‘The really interesting stuff is going to begin when the precedent runs out’

Professor Benjamin I. Sachs is this year’s winner of the prestigious Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence, an honor bestowed each spring by the Harvard Law School graduating class. The award recognizes teaching ability, attentiveness to student concerns and general contributions to student life at the law school.

A specialist in labor and workplace law, Sachs joined the Harvard Law School faculty in 2008 as an assistant professor. He received tenure last year.

In a nomination for this award, one student from the Class of 2013 described Sachs as someone who “loves to teach” and whose “discussions challenge students to question themselves and their peers while exploring legal concepts that shape our world. … There is no more generous or thoughtful member of our community.”

In preparing his speech, Sachs told the audience that he had done what lawyers are trained to do: he looked to “relevant precedent.” But he advised the members of the Class of 2013 that they are “graduating into a world where the following of precedent will not be enough. …  There are big league crises out there and the people who have come before you do not know how to solve them.”

Read more on the Harvard Law School website.