"Harvard did itself proud during the period," Gerken says. "They basically produced extraordinarily powerful briefs under a very limited time period."

Tribe was the most visible HLS professor in the controversy. As lead counsel, Tribe argued Al Gore '69's case in front of the Supreme Court. Tribe says he is also planning to write two books on the election.

"We will not stop discussing and analyzing this anytime soon," he says.

Elhauge, who says he pulled his first all-nighter since college during the period, called the legal battles "extremely exciting" and "terrific fun."

"It was an epic historical issue and the short time frame made it even more interesting," he says. "In some cases we had to produce briefs in 24 hours."

Elhauge and Tribe downplay their own role and the role of HLS in the election.

"I don't think I affected the outcome in any significant way at all," Tribe says. "Harvard had its share of oars in the water," he says. "But I don't think we changed the direction of the boat."