Yale Law School

New podcast season:

For Season 6 of Navigating Law School Admissions, hosts Miriam Ingber (Yale) and Kristi Jobson (Harvard) recorded their year as admissions deans as it happened.

Episode 1 is out now.
https://on.soundcloud.com/V6KkEUDwrKmIsSAgu2

Skylar Albertson '18 never imagined when he was applying to law school that he would find a career and a home in the New Haven area. His plan was to return to the organization he had worked for after college and that sparked his interest in the law.

After a winding path, Albertson found his way to a plaintiff's law firm with offices in New Haven and Bridgeport. Almost immediately, he felt he was in the right place.

“All of the firm's work is very meaningful,” he said.

Albertson is one of four alums featured in the latest Yale Law Report who have built careers and lives in Connecticut.

Read their stories: https://lnkd.in/eqkttReV

The task now is to stop mourning the old world order and build the foundations of the new multipolar world, Professors Aslı Bâli and Samuel Moyn write in a Guardian commentary.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/29/us-decline-world-order-replacement

On the popular legal podcast Strict Scrutiny, Professor Judith Resnik delves into her book on how prisons became a problem for democracy. Host Melissa Murray '02 suggests how the concept behind the book's proposal to constrain punishment by prisons appears in constitutional law.
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/professor-judith-resniks-new-book-featured-podcast-melissa-murray-02

Americans can challenge the principles on which Supreme Court decisions rest. The birthright citizenship case demonstrates how deeply rooted that practice is, Professor Reva Siegel writes at Slate.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/07/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-backlash-frederick-douglass-american-history.html

As a nun, Sister Mary Ellen Burns '89 (at right in photo) cedes the choice of where to live and work to her superiors.

But New Haven has turned out to be a good fit for her work. In 2008, her religious order reevaluated its mission and decided to focus more on immigration.

Burns returned to New Haven to become the director of the nonprofit Apostle Immigrant Services and an immigration attorney. She found that the city's government has made welcoming immigrants an explicit commitment and priority.

“It's a good place to do what we're doing,” she said.

Burns is one of four alums featured in the latest Yale Law Report who have built careers and lives in Connecticut.

Read their stories: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/think-local-how-four-alumni-contribute-communities-connecticut

Professor James Q. Whitman has been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of his contributions to the fields of legal history and comparative law.
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/professor-james-whitman-elected-international-fellow-british-academy

For Cristina Rodríguez, becoming Yale Law School’s 18th dean is the culmination of a lifetime of work and learning.

Leading Yale Law School is the latest chapter in a story that has brought her from Texas to Yale to government service and back to Yale.

“Yale Law School made me the scholar that I am, and so to now have the chance to help shape this institution for new generations of students and future lawyers, leaders, and scholars is a real gift,” she said.

In the new Yale Law Report, Rodríguez shares her commitment to leading Yale Law School through an era of innovation and impact.

“My primary objective is to sustain Yale Law School as the vibrant intellectual and academic institution it has always been, but to push us all to think about the kind of law school we should be, given our present moment and the demands of the future,” she said.

Read more: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/meeting-moment

Growing up in New Haven, Andrew Giering '11 always had the dream of living in New York City. After graduating from Yale Law School, he got his wish.

But a few years later, Giering felt the pull of home. Now a federal public defender in the District of Connecticut, he is enthusiastic about where he lives.

“I love New Haven,” Giering said. “I'm a total fanboy and booster for it.”

Giering is one of four alums featured in the latest Yale Law Report who have built careers and lives in Connecticut.

Read their stories: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/think-local-how-four-alumni-contribute-communities-connecticut

What do states owe innocent civilians they kill in war? Often, under international law, nothing. A new paper by Professor Oona Hathaway and students proposes a different answer: compensation.

In their paper, Hathaway and co-authors Sarah Donilon '26 and Carter Squires '26 argue the moral case for what they call War Hazards Compensation for Civilians.

In this Q&A, Hathaway explains why making that case is a job for academics and shares why writing papers with students produces better scholarship.
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/professor-oona-hathaway-advocates-civilian-war-compensation-new-article