School Notes: Yale Law School
July/August 2007

Supreme Court justice presides at moot court finals

U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito ’75JD was one of three distinguished judges presiding over the finals of the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals on May 7. Judges Rosemary Barkett of the 11th Circuit and Rosemary S. Pooler of the 2nd Circuit joined Alito in listening to an impressive panel of law students argue Rahmani v. United States, which addressed whether the government may, consistent with the First Amendment, prosecute persons for supporting groups it has designated "foreign terrorist organizations" without allowing them to dispute those designations.

Arguing for the petitioner, Roya Rahmani, were Anna Manasco Dionne ’08JD and Krishanti Vignarajah ’08JD. Representing the respondent, the United States of America, were Bryan Caforio ’08JD and Jon Donenberg ’08JD. After a brief deliberation, the judges awarded the Potter Stewart Prize for best overall argument to the petitioners, Dionne and Vignarajah. They declared the Thurman Arnold Prize for best oralist to be a tie between Dionne and Vignarajah. "We could not be more impressed by the quality of the oral arguments heard this afternoon," Alito said.

Two YLS professors, alumni elected to American Academy

Southmayd Professor of Law Akhil Reed Amar ’80, ’84JD, and Augustus E. Lines Professor of Law Henry B. Hansmann ’74JD, ’78PhD, have been elected Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Amar, who joined the Yale faculty in 1985, teaches constitutional law at both Yale College and Yale Law School. He is co-editor of a leading constitutional law casebook, Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking, and author of several books, including, most recently, America's Constitution: A Biography. Hansmann has focused his scholarship principally on the law and economics of organizational ownership and structure and has dealt with business corporations as well as nonprofits, mutuals, cooperatives, condominiums, trusts, and partnerships. He has also written on other aspects of basic legal relationships, with particular attention to property rights.

Three other Yale Law School alumni -- Stanford law professor Pamela S. Karlan ’80BA, ’84JD; John F. Kennedy Library Foundation CEO John Shattuck ’70LLB; and NYU law professor Richard L. Revesz ’83JD -- were also elected this year.

Survivor winner visits Law School

"How I Survived Survivor and Other Professional Challenges" was the title of a talk given by Yul Kwon ’00JD in April at the Law School. Kwon earned $1 million when he won the CBS reality show Survivor: Cook Islands in December 2006.

Though he was initially disturbed to learn competing Survivor teams would be divided along racial and ethnic lines, Kwon persevered, saying he wanted to challenge the racial stereotypes he experienced growing up and present a positive image of the Asian-American man. He said he was determined to compete fairly, relying on mutual trust and cooperation among team members rather than backstabbing. Kwon urged Yale Law School students to "think outside the box" and not be afraid to take risks.

Amy Chua delivers Duff inaugural lecture

On April 9, Professor Amy Chua delivered her inaugural lecture as John M. Duff Jr. Professor of Law. In a talk titled "Empire and Tolerance: The Rise and Fall of World Dominant Powers," Chua discussed her thesis that what connects history's hyperpowers is a remarkable pattern of tolerance and pluralism.

Chua joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2001 after teaching at Duke, Columbia, Stanford, and New York University. Her expertise is in the areas of contracts, law and development, international business transactions, and law and globalization. She received Yale Law School's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003. She is author of the 2002 New York Times bestseller, World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability. Her newest book, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance -- and Why They Fall, will be released in October 2007.