High Table Symposium

One of the central features of the LL.M. program is the “High Table” luncheon series, which is held approximately monthly during the academic year. High Table is a luncheon discussion attended by LL.M. faculty and required for LL.M. students, based on presentations by practitioners from the public and private sectors and visiting legal scholars. Some of our recent guests are listed below.

Some of our High Table guests have also been invited to offer Fletcher-wide speeches under the auspices of the distinguished Charles Francis Adams Lecture Series.  These have included H.E. Hisashi Owada, then President of the International Court of Justice; Nobel Laureate Dr. Mohamed Elbaradei; and H.E. Joseph Deiss, President of the 65th Session of the U.N. General Assembly.


Below are examples of discussions led by legal experts who have visited the LL.M. program as guests of our High Table series in previous years.

 

Jay P. Stephens, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Raytheon Jay P. Stephens, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Raytheon, visited the LL.M. Program’s High Table in April of 2009, and shared his experiences working as general counsel to a multibillion-dollar international corporation.
Professor of International Humanitarian Studies and Academic Dean at the Fletcher School, Peter Uvin, spoke on his recent book, “Silence and Dialogue: Burundians’ Alternatives to Transitional Justice”, March 2009.
Karl Kaiser, Director of Transatlantic Relations Program at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Adjunct Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, was our guest at High Table in February 2009. Pictured from left: Professor Karl Kaiser, Harvard; Professor Antonia Chayes, Fletcher; Professor Michael Glennon, Fletcher.
Hauwa Ibrahim, noted Nigerian human rights lawyer and Radcliffe Institute Fellow at Harvard University, spoke to LL.M. students on protecting women’s rights before Sharia courts, February 2009.
Dr. Jamshed Bharucha, Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University, lectured on “The Implications of Neuroscience for the Law”, January 2009.

 Hon. Robert J. Cordy, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, addressed the LL.M. students on the role of the SJC and State Supreme Courts in he development of U.S. law, December 2008.
John Reilly John Rielly (on right), Northwestern University, former President of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy Assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Speaks on “The Foreign Policy of the Next American Administration”, October 2008.
Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Mass), April 2008 Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Mass), April 2008
Professor Thomas Franck Speaks on the Role of Evidence in the Global Security System 
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Mitchell Reiss, Head, State Department Policy Planning Staff on Man, the State, and War: US Defense Policy in the 21st Century
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Luzius Wildhaber, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Speaks on the Value of Institutions Upholding the Rule of Law
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Former Kennedy Adviser Ted Sorensen Hits Bush Administration for "Incompetence and Shortsightedness"
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Daniel Taub Daniel Taub, Principal Deputy Legal Advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited Fletcher at the behest of the LL.M. program to discuss “The Role of International Law in the Middle East Peace Process.” He has served as a member of Israel’s negotiating teams with Syria and the Palestinians, and currently serves as head of the Israeli side of the Israeli-Palestinian Culture of Peace negotiations.
Abdalla Baali The LLM Program welcomed H.E. Ambassador Abdalla Baali, Algerian Ambassador to the United States, whose extensive twenty-year career has also included serving as Ambassador to the U.N., as well as to Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and Brunei Darussalam. The Ambassador’s speech discussed whether the U.N. Security Council could solve international conflicts, using the case of Western Sahara as an example, and was followed by a reception with students and faculty.