Inside Yale Law School with Dean Heather K. Gerken

Professor Stephen Carter discusses the delight he still finds in teaching after 40 years. A prolific writer, Carter also shares his approach to writing fiction and nonfiction and reflects on lessons learned while clerking for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Episode webpage and transcript: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/podcast-professor-stephen-carter-still-writing-his-story

Clinical Professor Muneer Ahmad explains why students are indispensable to the work of the Law School’s clinics. He discusses the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, including the extraordinary 24-hour period in which the clinic won a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban.

Episode website and transcript.

Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh’s family history is deeply intertwined with Yale Law School. For our bicentennial in 2024, Koh shares his family’s story and reflects on his tenure as Dean from 2004 to 2009, including his work to broaden the school’s focus to make Yale a global law school.

Episode website and transcript.

For Yale Law School’s bicentennial in 2024, Sterling Professor of Law Robert Post ’77 reflects on his tenure as Dean from 2009 to 2017. He also discusses his 35-year quest to write the definitive history of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice William Howard Taft.

Episode website and transcript.

For Yale Law School’s bicentennial in 2024, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Guido Calabresi ’58 reflects on his tenure as Dean from 1985 to 1994. He discusses his work to restore the law school building to its former glory and start the law school’s first loan forgiveness program.

Episode webpage and transcript: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/podcast-even-91-students-are-everything-guido-calabresi

Professor Amy Kapczynski discusses her work on global health and justice issues and explains how intellectual property law can improve access to lifesaving AIDS drugs. She also shares lessons learned from the COVID pandemic and her love of teaching.

Episode website and transcript.

Professor James Forman Jr. discusses his criminal justice work and his Pulitzer-Prize winning book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. He also describes the Law School Access Program, an innovative pipeline program for people from the New Haven area who are underrepresented in the law.

Episode webpage and transcript: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/podcast-professor-james-forman-jr-taking-action-starts-close-home

Professor Monica Bell discusses her research at the intersection of law and sociology including her work on legal estrangement, which seeks to understand why people and groups feel excluded in relationships to governmental institutions, including the police.

Episode webpage and transcript: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/podcast-professor-monica-c-bell-makes-case-lawsociology

Professor Mike Wishnie discusses the Veterans Legal Services Clinic’s litigation challenging long-standing racial disparities in the VA’s administration of veterans’ benefits. He also describes the clinic’s suit seeking disclosure of records documenting toxic conditions at the K2 Air Base in Uzbekistan.

Episode website and transcript

Professor Oona Hathaway discusses her work on Ukraine, what’s at stake in efforts to make international law more transparent, and the joy of co-authoring articles with students.