It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Clinical Instructor Stephan Sonnenberg  ’06, who has been with HNMCP since its earliest days. As his second term as Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law comes to a close, Sonnenberg prepares to move to Palo Alto, CA to build  the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic at Stanford University with Jim Cavallaro, former Clinical Professor and Executive Director of the Human Rights Program at HLS. While at HNMCP, Sonnenberg led eighteen clinical projects that took him and his students to such far-ranging places as Nigeria, Bulgaria, the Thailand/Burma border, and China. He has just finalized a white paper summarizing two-semester long projects he supervised with Hewlett Packard and the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. “Stephan has been a tremendous asset to the Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, bringing creativity to the projects and a deep dedication to the students. We will miss his boundless good humor and all that he has done for HLS,” noted Lisa Dealy, Assistant Dean of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. HNMCP Director Bob Bordone ’97 observed that, “So much of what HNMCP is today is because of Stephan’s diligence, hard work, and devotion to his students and this program.  I know he will do great things at Stanford and I am confident that we will continue to reap the fruits of his good work at Harvard for years to come.” In addition to teaching the Negotiation Workshop and Clinic-related seminars, he also co-taught a clinical seminar on Civilian Protection During Times of Armed Conflict that brought together students from both HNMCP and the Human Rights Clinic. Sonnenberg’s focus is the intersection of conflict resolution with the promotion of human rights, and he is excited to bring his clinical experience at HNMCP to bear in this arena at Stanford. “I will certainly miss HNMCP,” says Sonnenberg, “which I have seen evolve from being a place with a lot of enthusiasm and a great vision into a place where that vision has become the daily reality; a place where HLS students regularly get top-level support and mentoring as they carry out what I consider to be some of the most exciting dispute management projects anywhere when it comes to clinical legal education.”

 

HNMCP has undergone tremendous growth since its founding almost five years ago and 2011 will see another exciting new stage in the clinic’s expansion as we welcome Rory Van Loo  ’07 in the newly created position of Assistant Director. Rory Van Loo comes to HNMCP most recently from Washington, D.C. where he has been assisting Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren to set up the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prior to this, Van Loo worked at the global management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, managing associates and client relationships—including a task force of Fortune 500 CEOs—and helping senior management redesign their organizations. During his time as a student at HLS, Van Loo served as a teaching assistant for both the Negotiation Workshop and for the Harvard Negotiation Institute and for the past three years has lectured and facilitated negotiation exercises for graduate students at the ESSEC Business School in Paris. He has published in the Harvard Law Review, the Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Albany Law Review, among other publications. He graduated magna cum laude from Pomona College with a degree in Science, Technology, and Society and spent a year as a Fellow with the Thomas J. Watson Foundation before earning his JD magna cum laude from HLS. Van Loo will co-teach a new course—Advanced Negotiation: Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Special Dispute Management Processes—with Prof. Bordone in the fall semester and will teach the Dispute Systems Design in the spring semester. He will also work on expanding the clinic’s engagement in areas of mediation. “I’m looking forward to welcoming Rory as Assistant Director. He will be an excellent addition to the Clinic as it continues to grow and develop,” remarked Lisa Dealy, Assistant Dean for Clinical and Pro Bono Programs at HLS. “I’m grateful that we were able to persuade Rory to join us at HNMCP.  His tremendous analytical firepower, his highly-refined emotional intelligence, his deep experience as a manager, and his sterling quality of character will provide inspiration and leadership to both our students and to those of us who work with him on the HNMCP team.”

 

HNMCP also welcomes Chad Carr  ’06 as its newest Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law. Carr has been actively involved in the field of dispute resolution, both personally and professionally, since law school. He has taught ADR as a visiting professor at the University of Oregon Law School, the Vermont Law School, and as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has served on the board of the of the Community Dispute Settlement Center in Cambridge, Mass., where he chaired the Youth and School strategic planning committee and developed a targeted plan for implementing a curriculum focused on empowering youth with these skills. In addition, Carr spent three years at Ropes & Gray, LLP in Boston, assisting large corporations to structure major transactions, including debt financing, acquisitions, and fund formations. Most recently Carr worked as a research associate at the Harvard Business School where he wrote cases, articles, and technical notes. Recent publications include “Remedies for Patent Infringement Under U.S. Law,” “The Profession of the Law,” and “Law, Legal Systems and the Rule of Law.” Carr received his JD from Harvard Law School in 2006 and his BA in economics from the College of William and Mary, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In his free time he tutors inner-city high school students and races with the Cambridge Running Club. Carr will supervise two clinical projects each semester, as well as serve on the teaching team for the Law School’s intensive Spring Negotiation Workshop. In the Fall of 2012, Carr expects to teach his own Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Seminar. “I’m delighted that Chad will be returning to Harvard to work in the Negotiation & Mediation Clinic,” commented Prof. Robert Bordone, Director of HNMCP. “At both Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Oregon, Chad was a beloved teacher and mentor. His passion for teaching and his commitment to students combined with his deep understanding of negotiation and mediation make him the perfect addition to our team. I look forward to collaborating with him to strengthen our clinical program in the years ahead.”