Toby\’s blog

Robert Greenwald is the senior clinical instructor at the Legal Services Center, the largest clinical program at Harvard Law School. The center offers programs in domestic human rights, including clinics in domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, health law, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues, and law related to improving the lives of children and teenagers. The center’s projects involve 80 or 90 students, with an emphasis on hands-on skill-building experience.”I think it really serves the students well to start to develop lawyering skills while they are still in law school…(such as) counseling, interviewing, negotiating.”

That’s why the Center encourages students to work on direct legal service cases: projects that can be resolved in a 6-month or 1-year period of time. “Students get to work on the whole case,” says Greenwald, “including the beginning, the discovery, the motions, and the full trial.”

While addressing an already-wide range of community issues, the Center continues to evolve and grow to become more responsive to community needs. The traditional family clinic, for instance, grew into a domestic violence clinic. “We started to see, particularly in low-income families and communities of color, that our clients missed appointments, that there was resistance to providing information.” After gaining education around the issue of domestic violence, the Center began screening their clients more closely for evidence of domestic violence. Everything changed. “We saw our traditional practice change and people started to talk to us about what was really happening in their lives, like the need to get restraining orders, like the need to protect their children.”

Similarly, the Center’s HIV/AIDS clinic evolved to provide counseling for people living with other debilitating conditions. The first law school-based clinic providing services to people with AIDS and HIV has always been very busy; it started in 1987 and “the phone has not stopped ringing since,” says Greenwald. But as the work of the clinic became more successful, it attracted attention from programs focusing on other issues, such as breast cancer. “Now we represent anybody with a disabling chronic terminal medical condition in our health law center.”

Whether working on issues around housing, families, employment, predatory lending, or mediation, students are exposed to a wide swath of community law, and best of all, they get a clear view of the whole picture. “Students get to work in teams,” says Greenwald, “and provide holistic service to clients.”

Podcast: The Legal Services Center (9:48)

“When I graduated from undergrad I had no idea what to do,” says Rebecca Haw, now a 1L at HLS. So, she sold packaging, took a variety of part-time jobs, worked as a secretary at UC Berkeley, tinkered with the idea of pursuing a PhD in English, and decided she wanted to pursue her studies abroad. Most importantly, Haw knew she wanted to end up with lots of options.While studying American literature in England, she held on an interest in law she’d developed at UC Berkeley, where she’d been inspired by a professor with a passion for law and literature. She liked the idea of becoming a legal academic. While in England, Haw took the LSAT and applied to law school. “The JD gives you so many more options,” she says. She was accepted to Harvard by late December.

“The flexibility of the degree allows me to change my mind at any time. I could go into public interest, I could go work for a firm, I could go work for the government, I could go into business; there’s a million things I could do.”
Now enjoying her experience as a research assistant for Professor Elizabeth Warren, Haw is still enthusiastic about legal academia and looks forward to a clerkship. But she also relishes having so many options. “One of the things I like about the path [to becoming a legal academic],” she says, “is that there isn’t really just one path.”

Podcast: Rebecca Haw (9:45)

The word from Adam Burrows, 3L:

There always seems to be an event going on. In fact, by the time you reach your third year of law school, you are actually desensitized to the constant barrage of social emails you get in preparation for each weekend. HL Central is probably the lead culprit with their often twice-weekly sponsored events at local bars. In addition, there is no shortage of other student groups throwing parties. In addition, I have a social network within the law school that was easily formed and quick to branch out.

While I wish there was a more mingling between the various Harvard grad schools, I do have some friends who regularly socialize with Business and Kennedy school students. If you asked most HLS students what they thought of the social scene, I don’t think many would complain about a lack of events, parties, or people regularly going out.

As far as other social activities, Boston/Cambridge has been great. I’ve tried my hand at Yoga at a local studio and am currently taking an Improv Comedy class at a nearby theatre. I have friends who have taken martial arts classes, culinary classes, and studio art classes on their own. The new Hemenway gym is very nice, and I often play pick-up basketball and have recently gotten into squash. There really is no shortage of things to do, but the key is you have to take the initiative. If I had to do one thing differently, it would be to seek friends outside the law school in my 1l year, whether it be through friends from home or the kind of community activities I have mentioned. Another great way would be to cross-register for a class at another school as soon as possible.

I recently did an e-mail Q&A with one of our recent graduates involved in full-time public interest work. Corey Stoughton ‘02 currently works for the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Here’s some of our give-and-take:

TWS: What are you doing now? What is a day in the life of a lawyer at the NYCLU?

CS: I just finished doing some legal research about the discovery and use of classified information in criminal prosecutions. We’ve been keeping an eye on a number of suppression motions that have been filed in criminal cases dealing with evidence possibly obtained from the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program. ACLU has filed a civil lawsuit challenging that program, but filing amicus briefs in criminal cases where this issue comes up is another way to take the government to task and make sure a court has a chance to tell the executive branch that this is not legal.

But I don’t usually sit at my desk in front of Westlaw all day. Yesterday, for example, I was at a meeting between the country’s largest anti-war group and the NYPD trying to work out the permits for an enormous march planned for the third anniversary of the Iraq war. But there’s no typical day — every day is different, which is part of the reason I love my job so much.

TWS: How did you get there from HLS?

CS: The short answer is I got a fellowship at the ACLU, and that opens a lot of doors to working in the ACLU family. The long answer is, I started in law school, making connections in the public interest world through summer work and - even more importantly - clinical work. (I actually worked at a firm one summer). After graduating, I clerked on the Sixth Circuit, which was fun and good experience, but having turned out to be a litigator, I sort of wish I’d done a district court clerkship. Then I got a fellowship at Relman & Associates, a public interest law firm in Washington DC that does federal civil rights litigation. That was a great job — I got a lot of practical, nuts-and-bolts litigation experience. After that, I got another fellowship at the ACLU’s national office, which ultimately brought me to the staff attorney position I have now.

TWS: How did HLS prepare you for the career path you’ve been on?

CS: There were so many people at HLS that had an enormous impact on me and my career path. I got inspiration and guidance from some great professors — Jon Hanson, Lani Guinier, Heather Gerken, Larry Tribe….. And I definitely could not have done any of this without Alexa Shabecoff, who in my mind is nothing less than a goddess of public interest advising. Taking the opportunity to do clinical work was really important, because I got a chance to interact with some of the people who really make up the public-interest-litigation world. For example, I did clinical work at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in Boston, which was good, on-the-ground experience. If you want to do public interest work, I think the most important thing you can do is build a resume in law school that telegraphs your seriousness about pu blic interest, whether its through clinical and summer job experience, journals like the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (which I did) or organizations like Legal Aid, PLAP and Defenders (which I did not do).

TWS: What do you think you might do down the road?

CS: Don’t ask me that! I just accepted my first job ever that doesn’t have a one-year expiration date on it, so I’m enjoying the freedom of not having to think about next steps for a while. Besides, this is a great job to grow in as a young attorney. I loved working at the ACLU’s national office, but things were very deeply staffed, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to take the lead and really develop your skills. At the NYCLU, I have a better chance to develop my own docket and my own expertise, and there’s a lot of room to take the initiative and start something entirely new. I’m filing a case in which I will be lead counsel in a few weeks, and I just did my first appellate oral argument, which was very exciting. But I’m still being supervised by a group of brilliant and extraordinarily experienced attorneys, from whom I honestly do learn something new every day. So it’s the ideal mix for me.

I think of myself as a pretty good amateur poker player. I’m empathetic. I’m logical. I’m patient. Unfortunately, last night I managed to hold on only through approximately 25 minutes of play…

In order to raise money for summer public interest funding, a group of students organized a charity poker tournament with a suggested donation of $20 to play. The grand prize was Dersh’s box seats at a Celtics game! My prize? Some very good pizza and a poker lesson from the student sitting to my right.

Registration began at 6:30 and I arrived at 6:45 to take advantage of the free food. I sat with a group of 1Ls and asked them about their plans for the summer. One was headed to the DOJ Criminal Division, another to New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. They were describing to me their sections. “I think ours is the social section,” said one. “No, ours is REALLY social,” said another.

It looked like more than 150 people filled the tables and a couple dozen student volunteers acted as waiters, bringing us “serious players” free drinks throughout the night. Play started at 7:30. Several faculty members were among the players, but it was mostly students. I looked for Dean Kagan, as word has it that she’s pretty good, but she must have had serious law school business conflicting with the tournament.

I sat out most of the first 20 or so hands and then fell victim to one of the worst vices of amateur poker players: impatience. I raised with King-Queen off-suit and called all-in when the student to my right went over the top with Ace-King. The Ace held and I lost. But I had this consolation: it was for a good cause!

As an organization, the national Federalist Society believes in three principles: first, the state exists to preserve freedom; second, the separation of powers is central to the constitution; and third, it is the duty of judges to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Federalist Society is nonpartisan, so they do not support candidates.”We exist to foster debate and ideological diversity,” says Matt Cooper, president of the HLS chapter of the Federalist Society. “[HLS] is the paragon of legal education…This may be presumptuous, but if there was ever a place to have ideological diversity, it’s more important here than in many other places.”

The HLS Federalists bring in speakers in a debate format, so that “differences are crystalized and aired,” says Cooper. With 9 or 10 speaking events this year alone, more than 1,000 students have watched the debates, which included Alan Dershowitz and Charles Fried on the proper role of the Senate in the confirmation process, and a debate on the Solomon Amendment that included John Eastman, who filed an amicus brief in the case.

Outside of cultivating lively debates on campus, the HLS Federalists also work to “provide a home for conservative, moderate and libertarian students,” says Cooper, explaining that the group offers seminars on everything from how to take effective notes in class to how to find a summer job. I asked what he thought of life at HLS. “I will be very sad to leave this place,” he said. “”I think people who have worked for longer than 2 years appreciate the student lifestyle…It’s hard work, but it’s hard work reading interesting cases and talking about them with brilliant people.”

Podcast: Matt Cooper (5:48)

When Howard Dean came to campus the other day for the kick-off of a new association of law school Democrats, students from 20 or more schools were in attendance. In fact, to date, 55 schools have expressed interest in joining the new association, which David Burd, co-president of the HLS Democrats, has been helping to develop for the past six months with the support of the DNC. In addition to creating new national associations here and there, the HLS Democrats strengthen community and networking on campus through wine and cheese receptions, policy forums and and active campaign work for people interested in combining law and politics. On Election Day ‘04, HLS Democrats sent their members to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio to campaign for Kerry.In his spare time, Burd plays pick-up basketball at the gym and enjoys campus life. He spent both his 1L and 2L summers at law firms, and is still exploring eventual alternatives to working at a firm. The power of the alumni network at HLS makes this more possible, he remarks, telling me about a recent HLS Democrats trip to Washington, D.C. “Three quarters of the people we met with were the most prominent people in D.C….and also HLS alums.”

Podcast: David Burd (7:23)

I attended an event last week, but thought you might prefer to hear a student’s perspective on it. Alex Cambouris, a first-year student, gave me her take:

“One of my favorite things about Harvard is that the opportunities to eat a free meal abound. That said, when I cancelled my usual lunch plans to attend a discussion on constitutional perspectives on the current state of environmental law, I was not even expecting to be met with lunch. I was attending because my 1L elective this term is Environmental Law with Prof. Stephenson, and I thought the discussion would be a good supplement and update to my course work, but I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a buffet of ravioli, salad, and fruit.

“It seemed the joint organizers of the event, the American Constitution Society and the Environmental Law Society, were also pleasantly surprised because they probably should have reserved a larger room. There was barely enough space in the conference room to accommodate all the students who were either very interested in environmental law or who had accurately anticipated another free lunch.

“The two lunchtime guests, Rob Verchick and Richard Lazarus, were both exceptional speakers. After a brief introduction by Prof. Jody Freeman, one of the latest additions to the HLS faculty, Prof. Verchick began by discussing how one of the traditional sources of Congress’s authority to protect the environment, the Commerce Clause, has been eroded by recent Supreme Court decisions. He concluded by noting that while the current court seems disposed toward limiting the scope of the Commerce Clause, the recent decision in Raich v. Ashcroft, which purports to be about regulating medical marijuana, leaves the door open for environmental activists because it interprets Congress’s Commerce Clause authority very broadly, categorically in fact.

“Prof. Lazarus then picked up where Prof. Verchick left off and spoke about his expectations of the Roberts Court in contrast to the disposition of the Rhenquist Court with respect to environmental protection. Prof. Lazarus used excerpts from oral argument transcripts to illustrate the concerns of the particular justices and provided his insights about how these concerns might play out in future cases.

“As a final note, Prof. Freeman introduced the new t-shirts for the Environmental law society which feature a white toad on a light-blue background with the caption “Fighting Haplessness” below it. The t-shirt refers to Judge Roberts’s now famous dissent in Rancho Viejo v. Norton, where he questioned whether the long arm of the Commerce Clause could extend to regulate ‘the taking of a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California…’ under the Endangered Species Act. After presenting the t-shirts to each of the speakers, Prof. Freeman requested one more for Prof. Lazarus because he thought the Chief Justice would be amused by it.”

The Harvard Immigration Project is a new student group that advocates for immigrants’ rights. Project directors Spring Miller and Andy Smith dropped by recently to tell me about the events planned to foster campus dialogue about the issue, including film screenings and Q & A sessions with local experts.The project’s faculty advisor, Debbie Anker, also runs an established clinical program. Former participant Miller praises the program, saying, “Most of the students get to work on direct representation for asylum candidates. Students get to work with clients one-on-one to help them develop their affadavits and get expert witnesses.” Students in the clinical program can also focus on a specific issue, such as violence against women, and prepare amicus briefs.

When I inquired about their impression of HLS students, Smith said, “The stereotypical HLS student doesn’t exist.”

Podcast: Harvard Immigration Project (7:06)

A student, Rory Van Loo, sent me an e-mail about an event we both attended a week or so ago—and apparently he got his money’s worth:

“In general, I find the Traphagen lunches to be a great way to hear about how some of HLS’s amazing alumni arrived where they did—and, of course, it’s always nice to have a quality meal on the law school. I was especially excited about Lori Wallach’s visit because she is the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, and I came to HLS interested in using my law degree to bring resources to poor communities, such as through international trade (I had even mentioned that in my admissions essay).

“Prior to law school, I had written freelance articles for mainstream newspapers trying to raise awareness about the nongovernmental fairtrade logo, and I had also worked on a nonprofit project exporting art that had been created by homeless Brazilian youths, but had little idea how to use my law degree on a larger international trade scale, as Ms. Wallach does on a regular basis.

“It was exciting to hear her talk about advising the newly elected Bolivian president Evo Morales in order to help the country implement beneficial trade policies, lobbying U.S. politicians, and writing international-trade books. Even more helpful was hearing the career choices she made along the way, such as deciding to turn down lucrative law firm offers upon graduation to remain unemployed and temp while she looked for a job she really wanted.

“Then, after the hour-long sit-down meal discussion, and after most of the two-dozen or so students had left, I and a few others stayed to ask more personal questions. One graduating 3L asked what her chances were of working on trade policy in San Francisco or Denver, which prompted Ms. Wallach to give a list of organizations (and one pertinent job opening she happened to know about) in those cities, advice on how to go about it, and assurance that it could be done.

“A Chinese student, seemingly inspired by the lunchtime discussion, offered to help translate some of Ms. Wallach’s materials into Mandarin—an offer that was warmly received.

“And I got some valuable feedback for a book review I’m writing for the Harvard Law Review on Fair Trade for All (it turns out Ms. Wallach had recently been talking to co-author Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-prize winning economist, about the book’s ideas). I left about two hours after the “one-hour” lunch had started, and she was still energetically talking to students!”