School Notes: Yale Law School
May/June 2011

Professor named to Connecticut government post

Yale Law School professor Daniel C. Esty '86JD was named by Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy as commissioner of the state’s newly consolidated Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Governor Malloy made the announcement on February 10, saying, "I am glad that Dan Esty has agreed to accept this challenge. … His experience advising private companies and the president of the United States, coupled with his knowledge of environmental law and policy, is second-to-none, and I know this new department will be on the cutting edge of environmental and energy policy with Dan at the helm." The new department will combine Connecticut's widely dispersed energy functions, including the Department of Public Utility Control, with the Department of Environmental Protection to allow for a more effective coordination of state energy and environmental policies. Esty is the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale; he also directs the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale.

White House calls on professor’s expertise

President Obama held a 75-minute meeting with Professor Paul Gewirtz '70JD in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 14 in advance of the summit meeting between Obama and China’s president Hu Jintao on January 19. Gewirtz, the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and director of the China Law Center, was one of five people invited to confer with the president on human rights and other reforms in China and to offer advice for the summit. Gewirtz called the invitation "an extraordinary honor," adding, "The U.S.-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world today, and getting that relationship right is crucial for both countries and for the rest of the world."

Colloquium examines cooperation and disagreement in pursuit of social justice

The 14th annual Arthur Liman Colloquium, "Collaboration, Cooperation, and Confrontation: (En)Countering Disagreement in Pursuit of Social Justice," was held at Yale Law School March 3–4. Current and former members of the executive and legislative branches joined advocates to examine their respective roles in serving the public interest. Topics included enabling access to justice, responding to environmental disasters, facilitating or discouraging migration, and encounters with the criminal justice system. The event began March 3 with a panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges of government service. Additional panels on March 4 addressed such topics as Accessing Racial and Environmental Justice: From Katrina to BP; Crossing Boundaries: Immigrants and Local, State, and Federal Governments; Governing the Police and Policing Reentry; and Correcting Corrections.