American people Besides false reporting about mobile from the African country with the Anwar al-Awlaki, in Yemen in Sep- Remember, Trump won the White with massive propaganda campaigns chemical weapons labs and ship- highest standard of living into a war- tember 2011. Then ten days later, House promising a noninterven- run through the press. Normal pres- ments of uranium from Africa, we torn failed state. another drone strike killed al-Awla- tionist foreign policy. “Look, I said I idents first dehumanize the enemy, were fed more reports of brutality, Today, Democrats are raising ki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman want to get out of these endless wars, then ignore civilian casualties. rape, and torture by Saddam’s sons questions about Trump’s authority al-Awlaki, also an American citizen. I campaigned on that, I want to get In 1990, when Iraqi troops led by Uday and Qusay. to bomb Iran without getting autho- No justification has ever been given out,” he told reporters in the Oval Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, a The two Iraq wars combined were rization from Congress. In response, for the attack on the boy. Office on June 20. Normal thinking PR campaign was launched to con- responsible for the deaths of hun- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo The perpetual war machine is a about foreign policy has produced a vince Americans to send our troops dreds of thousands of Iraqi troops says that Trump can use the 2001 bipartisan creation, fed by Republi- cycle of endless wars for corporate halfway around the world to defend and civilians, and thousands of AUMF—the Authorization for Use of cans and Democrats alike. It is the profit. Chaotic thinking may be what the oil-rich fiefdom. We were told American soldiers. Military Force passed after 9/11—as inevitable result of a capitalist sys- it takes to break that cycle. again and again about babies torn The same pattern was repeated in justification for a new war with Iran. tem that lets private companies profit from incubators by Iraqi soldiers. 2011 by the Obama administration Democrats dispute Trump’s read- from killing and war coupled with Leonard C. Goodman is a Chicago Years later, it was quietly reported to get us geared up for the NATO ing of the AUMF, which only autho- a political system that allows our criminal defense attorney and that the incubator story was a lie told war in Libya. There, the official lies rizes attacks against the terrorists national leaders to take campaign co-owner of the newly independent by a member of the Kuwaiti royal were that Muammar Gaddafi was who attacked us on September 11, checks from these same war mer- Chicago Reader. This piece originally family who’d been coached by the supplying his troops with Viagra to 2001. But their position is weakened chants. The result is a vicious cycle appeared in the Chicago Reader.