Law School Hires New Prof.

In a move that will bolster the minority ranks of the Law School faculty, Dean Robert C. Clark announced last week the appointment of Scott Brewer as assistant professor of law.

The appointment of Brewer, who is Black, raises the number of minority faculty members at the Law School to six out of 67.

A former editor in chief of the Yale Law Review, Brewer said that while at Harvard he will continue his research into the relationship between philosophy and the law.

"One of the central research programs I have been pursuing, and will continue to pursue, is the intersection of political and moral philosophy and the philosophy of language, and what those areas have to contribute to the understanding of legal reasoning and legal interpretation," Brewer said.

Brewer, who was a lecturer at the Law School last year, said yesterday he was "very excited about returning."

Brewer's appointment drew praise from some members of the Law School community, including Bussey Professor of Law Frank E.A. Sander, who said the selection is "especially welcome when we are trying to build up the number of minority teachers on the faculty."

And while the recently-elected President of the Harvard Law Review, Barack H. Obama, called the announcement an "encouraging sign," Tynia D. Richard, president of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, expressed reservations about the selection of a male Black professor.

"I think it's nice for the sake of diversity," Richard said. "However, there is the problem that the Law School has six Black male professors and no Black female professors."

But Brewer downplayed the importance of his race, saying he is "not planning any special [minority] perspective," with respect to his teaching or research.

Harvard Law professors praised Brewer's work in the law. "Scott Brewer has a very fine record and shows promise of being a very productive scholar," said Professor of Law Randall L. Kennedy. "I very much want look forward to having him as a colleague."

Holding a master's degree in philosophy from Yale University, Brewer earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1988, after working for more than seven years as a teaching fellow and visiting instructor at several Ivy League schools, including Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth.

Currently clerking for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Brewer will join the Harvard faculty in 1991 after working as a clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court this summer.