ø
I am leaving the office for the holidays and will not be posting a new entry until the first week of 2006. I hope everyone has a great holiday break and a Happy New Year. I’ve always thought this was a great time of year to hunker down and finish writing those personal statements… So I look forward to seeing many more applications in early 2006!
Yours truly,
Toby
ø
Professor Einer Elhauge, director of the new Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, recently told me that health law supports a full 15% of our economy. The need to sort out the issues related to unaffordable health care and new technology like cloning, stem cell research and gene modification has never been more urgent. Or complicated. “The issues are hugely important and relatively understudied in the top law schools,” says Elhauge. Fortunately, the resources available across Harvard ensure that the effort at HLS will be richly informed. Projects at the Petrie-Flom Center will also involve collaboration with the Medical School, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, the Divinity School, and Harvard’s economics and sociology departments, among others.Elhuage mentioned in passing that he thinks HLS students are happier now than when he was a law student. Maybe it has something to do with his tradition of limericks in class…
Podcast: The Petrie-Flom Center
ø
Last weekend, I spent about 20 minutes talking with another reader about a particular applicant. Taking the time to talk about cases isn’t unusual for us. What is unusual was that we were huddled in a corner at a holiday party (I know, I know: “Get a life, Toby.”)!
As we review applications, one of the things we are concerned with is how applicants use their time. Are you engaged, involved, and active? Are you focused on academics and research and writing? Or are you sitting around eating Cheetos and playing XBox?
This particular person had done pretty well academically and was clearly very bright. He was also working 40 hours a week (during the academic year) and was relatively uninvolved in his school or community. On the one hand, maybe he felt he had to spend his time in that way—his finances were tight or he just had a great opportunity. Maybe he wasn’t “savvy” enough to know what you’re “supposed” to do to get into law school. Or, maybe he just wasn’t interested in engaging in campus life. This is one of the reasons I am making so many calls. I like to call people up and ask!
The other reader and I had a long discussion about these issues and ended up agreeing to disagree on the application. I think this is actually a very healthy aspect of our process—that everyone who reads has a slightly different take on what makes an ideal applicant. It helps us to build a diverse class of people who excel in many different ways. It also means that my own idiosyncratic views about what is best are countered by the views of others, and vice versa.
It also makes me an unusual party guest…
ø
“Most of the best negotiators do little in the way of arguing, and they do a lot of listening,” says Bob Bordone, lecturer on law and deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. The Project trains students to resolve disputes in ways that are efficient, and offers fantastic career results and fulfilling skills, not to mention a class that’s a lot of fun. “We think very carefully about the pedagogy. We use video a lot, we bring in outside people…it’s not just lecture,” says Bordone.
The size and strength of the program ensures a wide range of opportunities for students interested in learning more about negotiation. “The field really got its start here at the Law School,” says Bordone. “Our program focuses on people thinking outside of the box and being creative.”
ø
I was glad to get the chance to drop in recently on a presentation about the Chayes Fellowships. I arrived early and snagged a corner table near the hors d’oeuvres. Students started filing in, many of them bearing nametags that read “TechnoServe, Tanzania” and “International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia” (try fitting that into a 2×3 inch space—my nametag just said “Admissions”).
Sara Zucker of International Legal Studies introduced the program and several former Fellows, who then talked about their incredible experiences.
Every year, HLS awards roughly 25 Chayes Fellowships to students planning to work in nonprofit or governmental organizations addressing issues of an international scope or relevant to countries in transition. Specific projects for recent Chayes Fellows have included:
* Working on claims under international law against officials who refuse to grant local residency to Roma in Slovakia
* Developing a pilot program to provide business development services to rural micro-enterprises in Mongolia
* Analyzing an International Court of Justice decision on the legality of Israel’s construction of a “security wall”
* Drafting a paper on reforming China’s energy conservation law
* Preparing procedural decisions for ongoing or pending cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Summer stipends in 2005 for these students ranged between $4,500 and $5,500, depending on their financial aid status and the location of the placement.
So only one question remained as I bit into another mini-quiche: Why didn’t I take advantage of this program when I was an HLS student?
ø
Professor Lucie White’s research centers on anti-poverty law, human rights, and social justice issues. Her hands-on approach brings home the surprising power of grassroots community networks. Every year, she takes a group of students to Ghana for a winter term course and they roll up their sleeves, going to work to improve the local health care system. “Both in the course and in the conference, we really try to get away from the idea that Africa is a big problem,” says White, “and try looking at it as a source of creativity and innovation that can inform how we approach social inequality here in the United States.”
Podcast: Professor Lucie White (10:37)
ø
I just got word from Dean Kagan that 9 of our students have won Skadden Fellowships. This is huge! Harvard Law students picked up a full third of the 27 fellowships granted to students at all law schools. Over the last three years, HLS students have won 22 out of 82 Skadden fellowship awards.
What makes these fellowships so special? The winners pursue public interest work with a two-year $46,000/year award from the Skadden Fellowship Foundation. They work at places like the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the New York Legal Assistance Group, the Southern Migrant Legal Services Project and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund. Most of the Fellows go on to make a career out of public interest or public sector work.
There are two reasons why our students win so many of these awards. First, they get great experience here. They gain practical training in our clinical and pro bono programs. They attend classes that hone their skills and provide direction for their passions. They get a lot of support from faculty on their projects and plans. And they take advantage of the incredible advising staff (starting in their first few weeks at HLS!) at the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising (OPIA).
The other reason? Most of these Fellows come to HLS with a deep commitment to public service. When we’re reading applications, we are looking for people who “walk the walk” when it comes to public service. Writing about your passion for legal aid in a personal statement is nice; interning for a human rights organization for two summers and volunteering 10 hours a week at an immigrants & refugees clinic says a lot more.
Applicants who show a commitment to public service through their activity, work, and/or scholarship get our attention here in the admissions office. (But don’t worry: if you’re still exploring your options, we have room for you, too–and OPIA will be waiting for you!)
ø
As some of you who have received a call from me can attest, I’m a bit of a history fan (I aspire to be a “buff”). I like it when the yellow category comes up in the old Trivial Pursuit, I’ve read most of the recent “founding brother” biographies, and Rome is one of my new favorite television programs.
So you can imagine my glee (okay, maybe that’s a little strong) when I checked my Blackberry yesterday morning on my way to O’Hare and read News@Law (our daily events e-mail—sign up here). There was to be a mock trial in Austin Hall. But, you say, there have been mock trials at HLS since the 1820s–what’s the big deal? (You must be very well-informed!) This one is different. It is an Ancient Athenian Mock Trial, sponsored by Professor Lanni’s Ancient Law class.
If my flight back from Chicago was not delayed, I would get to be a part of the jury that will “decide the fate of Euphiletos, the cuckold, accused of murder for avenging himself on his wife’s foul seducer.” The news item continued: “Togas optional.”
As luck would have it, I made it back right on time and ended my afternoon with a stop in Austin East—sans toga. The event started with the sacrifice of a boar (actually a little pink stuffed pig), and the speeches and testimony began, timed by a water clock. How did it turn out? I would tell you, but I don’t know the ancient Athenian rules about the confidentiality of jury deliberations. Let’s just say that justice was served.
ø
I recently dropped in on Jessica Budnitz, administrative director of Harvard Law School’s new Child Advocacy Program (CAP). Students involved with CAP focus on children’s rights, education law, abuse and neglect, juvenile delinquency, international advocacy and many other issues. In our interview, she discussed the program’s academic, policy and clinical components, as well as what it’s like working with faculty director Elizabeth Bartholet and the powerful HLS alumni network.
