Toby’s blog

A couple of nights ago, I attended a wonderful celebration at the Faculty Club. There was a social hour, several champagne toasts, a speech by the dean, and an inspiring keynote address from a young attorney. This was the Kaufman Dinner, honoring our graduates going into public interest jobs and clerkships (with the expectation that many of the clerks end up in public interest jobs, too…).

The dean stressed how important public service is to her and to Harvard Law School, then introduced Andrew Carter ’94, saying that he had mentioned to her that public service was, to him, “like candy!” Carter spoke of one of his first cases as a public defender—his role on first the state, then federal level for the last 10+ years.

A young woman, “We’ll call her Ms. McCoy” had been in a dispute with a family, “We’ll call them the Hatfields” which culminated in a fight at a retail store. Apparently the “Hatfields” ganged up on “Ms. McCoy” but were first to the police station afterwards and Ms. McCoy was charged with a felony by a young gung-ho prosecutor. Carter talked about visiting the home of this woman and having her 4-year-old son come up to him and ask, “Is my mama going to jail?”

“No, she’s not,” promised Carter. He proceeded to “scout” the prosecutor, much as he had his intramural basketball opponents back in law school, learning of several bad habits Carter could exploit in court. After winning the case he was thanked profusely by Ms. McCoy. He realized what a profound effect he had on her life and on the life of her young son. “There is nothing like that feeling in the world,” he told the students.

After Drew Carter’s speech and some additional toasts, Alexa Shabecoff, our assistant dean for public interest advising, walked to the microphone. She talked about how she had gotten to know each student in the room and how much she would miss all of them. Her last words were to encourage all the students to stay in touch—and I guarantee you that they will! This is one of the truly great things about the public interest community here—our alumni are very much in contact with our students and staff.

It was a terrific event and a LARGE event. As I’m sure you know, a significant percentage of our students each year go directly into public interest after graduation or directly following a clerkship. It was fun to be a part of the sendoff of the next cohort of outstanding public interest alumni and to know that so many great and good things were going to come from their achievements.

“We try to give students opportunities to use the law and their legal skills for the benefit of animals,” says 3L Kathrine Dixon, president of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. Founded in 1995, the group raises awareness about the field of animal law and addresses a wide range of cases.

“Our biggest issue tends to be farmed animals because this is the area where animals suffer most.”

In addition to supporting a biannual course on animal law, the group plans conferences (such as “The Great Ape Project”), and organizes around ballot initiatives and pending bills. “We’re fortunate to be one of a handful of Ivy League schools that have received a $1 million grant from Bob Barker for the study of animal law. His whole ’spay and neuter your pets’ campaign was not just talk.”

The group’s membership represents a diverse range of interests. “There are members whose families own small farms, and we also have members who are left-wing activists protesting every weekend. We try to [stay on] a middle road.”

The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund also serves as a resource for vegetarian and vegan students on campus.

“One of the reasons that I came to law school,” says Dixon, “is that I realized this is something I could do with my career: focus on animal issues.”

Podcast: The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (9:59)

I know many of you out there are running up against deposit deadlines, so you may be wondering what is happening in our office (in addition to receiving many deposits…).

This week we are gearing up to send out a number of waitlist and deny letters, with maybe a small handful of admission letters. I anticipate accepting a fair number of applicants off of the waitlist, but I can’t be certain about that until we see how things shake out. We are very generous in granting deferrals, as long as our admitted applicants have reasonable plans for the next year or so, which means that our final number of admission offers is always up in the air.

I said at the beginning of the process that I wanted to make the process more transparent–I’m sure it can be said that even when it is more transparent, it doesn’t necessarily ease the anxieties of every applicant.

Is it possible to be creative and a law student at the same time?

The resounding answer from Amy Gutman is: “Yes! There’s no doubt about it. Your legal training and interests can really feed your creative work.”

As a lawyer-turned-suspense-novelist, Gutman (’93) has always been committed to pursuing a myriad of passionate interests. And she’s also keenly grateful for her HLS degree.

“Because I had a Harvard Law degree, it gave me a sort of flexibility, a sort of ability to take risks that I’m not sure I would have had otherwise, because I knew I would always have the degree…and the education.”

Now Assistant Director for Academic Affairs, Gutman heads the Law and Arts Initiative, which provides resources and programming for those in the legal community interested in pursuing careers in the arts. A recent panel was called “How to Launch a Writing Career While You’re in Law School.”

“I’m living proof that a law degree can serve as a springboard to any number of different options,” says Gutman.

Podcast: Amy Gutman (8:54)

Founded in 1949, Harvard Defenders is a robust campus resource for low-income criminal defendants in need of some solid pro bono lawyering. As 2L (and Defenders President) Alecia Brinkerhoff put it, Harvard Defenders exists “to fill gaps in the system and to ensure that criminal defendants who aren’t guaranteed representation in court have that representation.”

Along the way, Harvard students get to represent clients and be active in court. “I was very excited that I had my own client,” says 2L (and VP) Lauren Robinson. “Not somebody else’s client that I was helping with.”

Founded in 1949, the organization remains so popular that the 75 students involved are selected by lottery and as a student practice organization, Defenders is open to 1Ls. Those students ultimately help nearly 100 clients a year. What are the cases like?

“Our cases run from the mundane, like someone shoplifted from Filene’s, to somewhat more extreme, like, our client threatened to blow up the Department of Social Services.”

“Allegedly,” adds Lauren.

Podcast: The Harvard Defenders (5:39)

I walked into Austin East yesterday evening and saw Professor Andy Kaufman and student, Josh Riley, sitting in the two outside seats in the first row, center. Two students in suits were lined up to the left of a podium. Two other students lined up to the right.

“Is that center seat mine,” I asked Professor Kaufman.

“Yes – I guess that means you’re the Chief Judge.”

I had volunteered to judge the first-year Ames Moot Court Competition. Every 1L at Harvard participates in this program through the legal research and writing class. It is an opportunity to write appellate briefs and argue a case before a panel of distinguished jurists (well, maybe not in my case). Faculty, staff, 2nd- and 3rd-year students, and practitioners from the community serve as judges so that every 1L has a rich experience in oral arguments. The students’ performance is not graded, but the judges do assign points so the students know how they might improve.

I sat for two sets of arguments, lasting about an hour each. Each side gets 30 minutes, though our questioning made each student go over his or her allotted time. This was a takings case: Ames University was trying to build a high-security bio-weapons research lab and though the City of Ames had granted a permit and the federal government was supporting the project, a last-minute referendum forced the stoppage of work. The students representing the University were arguing that the City had taken its property and now owed compensation. The students representing the City argued that there was no taking—I won’t get into the legal details here.

The first attorney stood up and started to make her case on behalf of the University. She was almost immediately interrupted by “Judge” Kaufman. And we were off and running.

One of the attorneys for the appellee (the City) was attempting to argue that the University had no property interest in the building permit. Judge Kaufman broke in, “Counsel, what if the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided there were too many lawyers and ran a lottery and took away your license to practice law. Do you have a property interest in that license?” I think I heard an audible “gulp” come from the student. After hearing the student argue that he didn’t believe there was a property interest there, Judge Kaufman said, “I think your colleagues are going to be pretty upset to hear you say that!”

At the end of the arguments we gave feedback to the pairs of litigants. “Judge” Riley, our student judge, gave everyone a thumbs-up, saying that they “all did an outstanding job.” Judge Kaufman got into more detail, offering a number of suggestions about the particulars of the case, but also more generally about how to stay on track when a judge is pushing in a different direction.

I said, “Well, if Judge Riley is Paula Abdul and Judge Kaufman is Simon Cowell, I guess I’m the other guy,” and proceeded to give feedback on their general style and demeanor at the podium.

The students were a little bit nervous—they had worked hard on these arguments and briefs, but it’s always hard to get up in front of a panel. But one student stood out as being utterly unflappable. She locked horns several times with Judge Kaufman and didn’t give up any ground. She was having a good time. Yet even one of the more seemingly nervous students said to me afterward, “You know, at the end I was having a lot of fun. I didn’t want it to end!”

It is always nice when our alums return to campus to meet with students. This happens frequently, as it turns out. Last week an alumnus from our LLM program ended up dining with just a few of our students. 2L Brandon Weiss described the evening:
“I’m not exactly sure how I ended up spending a large part of Wednesday night hanging out with the first permanent Swiss Ambassador to the United Nations, but such is life at HLS. I guess in reality it’s pretty simple how it came to be. Ambassador Jeno Staehelin offered to have dinner with students from the Human Rights Journal, HLS Advocates, and ILS on Wednesday night during his week long stay at HLS. I arrived at the dinner (set up for 15) and only two other students were there—we had trouble getting the word out during Spring Break!

“But I guess once you’ve been the Swiss Ambassador to Japan, the President of UNICEF, and held a hundred other high dignitary positions, you learn how to handle yourself in all sorts of unusual situations. Ambassador Staehelin was all class. He didn’t even seem to notice the poor student turnout. Instead, he engaged us for over two hours in wide-ranging conversation about everything from A to Z: how HLS has changed since he was an LL.M. student here in 1965, how working at the U.N. compares to ordinary civil service (this from the man who served as Swiss U.N. Rep. during the lead up to the Iraq war), how individual rights discourse has for so long overshadowed any notion of social or community rights in the U.S. He seemed particularly keen to get our take on current HLS issues, like the Solomon Amendment decision or whether or not to have laptops in the classroom.

“Throughout much of the conversation, I had a hard time beating back the excited feeling that, Wow! A man who has done so much in his life is sitting here taking an interest in me. It certainly goes down in the books as one of those really inspiring nights that makes the hard work of law school so easily worthwhile (and made me realize once again that I need to take more advantage of these intangible learning opportunities here). I came home from the dinner and told my girlfriend that I want to be the Swiss Ambassador to the U.N. when I grow up. I guess that’s probably not possible, but she knew what I meant.”

I have had several requests in the last few weeks to update you on the progress in the office. So here goes:

At this point, we’ve made the vast majority of admission offers. We still have dozens more to make–though I don’t know how many until we see how many deposits, deferrals, etc., come in on May 1.

We have a large number of applications in hold status. Many of those will soon be put on a formal waitlist; some will be denied, and a few will be admitted. I expect we’ll be admitting more than a few off the waitlist, too, though those folks will have to, well, WAIT for awhile. Hence the term, “waitlist”.

We know that some people are weighing scholarship offers from other schools, but we are generally unable to move any faster on our decisions (if we could move faster, we’d be doing it, even without your call about the scholarship!). Some people may find they have to accept one of those scholarships, even if they might eventually get in here. That’s too bad when it happens, but sometimes it just has to work out that way.

Overall, we have an incredible group of admitted applicants already, many of whom have already sent in their deposits. I’m thrilled to have them getting ready to start the same (but different!) three-year HLS experience that I had just a few years ago. (I’m even a bit envious!)

For those of you who are waiting, I hope you will bear with us a bit longer. We’re trying our best to figure things out!

I just heard from an admitted student who had a concern. He talked to two HLS alumni who graduated some time ago who “both said they didn’t enjoy their time at Harvard.” One was here more than 15 years ago and said HLS was “a factory.”

I’m really stuck about what to say. You guys know me by now—I can’t think of any reason not to go to Harvard, but even I will admit that it isn’t a perfect fit for everyone. But good lord! Two guys from 15 years ago? I talk to alums every day who love the place, but I have no doubt that there are some who don’t. But the main thing is that whatever was (or was not) going on fifteen years ago, that information is very old now.

Talk to current students and recent alumni who know what the place is really like!

What will they tell you? I think most of them will say that today’s Harvard is student centered. Today’s Harvard is public service oriented. Today’s Harvard is an incredibly diverse, intellectually vibrant community. Today’s Harvard is a place where faculty-student interaction is NOT the exception, but the rule.

Forgive me for my rant, but I want this guy to get to the right place for him—but to do it for the right reason. It just kills me to see someone possibly turning down the HLS of 15 years ago, instead of really looking at the HLS of today.

Last night I attended the biggest party of the year at the Law School. It was the 13th Annual Public Interest Auction. What is the Auction? It is a student-run event designed to raise money for Summer Public Interest Funding. As I’m sure you know, our students are guaranteed funding for public interest jobs in either their first or second summers. Last year this Auction raised more than $150,000 and if last night’s show was any indication, I suspect this year’s show will top that figure.

The event started with a two-hour silent auction. If you had the inclination, you could bid on things like Supreme Court Justice bobblehead dolls, a Kiefer Sutherland-autographed “24” script, or a private helicopter ride to the Cape. I think my favorite item was entitled “Afternoon with a Cute Little Bunny.” Someone was auctioning off time with her pet bunny…named Toby! There was music and food and drink and hundreds of people roaming around the Austin Hall atrium.

Then it was time for the show. Don’t tell the fire marshal, but I think the Ames Courtroom was well over capacity, with people lining the aisles and floors in anticipation of the arrival of our emcees. Just after 8pm, Dean Kagan and Professor Jonathan Zittrain were introduced. Dean Kagan was wearing an elegant black suit with a black feather boa around her neck and sported some very Hollywood-esque sunglasses. Professor Zittrain had just flown in from Oxford for the event and had on his tux. Upon taking the stage, he quipped, “The last time I wore this was at my bar mitzvah, but it fits like a glove!”

Dean Kagan introduced the first item—a seven-course wine-tasting at Radius, “one of the finest bars in Boston,” (Zittrain broke in: “It’s exactly half as good as Diameter!”) and we were off and running. A few highlights:
* Professor Elizabeth Warren’s description of the Champagne Graduation Party for 30 at her house where she would take “your mother aside and whisper into her ear… ‘This one…he was my favorite.’ and ‘We haven’t seen one like this since Oliver Wendell Holmes was a student.’”;
* Climenko Fellow Wes Oliver playing his flattop guitar to introduce his item: a night of Bluegrass at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square;
* Dean Kagan and former Dean Clark in a bidding war over the Scales of Justice a cappella concert; and
* A video showing Professor Ogletree and Professor Nesson reprising the Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta roles in Pulp Fiction

To me what made this a terrific event was the feeling that the entire school was taking part—that everyone here was loudly supporting the public interest community at HLS.