Featuring Vice Dean and Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, Rachel Barkow and her book, Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration (Harvard/Belknap 2019). Professor Barkow also serves as the Faculty Director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013-2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. Since 2010, she has also been a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel.

The New England Law Review hosted Attorney Alec Karakatsanis, the Founder and Director of Civil Rights Corps, as the featured speaker for our Fall 2020 Symposium, where Attorney Karakatsanis discussed the arguments set forth in his recent book, Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System.

The New England Law Review hosted a symposium regarding Boston College Professor Kent Greenfield’s book Corporations Are People Too (And They Should Act Like It). The panelists discussed the role of corporations in American society and their claims to constitutional rights. In his book, Professor Greenfield suggests that ending corporate personhood is not the solution since it is consistent with the purpose of corporations and the Consitution itself that corporations can claim rights at least some of the time.

The New England Law Review hosted a symposium regarding state constitutions and how their informal and formal amendments interact. The panelists discussed the findings of Professor Jonathan L. Marshfield in his forthcoming article entitled Courts and Informal Constitutional Change in the States set to be published in Volume 51, Issue 3 of the New England Law Review.

The New England Law Review’s 2014 Book Symposium, “A Look Back at the History of Capital Punishment,” spotlighted the New York Times reviewed A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America by Professor Evan J. Mandery. A Wild Justiceanalyzes the implications of Furman v. Georgia and gives an in-depth, behind-the-scenes view of this historic moment in U.S. legal history.

On Monday, March 18, 2013, The New England Law Review hosted a discussion of Professor Stuart P. Green’s book, 13 Ways to Steal a Bicycle: Theft Law in the Information Age. In 13 Ways to Steal a Bicycle, Professor Green assessed our current legal framework in the context of an economy that increasingly commodifies intangibles and at a time when the means of committing theft and fraud grow ever more sophisticated.

State court systems in America are facing deep challenges. Many civil and criminal matters remain idle for years before a judicial resolution is reached. Budgets are strained, impacting the administration of justice. In the face of this crisis, the New England Law Review sought to provide a forum in which to consider these issues and highlight viable solutions, with input from experts from various sectors of the legal community.

Professor Brandon L. Garrett discussed his book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, which analyzes the first 250 criminal convictions overturned on the basis of DNA evidence. Professor Garrett was joined by the Honorable Robert J. Cordy and the Honorable Nancy Gertner, who discussed the judiciary’s role in responding to the critical problem that wrongful conviction poses to our criminal justice system. Gretchen Bennett, executive director of the New England Innocence Project, discussed the Massachusetts General Court’s recent passage of SB 1987, which guarantees defendants post-conviction access to forensic and scientific analysis.

On October 20, 2011, the New England Law Review hosted its annual symposium entitled “On the Table: An Examination of Medical Malpractice, Litigation, and Methods of Reform.” The 2011 symposium featured speakers from across the country discussing the crisis of healthcare costs and ideas for how to reduce the high occurrence of medical error. Additionally, the panelists examined innovative ideas for redressing plaintiffs’ injuries after negligent medical errors occur.

On March 10, 2011, the New England Law Review hosted a lecture with Professor Robert F. Williams of Rutgers School of Law | Camden. Professor Williams is a renowned scholar in the area of state constitutional law and is the associate director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers. He joined the students and audience at NEL|B to discuss his publication, The Law of American State Constitutions.