Law School alumni to convene in Paris

Hundreds of Harvard Law School alumni will convene in Paris later this month to take part in the school’s second Worldwide Alumni Congress – an international gathering of the Law School community featuring both intellectual and social activities.

For four days, alumni from throughout the United States, Asia, South America, and Europe will attend lectures and panel discussions hosted by Law School faculty at the Le Grande Inter-Continental Hotel. Alumni will also attend a private reception and tour of the Louvre Museum, a dinner cruise on the Seine, and a walking tour of Paris – complete with a champagne reception in the Eiffel Tour observation room.

“Our gathering in the City of Light will offer us spectacular opportunities to engage in the social and cultural activities that have made Paris so famous,” wrote Dean Robert C. Clark in a letter inviting alumni to attend. “At the same time, our sessions about academic developments and programs, which will be led by members of the Harvard Law School faculty, should educate and challenge you.”

During the Alumni Congress, Clark will lead a “town meeting” to discuss the Law School’s recently completed strategic planning process. The meeting will be the latest in a series of alumni discussions about the future of the Law School, and will include particular emphasis on the school’s commitment to international teaching and research. Similar alumni town meetings have already been held in Cambridge, San Francisco, and New York.

Faculty-led panel discussions will cover a wide range of topics, including international tax and finance, East Asian legal studies, and European and Islamic law. Included among the 15 faculty members attending are international legal experts Anne-Marie Slaughter, Frank Vogel, Mary Ann Glendon, William Alford, Howell Jackson, and Henry Steiner, who is also director of the Law School’s Human Rights Program.

The Paris event is the Law School’s second major international gathering. In 1998, more than 400 alumni met in Rome for the first Worldwide Alumni Congress. In addition to the academic sessions and social activities, a highlight of the Rome Alumni Congress was a meeting with Pope John Paul II.

Robert Shapiro, the president of the Harvard Law School Association and a member of the class of 1978, was instrumental in putting together the Paris Alumni Congress. Jacques Salés, a 1967 Law School graduate, will chair the event.