Law School library receives rare book collection
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York recently transferred
approximately 1,400 books on Roman law from its rare book collection to the Law
School's Lillian Goldman Library. With books bearing pigskin covers, stamped
arabesques, and original clasps, the collection includes books from medieval
authors and early works from Germany and Italy. The oldest of the books dates
to AD 1500. Highlights of the donated collection include a 30-volume set of the
decisions of the Roman Rota, the canon law court of Rome. According to
librarian Blair Kaufman, though the newly donated books are now being restored,
preserved, and catalogued by library staff, they soon will be made available to
interested researchers, students, and faculty members.
Judges gather for global constitutionalism seminar
Supreme Court and constitutional court judges from around the world
gathered at the Law School to take part in the tenth annual Global
Constitutionalism Seminar this fall. The judges met for four days in September
in a seminar-style setting to discuss topics such as national law and customary
international law, the role of judicial review, democratic constitutionalism,
and political parties and democratic pluralism. The Global Constitutionalism
Seminar is one of the Law School's signature international programs and has
been heralded as an important forum in which leading jurists can confidentially
and freely discuss the most important current legal issues with leading
academic lawyers. This year's participants included judges from Australia,
Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, South Africa, the
United Kingdom, and the United States.
Supreme Court advocacy clinic
This past semester marked the advent of the Yale Law School Supreme
Court Advocacy Clinic. The clinic's goal is two-fold: it offers students
instruction in Supreme Court advocacy and supplies clients with legal
representation. The clinic combines classroom instruction about the court -- its
history, role, practices, and rules -- with hands-on involvement in
litigation projects. Working under the supervision of experienced Supreme Court
litigators, students have been drafting petitions for writs of certiorari,
writing merits briefs in granted cases, and representing amici curiae. At least
once during the year students will visit the court to watch an argument in a
case they have worked on or studied. In addition to representing clients, the
clinic is planning to host regular speakers at the Law School.
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