First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review

First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review By FOX BUTTERFIELD fercut ie The New Yet Tines BOSTON, Feb. 5— The Harvard Law Review, generally considered the most prestigious In the country, elected the first black president in its 104-year his- tory today. The Job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School. The new president of the Review is Barack Obama, a 28-year-old graduate of Columbia University who spent four years heading a community develop- ment program for poor blacks on Chi- cago's South Side before enrolling in law school. His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born In Hawaii. "The fact that I've been elected shows a lot of progress," Mr. Obama said today in an Interview. "It's en- couraging. "But it's important that stories like mine aren't used to say that everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remem- ber that for every one of me. there arc hundreds or thousands of black stu- dents with at least equal talent who don't get a chance." he said, alluding to poverty or growing up in a drug envi- ronment. What a Law Review Does Law reviews, which are edited by students, play a double role at law schools, providing a chance for stu- dents to improve their legal research and writing, and at the same time of- fering Judges and scholars a forum for new legal arguments. The Harvard Law Review is generally considered the most widely cited of the student law reviews. • On his goals in his new post. Mr. Obama said: "I personally am inter- ested in pushing a strong minority per- spective. I'm fairly opinionated about this. But as president of the law review. I have a limited role as only first among equals." Therefore, Mr. Obama said, he would concentrate on making the review a •'forum for debate," bringing in new writers and pushing for livelier. more accessible writing. The president of the law review usu- ally goes on to serve as a clerk for a Iudge on the Federal Court of Appeals 4 ' a The**. Vert tort hat POWs Barack Obama was eluted yes- terday as president of the Har- vard Law Review. He is the first black to hold the position. for a year, and then as a clerk for an as- sociate justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Obama said he planned to spend two or three years in private law prac- tice and then return to Chicago to re- enter community work, either in poli- ties or in local organising. Professors and students at the law school reacted cautiously to Mr Obama's selection. "For better or for worse, people will view it as fusion cally significant." said Prof. Randall Kennedy. who teaches contracts and race relations law But I hope tt won't overwhelm this individual student's achievement." Mr. Obama was elected after a meet • ing of the review's 80 editors that con- vened Sunday and lasted until early this morning, a participant said. Until the 1970's the editors were picked on the basis of grades, and the president of the Law Review was the student with the highest academic rank. Among these were Elliot L. Rich- ardson, the former Attorney General. and Irwin Griswold. a dean of the Har- vard Law School and Solicitor General under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. That system came und:•: attack in the 1970's and was replaced by a pro- gram in which about half the editors are chosen for their grades and the other half are chosen by fellow stu- dents after a special writing competi- tion. The new system, disputed when it began, was meant to help insure that minority students became editors of The Law Review. Harvard, like a number of other top law schools, no longer ranks its law stu- dents for any purpose including a guide to recruiters. Blacks at Harvard: New High Black enrollment at Harvard Law School, after a dip in the mid-1980's has reached a record high this year. said Joyce Curti, the director of admis. sions. Of the 1.620 students in the three- year school. 12.5 percent this year are blacks, she said. and 14 percent of the first•year class arc black Nationwide enrollment by blacks on undergraduate colleges has dropped in recent years Mr. Obama succeeds Peter Yu. a first-generation Chinese-American. a. president of The Law Review, After graduation. Mr Yu plans to serve .as clerk for Chief Judge Patricia Wald on the of the United States Court of All. peals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Yu said Mr. Obama's election ••was a choice on the merits, but others may read something into it ." The first female editor of The Har• yard Law Review was Susan Emrich. in 1977, who recently resigned as a pro- fessor at Harvard Law School to take a similar post at the University of South- ern California. Ms. Emrich was C.I111. paten manager for Gov. Michael S Dukakis of Massachusetts in his aunt paign for the Presidency it. EFTA01182223