“This is Neil Chayet Looking at the Law.”
That was how Neil Chayet (HLS 63’) began each of the more than 10,000 recordings he made for his radio program “Looking at the Law,” which he recorded almost daily from 1976 to 2017. The Harvard Law School Library is pleased to announce that nearly all of these episodes are now available online and open for use.
The Neil Chayet collection of audio and transcripts from “Looking at the Law” allows users to listen to the shows, as well as read the transcripts. In one or two minute segments Chayet would summarize court cases from around the country. He tended to be more interested in obscure or quirky cases rather than those more widely known. It was likely his ability to make any case accessible to a general listener combined with a good sense of humor that resulted in the shows enduring popularity.
Examples of the show include:
- 1991, episode 2843: “Man Took Dominos Pizza to Court over Their “No Beard” policy”(Langston BRADLEY, Appellant, v.PIZZACO OF NEBRASKA, INC. d/b/a Domino’s Pizza, and Domino’sPizza, Inc., Appellees.)
- 1987, episode 168: “What Happens When You Give a Newspaper Reporter a Tip on Condition he never Uses your Name and the Next Day You Read All about it.”(Cohen v. Minneapolis Star, et al.)
Want to learn more about Cohen v. Minneapolis Star, et al? Take a look at HLS alumnus Elliot C. Rothenberg’s case files from Cohen v. Cowles Media Company collection. Rothenberg represented Cohen from February 1986 until it was heard by the Supreme Court in March 1991.
Digitization of the original cassettes is ongoing. Audio for shows broadcast between 1976 and 1995 are available now, as are digitized transcripts from 1975 to 1989. The entire collection should be available by early summer 2019.
Please direct any question to Historical & Special Collections.
Thank you for your kind comments, Ed, and for all your great work with the Cohen v. Cowles Media Company collection.