Toby’s blog

In our continued effort to track down recent alumni across the country, we got in touch with Charlotte Sanders ‘05. A Skadden Fellow and Legal Aid Bureau alumna, Charlotte now works in the Farmworker Division of Georgia Legal Services where she represents low-income migrant farmworkers.

Tell me a little bit about your career path since leaving HLS.

I graduated from HLS in 2005, after which I clerked for a year for the Honorable Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts. Following my clerkship, I was awarded a Skadden Fellowship to work for two years at the Farmworker Division of Georgia Legal Services, where I had interned during my 1L summer at HLS. The Farmworker Division provides legal representation to low income migrant farmworkers, most of whom migrate each year from Mexico to hand-harvest the many tons of fruits and vegetables grown on Georgia’s farms. Many of these workers are not paid the federal minimum wage or the wage guaranteed by their employment contracts, and the Farmworker Division brings lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act and contract law to recover these workers’ lost wages.

In addition to these minimum wage lawsuits, through my Skadden Fellowship, I focus on the issue of retaliation. Many workers lose their jobs, are “blacklisted,” or are not invited to return to a farm in future seasons in retaliation for complaining about unlawful wages and working conditions. I represent these workers in retaliation suits, seeking their lost wages, liquidated damages, and injunctive relief such as rehire. I also work with my colleagues in the Farmworker Division to develop strategies for protecting workers’ identities earlier in the process, before retaliation can take place.

How did you become interested in employment law?

I first became interested in employment law as a result of my job between college and law school as a paralegal at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs in the Equal Employment Opportunity Project. There, I became familiar with the laws that protect employees from harassment and discrimination in the workplace. During law school, through my coursework and my work at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, I became interested in other aspects of employment law, particularly the Fair Labor Standards Act. I saw the potential for FLSA lawsuits to be used as a tool by low income workers to vindicate their basic employment rights, and saw the disproportionate impact of wage violations on immigrant workers. These interests led me to intern at the Farmworker Division in Georgia during my 1L summer, to split my second summer between the Atlanta Regional Office of MALDEF and the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Florida and Mexico, and to apply for a Skadden Fellowship to continue to work on these issues after I graduated.

What activities were you involved in at HLS that honed your interests?

At HLS, my primary activity - - other than classes - - was the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. As a member of the Bureau during my 2L and 3L years, I had the chance to represent clients under the supervision of a clinical instructor. I interviewed clients, performed legal research, conducted fact investigations, wrote motions and briefs, appeared in court, and participated in settlement negotiations. All of these experiences allowed me to begin “lawyering” while I was still in law school.

The Bureau, and particularly the supervision and seminars associated with my clinical work, also provided a chance for me to reflect on the difficulties inherent in legal services lawyering. What does it mean to represent “the whole client?” What happens when a public interest organization’s institutional goals conflict with the goals of a client? What is the best way to address a client’s complex tangle of problems with a lawyer’s tools? My exposure at the Bureau to questions such as these prepared me well for the tough, yet tremendously rewarding, job of a legal services lawyer.

Having been out in the world of public interest now for a few years, what would you tell someone interested in following a similar path?

For law students who have a sense of the area or type of law they’d like to practice, my recommendation is to use law school to get a “head start” on their career. Pursue clinical work and externships while in Cambridge, and get to know the professors on the faculty whose research agendas fit with their interests. Also, with OPIA’s help, use the 1L and 2L summers to explore policy jobs, legal services work, and organizations that specialize in impact litigation. Though all of these jobs might focus on the same issue-area, the work of a legal services lawyer is very different from a policy adviser, for example, and the summers are a chance to learn about and evaluate these differences.

For law students whose interests are not so honed, I suggest taking full advantage of the tremendous advising resources available at HLS. The OPIA staff are experts in helping students find their “dream job,” and the network of HLS alums are ready to provide advice, referrals, and even actual employment. In either scenario, HLS is an excellent place to prepare for a career in the public interest.

(Toby’s note: new HLS assistant professor Benjamin Sachs is someone to look up if you’re interested in employment law)

As the saying goes, “Rise above the storm and you will find sunshine.” Boston weather jokes aside, the end of 1L year is definitely cause for celebration. Over the course of this past academic year, I checked in periodically with 1L (now, 2L) Laura Kleinman to see how she was adjusting to life at HLS. Here’s a look back to then and now.

Now that your first year at HLS is over, what were your expectations going in last fall? How did those expectations compare with reality?

Last fall, I knew that this would be the most rigorous and rewarding experience of my academic life. But I never expected that HLS would provide me with such a solid community of invested teachers, dedicated staff, supportive classmates, and inspiring friends. HLS exceeded all my expectations and opened my eyes to what it means to provide a truly unparalleled legal education.

What activities did you get involved in this year and how did they figure into your 1L experience?

First semester, I joined the Harvard Human Rights Journal, to which I only devoted several days over the course of the year. I actually had trouble finding extra-curricular activities in which I wanted to invest in a meaningful way. But when the application for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau came out, I spent my spring break pouring over every word of it, in the hopes that I would be able to spend the next two years devoting my time and energy to providing free legal services to low- or no-income individuals in the Boston community.
Now a member of the Bureau, I am eager to return to HLS as a 2L and begin my career in public interest law.

What was the most rewarding thing about 1L year? What was hardest?

The most rewarding and hardest aspect of this year was the learning in a Socratic environment—feeling intellectually exposed while simultaneously gaining newfound confidence to ask questions or share my opinion a room of 80 of the smartest kids I have ever met.

What do you know now about law school that you wish you had known last August?

Everyone has a different learning style, but for some reason, being in law school makes all of us feel like we have to learn the same way—briefing cases, outlining classes, participating in study groups—for fear of being left behind. Inevitably, these methods are unhelpful for some people.

What advice would you give to new1Ls?

Every 1L experiences moments in which law school feels unmanageable. And with so much going on every day, it is easy to get overwhelmed by that feeling if you don’t make time to reflect on your experience at HLS. In retrospect, my advice would be to take a time out when law school feels unmanageable. Reflect critically on what exactly makes it feel that way for you—the workload, the social dynamics, the student lifestyle, the hours, the external pressure—and do all you can to address and modify your approach to that element based on what’s good for you, not everyone else. Big, sweeping changes are hard to make during 1L, but tackling problems individually makes everything else seem more manageable.

Having just celebrated its tenth anniversary in April, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society kicked off its eleventh year by bringing together academics across disciplines, activists, and educators to discuss the potential of digital tools for civic engagement among young people. In a recent event held by the Digital Natives Forum, Professor John Palfrey prompted the panel with the question of how digital media tools can enable youths to motivate one another to create meaningful change.

Dr. Sunshine Hillygus, Director of the Harvard Program on Survey Research, framed civic engagement among youths in terms of capacity to get involved, motivation, and recruitment. “The most effective recruitment to vote comes from people we know, and new opportunities have been created to get people involved in the process,” she said. However, the expansion of instantaneous modes of communication has complicated the engagement process by making it difficult for parties to foment unified support among young voters.

Yet for Nasser Weddady, the Director of Outreach at Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance (HAMSA), it’s not motivation that’s lacking but the freedom to overcome repressive systems that don’t allow for civic engagement. “Our problem at HAMSA is identifying vocal leaders to push reforms online and then of course, how do we transfer online energy into the real world?”

Likewise, Keli Goff, a political analyst on youth and minority voters, believes the internet has succeeded in youth unification. Author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence, Goff pointed to the nationwide outcry for the Case of the Jena 6 last year. “Before we get too pessimistic about the power of internet activism, the Case if the Jena 6 put the young black blogosphere on the map.” For Goff, the potential of the Obama campaign is the untold story of the pockets of voters banding together in a peer-to-peer movement.

One of the ways to enlist these “pockets,” suggested recent Yale-grad Paul Selker, is to empower first time voters to do meaningful service. The Director of Outreach and Communications at Obama Works, Selker has been working to “proudsource agency” among students looking to get involved and leave their mark on the cyberworld. “We want to folks to organize and what we give them in return is the prestige of having their own webpage on our site for their local chapters.”

Be sure to check out the Berkman Center’s Tuesday Lunch Series!

There was a question posed in a comment below.  I reprint it here: “How will the current crisis in the financial market affect the ability of future admitted students to afford the price of HLS (and other top schools)? It seems a foregone conclusion that student loans will become much more difficult to get as a result of what is going on in the credit industry. Is Harvard planning to do anything to aid those who may be lucky enough to gain admittance into HLS but are unable to secure a loan?”

I can’t predict the future, but I posed this question to our financial aid director and his response was as follows: “No HLS student has been unable to secure loans this year, and we don’t expect students to have problems securing loans for next year. US citizens and eligible noncitizens who pass a basic credit check can finance the full cost of attendance through federally-backed student loan programs at competitive market rates. International students can obtain loans from HLS to meet financial need, and we expect to have information on additional options for international students before an admissions decision is due.” (EDITED 10/8/08)

A professor who perhaps needs no introduction, Philip Heymann leads efforts at HLS to encourage national and international public service by lawyers. He was appointed by President Carter to lead the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, and by President Clinton to serve as Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Heymann authored numerous books and articles. His most recent book Terrorism, Freedom and Security was described in the New York Times as a persuasive argument for just the kind of multilateral approach to fighting terrorism for which the Bush administration has shown utter disdain. His earlier book, Terrorism and America, was described by Ariel Merari, the founder and former commander of Israel’s Hostage Negotiation and Crisis Management Team, as by far the best treatise on coping with terrorism. He has appeared frequently on national television and radio.

Admissions staffer Julia Foresman recently sat down with Professor Heymann to talk about teaching law and terrorism and to get his thoughts on the national security issues we stand to face in the coming years. Take a listen: Professor Phil Heymann

Chayes Fellow 2L Joy Wang recently filled us in on her summer interning with the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in Thailand. At HLS, she is involved in the Tenant Advocacy Project, the Human Rights Journal, and is co-captain of the tennis team.

“The term ‘Human trafficking’ – often used synonymously with modern day slavery – deals with individuals who are fraudulently or coercively taken into situations of labor exploitation, most often a factory or a brothel. I spent my 1L summer interning at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (UNIAP), an organization founded in 2000 in order to foster a regional, inter-agency response to human trafficking in Southeast Asia. I first became interested in the issue of human trafficking while working for a London barrister on human rights and asylum applications. One of our clients was a young woman who been sold into prostitution in the UK by a family member from central Africa. While working on this case, it became clear to me that human trafficking is a pervasive and barbaric phenomenon that has yet to find a systematic form of redress. Every year, an estimated 800-900,000 people are bought, sold and forced across borders; the trafficking of human beings is the third-largest criminal industry in the world, exceeded only by the sale of drugs and small arms. Yet to this day, trafficking victims confound the most common migratory categories: it is unclear whether we should think of them as normal immigrants, illegal entry persons, smuggling victims, economic migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. The complexity of human trafficking is particularly condensed in a country like Thailand. As the relatively modern, cosmopolitan hub of Southeast Asia, Thailand is both a prime destination for other migrants from neighboring countries (particularly Myanmar and Cambodia), and a transit and source country for the rest of the world.’

“During the summer, I was based at the regional headquarters of the UNIAP in Bangkok, an office that coordinates the counter-trafficking efforts of governments and related task forces in China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. As a legal intern, I analyzed three anti-trafficking laws in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand, all of which had been enacted within the last two years. My legal analysis focused in particular on victim protection, i.e. how individuals are treated after they have been rescued by police and / or NGOs. At present, the routine treatment of victims raises serious concerns. Once formally identified, most trafficking victims are placed in a shelter for ‘rehabilitation’ – often for 1-3 years – during which time they are unable to leave or look for work elsewhere; the majority are compelled to testify against their traffickers without any witness protection measures in place; they are then sent back to their home countries, many without identity cards. Researchers estimate that 80% of repatriated victims will again attempt to leave home, making them vulnerable to repeat cycles of trafficking. Unsurprisingly, studies have shown that trafficking victims frequently refuse assistance and resist being identified since acquiring victim status is tantamount to prolonged detention. In recent years, new laws in the Mekong countries have attempted to improve victim protection by inscribing into law provisions on conditions of the shelter, duration of stay, and legal counseling. However, as it stands, attempts to help these individuals often do them more harm than good.’

“In addition to writing a legal memo on the new anti-trafficking laws, I also spent time interviewing Thai officials on legal prosecutions and facilities for victims. I had the opportunity to meet and learn from key partners at the International Rescue Committee, the International Organisation on Migration, and the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project. Although it was sobering to work daily on the issue of human trafficking, it was also inspiring to collaborate with a community of people devoted to the same cause. My summer in Bangkok concluded with the recognition that while human trafficking demands immediate intervention, finding a sustainable remedy faces several hard challenges. As long as the root causes of migration endure – i.e. uneven development and the natural desire for upward mobility – the criminal abuse of people in search of a better life is inevitable. Poverty will always provoke dire and precarious forms of movement and the attendant problems of exploitation. Rather than trying to harden border controls, we might instead focus on creating safer migration routes, implementing fairer labor standards in prime destination countries, and guaranteeing better victim services and legal protection for the millions of people who find themselves in conditions of modern slavery. Achieving these aims requires not only better laws but greater awareness and collective political will. Working with the United Nations in Bangkok was a humbling experience that gave me concentrated exposure to the problem of human trafficking, and tentative, germinal ideas about how I might contribute to better solutions. Back at Harvard Law School, I am taking classes on development, local government and labor law that I hope will offer a broader context of related themes and further my understanding of how best to help.”

I got this question in a recent comment posted below:

“Do you think that an applicant is at competitive disadvantage by taking the December LSAT? If this applicant scores in the 172+ range, but has an unremarkable GPA, is she better served by applying early in next year’s cycle?”

These are two very different questions, of course, but I’ll try to respond.  I do believe that an applicant is at a disadvantage if he or she is relying on the December LSAT.  I recommend that applicants apply early and that the latest LSAT taken is the October LSAT (which is in September some years).  We are crafting a class of students and depending on the strength of the overall pool, an applicant could have a better chance at different times in the year.  If you apply early, you may get more than one bite at the apple.  While we often look at applications with a December LSAT as the first (or second or third) score, and while we regularly admit applicants with a December test score, these applicants are typically rather late in applying and thus not as well positioned.

I would add that if you plan to take the LSAT for a second time in December, you can ask us to hold off on making a decision on your application until after your score comes in.  Still, that would mean delaying your application until it is relatively late, which as just mentioned, can be problematic.  A better bet would probably be to just let us go ahead and read your file with your earlier test score and then update us later with your new score.  This year we aren’t planning to deny anyone until very late in the cycle, so you aren’t at much risk.

Is a person better off waiting until the next cycle?  I don’t know if this is ever a great idea.  I don’t think there’s any inherent disadvantage in being a re-applicant.  The main reason re-applicants typically aren’t admitted is because our standards remain relatively constant over time, not because we have any bias against re-applicants.  So why not apply now and if it doesn’t work out, apply again?  It’s just $75.

Miriam Gohara ‘97 argued before the 11th Circuit and won on behalf of NAACP Legal Defense Fund client Herbert Williams, who was sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago in Alabama.

Read more about the case at the NAACP website here.

Archbishop Jaime Pedro Gonçalves

The Program on Negotiation hosted Archbishop Jaime Pedro Gonçalves who spoke about his experience as part of the peace process in Mozambique following a bloody struggle for independence and of the common call for all Christians to be peacemakers. PON staffer Sarah Whitman filled us in.

“Recently, the Program on Negotiation hosted Jaime Pedro Gonçalves, the Archbishop of Beira and Apostolic Administrator of Quelimane for an informal brown bag lunch. Archbishop Jaime Gonçalves is well known for his participation as a mediator in the 16 year long civil war in Mozambique after their long struggle for independence from Portugal. With the assistance of the Community of Sant’Egidio, an international Catholic lay movement that played the role of mediator. After 27 months of negotiations he successfully brokered peace, a peace that has endured for over 15 years.

“During the informal lunch the Archbishop discussed how his role as an observer of the conflict transformed into one of the key roles in resolving this protracted war. He addressed how he created a novel mediation framework between the two parties and how his unique relationships with individuals on both sides allowed him to successfully work away from the table to broker peace. The Archbishop closed the discussion with powerful advice: In conflict be ready to resist what is wrong and speak the truth to power gently but firmly.”

I always think we offer some very interesting options for the 1L reading groups.  These are optional, non-graded, 5-10 student groups meeting informally with faculty members–often at faculty member homes.

From “Art and Fashion” to “War and Morality”: Take a look.