School Notes: Yale Law School
May/June 2010

Supreme Court justice speaks at Law School

The Honorable Stephen Breyer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was at Yale Law School in February for a two-day discussion on “Making the Constitution Work: A Supreme Court Justice’s View.” Justice Breyer’s first talk, introduced by President Richard Levin, was titled “History: Challenges the Court Has Faced.” For his second lecture, “Future: Will the People Follow the Court?” the justice was hosted by Law School dean Robert Post ’77JD and introduced by Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law Paul Gewirtz ’70JD. “This is an extraordinary event,” said Dean Post. “It is extremely unusual for a sitting justice to give formal lectures to an audience, and it is a tremendous honor for Yale.”

Professors receive new appointments

Yale Law professor Douglas Kysar has been named the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law. Kysar joined Yale Law School in 2008, after having taught at Cornell University Law School for seven years. A leading scholar in the area of environmental law, he also teaches Torts and Law & Globalization. He has published numerous articles and several books, including Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental Law and the Search for Objectivity;Economics of Environmental Law; and The Torts Process. He earned a BA in philosophy summa cum laude from Indiana University in 1995 and a JD magna cum laude in 1998 from Harvard Law School.

John Fabian Witt ’94, ’99JD, ’00PhD, has been named the Allen Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law. A renowned legal historian, Witt joined Yale Law School in 2009. He previously taught at Columbia Law School for eight years and is the author of widely acclaimed work in the history of American law and in torts. His books include Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law, and the forthcoming Lincoln’s Code: War and Humanity in America.

YLS students assist small Pacific islands

Small-island populations in the Pacific concerned about the potentially devastating effects of climate change are getting help from members of Yale’s Environmental Protection Clinic. The clinic, made up of law and forestry students, has teamed up with Islands First, an organization assisting the small islands in their push for action to address the climate change crisis. A small group of clinic students went to the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, where they worked closely with several island delegations, doing research, attending meetings, and providing the legal expertise and manpower that the understaffed delegations sorely needed. Dean Robert Post, who hopes to expand such activities at Yale Law School in the future, said, “Our collaboration with Islands First will provide our students with the experience of working on one of the most important issues of our time in the service of a client who is a major player on the world stage. It will prove outstanding preparation for effective public advocacy in the environmental area.” Professor Doug Kysar, who teaches a class on the Law of Climate Change, said the Law School is fortunate to have a dean who recognizes the growing significance of these kinds of opportunities. “If our goal is to train the next generation of thought leaders and change agents to take the global stage,” said Kysar, “then the problem of climate change is the ultimate drama for them to study.”