Toby’s blog

A 3L, Brad Rosen, has volunteered to write about events from time to time for me, so I can continue to update you on current happenings on campus. This is what he sent me the other day:

“OPIA (the Office of Public Interest Advising) kicked off the ‘World of Law’ series with a look at Criminal prosecution/Defense. World of Law is a series of panels run by OPIA to show the public interest options available to students that graduate from HLS — they bring in people (including recent HLS grads) currently serving in a public sector role to talk about their experiences.

“The opening session presented two sides of the criminal justice system: The prosecutors and the public defenders. The panel looked at both what is rewarding and frustrating in their day to day jobs — things like the need to win the trust of a defendant who expects nothing to be free, and the case-management necessary when dealing with an understaffed prosecutor’s office.

“Rather than create an ‘us vs them’ mentality, the panel gave everyone the chance to experience both sides of the issue. We heard about both the frustration of a public defender in a position to tell an 18 year old client that the best deal he can get — and in fact should take — is a 24 year sentence in prison; and the prosecutor being instructed from above to seek the death penalty, despite the feeling that in that case, it was not merited.

“The other scheduled World of Law sessions are: Non-Profit/Advocacy, Government, and Public International.”

So it is not uncommon for a sitting Supreme Court justice to stop by and speak at my office… Okay, well not really at my office, but I’ve told you before about the Ames Courtroom right next door, right? More often than not, the visiting justices are HLS grads—I mean, we have a majority on the court, after all…(wink)

But last week our visitor was NOT an HLS grad (though he had been a post-graduate fellow here and a visiting professor at times)—he was not even our usual Supreme Court visitor. His Court is thousands of miles away: President Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel, a Holocaust survivor who later helped to negotiate the Camp David Accords.

The event was packed with students and luckily I had a fly on the wall planted in there: 3L Lauren Weldon, who sent me a few notes from the event. She said he was most adamant that the same law must apply in times of war and peace. “He concluded his remarks by talking about a recent decision, in which he wrote for the majority, rejecting the argument that torture could be used on terrorists in a situation of a ticking time bomb. Speaking of the judicial role, President Barak noted that ‘[w]hen we sit at trial, we stand on trial.’”

She also told me about a rather vibrant question-and-answer session. (Harvard Law School students sometimes have strong opinions!) “A student asked President Barak to comment on several decisions related to the status of Palestinians in Israeli Law. President Barak began by explaining the difficult role of a judge in determining when to defer to the democratically-elected body, and he was careful to emphasize that a judge should never uphold a decision based on a racist law.”

At the conclusion of these answers, President Barak finished his speech, and the audience stood for several minutes giving the judge a standing ovation. He had apparently won over this crowd, despite holding views at odds with some of those in attendance. This is not unusual at today’s HLS—a cacophony of viewpoints but a symphony of respect…

I’m travelling this week, speaking at a number of undergraduate institutions, so I may be a bit slower to post to the blog. Today for example I spent lunchtime with a nice group of students at Middlebury College (a beautiful place…how can so many students there study abroad; I wouldn’t want to leave).

A question came up on whether to take time off or not. I may have mentioned this issue before, obliquely. I answered in this way:

Think of your own situation. You have your LSAT score, GPA, extracurriculars, etc. They don’t change if you go off and spend a couple of years after college doing something interesting. But you have more to talk about. Maybe you’re doing Teach for America or working for the Urban Institute or taking a fellowship to go abroad. You’re just a little bit more interesting than you were before you did those things. Wouldn’t you be a more interesting applicant in our eyes?

Now we still have a sizeable number of students come to HLS directly from college, so if you’re set on applying now, no problem. If you’re weighing some other post-college plans, you might be on to something.

The school year has begun and the events have started to pile up. I think I’ve been in attendance at an event almost every night, and sometimes in the middle of the day. I wanted to tell you about one recent event because of some comments a student made there.

The Dean of Students hosted a pub night at the Hark Pub for “older” students last week and was kind enough to invite me. I put “older” in quotes because we’re not talking about geezers here…just students who spent a couple of years or more after college pursuing their careers or interests.

There was a good turnout, and why wouldn’t there be? The Class of 2009, for example, has more than 120 students who are 25 or older, and the student body as a whole has close to 50 students who are 30 or older. Formally, the Roscoe Pound Society is the student organization for our seasoned law students—Dean Pound, after all, was a botanist before he was a lawyer. (There is also the HLS Couples Association and Parents at the Law School, for our more specialized older students…)

One of the students mentioned to me that he thought I needed to get the word out about how large the community was for law students with a few years under their belt. That when he attended some of the admitted applicant events he noticed mostly college seniors, but that once he got to the law school it was a different story. So I’m officially putting you on notice: the Law School has quite a few students with real-world experience. It’s a nice thing about the size of the place—we’re able to provide a critical mass for almost any affinity group.

Hannah Fried tells of her experience at the Indian Law Office of Wisconsin, Judicare, in Wausau, Wisconsin.

“The ILO engages in two general kinds of work—the first is more standard legal aid (help with housing issues, family issues, employment issues, etc.—which it provides to Indian individuals from Wisconsin who meet Judicare’s income eligibility guidelines.

“The second type of work is the legal assistance it provides to the eleven Indian nations in the state of Wisconsin—Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Oneida, among others. The ILO helps the tribes develop their judicial systems, including by assisting with drafting criminal and civil codes and training lay advocates. The ILO also provides legal assistance in dealing with questions regarding religious freedom, tribal jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and tribal sovereignty generally.

“The work I got to do was great—really tailored to my interests. I did a fair amount of research (including on tribal v. state jurisdiction; on tribal methods of dispute resolution; and on how “Indian” is defined for the purposes of understanding federal law) and helped prepare a training program for the Ho-Chunk court for guardians ad litem.

“A great summer job—highly recommended!”

Rising 3L Jacob Kopas tells of his plans for the future:

“After Chile, I will be heading back to the states, and then starting in July I will be working for the MLRI - the Mass Law Reform Institute. It’s a pretty well known non-profit that takes up cases and issues to make positive changes in Massachusetts state law. They are not a normal legal services provider (that is, giving legal representation to underprivileged groups who couldn’t otherwise pay to be able to defend their legal rights). Instead, they focus more on appellate level advocacy, in which you pick up a case not so much for the injustice being done in a particular situation, but on changing an area of doctrine or law that has a wider effect.

“I’ll be there for two months until school starts again, and hopefully get a good writing sample out that’s not in Spanish or has something to do with US law. From there, I hope to use that writing sample to apply for a judicial clerkship somewhere in the Mass/New England area for after graduation.

“This last year of law school looks to be just as hectic and amazing as the others have been: lots of interesting courses being offered and lots of incredible extracurricular activities. Somewhere along the line I hope to have time to lead the student group I have been involved in a lot since coming to Harvard—the HLS Advocates for Human Rights. We are basically a student group designed to create a human rights community at Harvard and give students the opportunity to get involved in hands on human rights advocacy and academic work in the field. I said ‘lead’ because I managed to convince enough people to vote for me to be president next year. Should be a lot of fun.”

A few more returning students have written me about their summer public interest experiences. I received this e-mail from rising 2L Norah Bringer who seems to be making the most of her summer and is satisfying her political “inner geek” as she puts it:

“This summer, I am a legal intern on the Judiciary Committee staff of Senator Ted Kennedy. Although I had to wait a long time for the interview and job offer (the Hill has a notoriously lengthy hiring process), this was truly a dream job, so it was more than worth the wait! People often ask how I got the job, and I’m not absolutely sure.

“I came to law school with five years of public policy experience and solid professional recommendations, but I didn’t personally know anyone currently working on the Hill. However, I sent in my applications and made some contacts with professors, who forwarded my resume to people they knew. The professors and alums of HLS—and the staff of OPIA (the Office of Public Interest Advising)—are an incredible resource for finding internships and jobs; they are surprisingly generous in sharing their contacts and helping students get where they want to be. One of my goals for the remainder of the summer is to meet with a number of alums who work on the Hill and in federal agencies.

“The Judiciary Committee has already faced a number of big issues this summer, including proposed amendments to the Constitution regarding marriage and flag desecration. I’ve been most involved with researching and developing a response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (finding that the military commissions created for the Guantanamo detainees are unlawful), efforts to reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and judicial nominations. The Hill is a fast-paced environment with an ever-evolving set of issues and assignments—a very exciting place to be!

“It is intriguing to get an insider view of how things work in the office of an elected official, especially one who is as well-respected and well-known as Senator Kennedy. I’ve drafted statements and talking points for the Senator, written background memos, helped to staff the Senator during Judiciary Committee hearings, met with lobbyists, and much more. It has been a pleasure to get to know the congressional staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes to try to make this country a better place. Early in the summer, I satisfied my political “inner geek” by sitting on the Senate floor during the vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment; it was amazing to see all of those national leaders in one place!

“And, I’ve had a wonderful social life this summer! There are 16 people from my 1L section in DC, and, through the Heyman Summer Internship program (for HLS students interning in federal government), connect with other students and successful alums. Finally, I’ve met some splendid people at work, with whom I spend a lot of time; we often eat dinner in Dupont Circle or U Street, and we all went to the opening weekend of “An Inconvenient Truth”—very fun!

“If you come to HLS, I’d be happy to talk more about my experience with anyone who’s interested in working on the Hill.”

I asked 1L Sushma Gandhi to tell me about her first day of class. Here is what she sent:

“Our first assignment was to write our names on placards with markers–just like my first assignment in second grade, which was so comforting. Michelle, Damon and I brought bagels to class to share with rest of Section 1, so we could all start law school with a bagel.

“I watched as my classmates settled into different parts of the room. Naomi, an English professor who decided to come to law school, was in the middle left.
Michelle Kuo, who spent two years teaching with Teach for America in the Mississippi Delta, was sitting in front of me. Laura, who spent two years in the Peace Corps in Georgia, was sitting in the middle of the room. Professor Frug was funny, sprinting energetically up and down the aisles while introducing us to Sanchez v. Stephens Ice Cream, a case that made me glad I was in law school. I hadn’t been in a classroom in three years and the luxury of this amazing opportunity hit me hard. ‘I am so incredibly lucky,’ I thought, as I listened to my classmates explain the world in new ways. ‘I get three whole years with these amazing people in this amazing place.’

“I expect that in 20 years there will be no death penalty in the United States.” Professor Charles Ogletree makes that statement with caution, but also with the reasoned analysis of a great thinker. In his new book, From Lynching to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America, he describes a growing trend of frustration with the death penalty—among no less than the U.S. Supreme Court.

The study of race and justice pervades and defines nearly every aspect of Ogletree’s work, whether studying the achievement gaps between African-American, Latino and white students; running a major conference in April ‘07 on the 150th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision; or examining the re-entry challenge of prisoners unable to integrate with communities that won’t provide them jobs. And it goes beyond examination: the man gets results. Just this year, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino asked Ogletree for his help to curb a growing trend of violent aggression among the city’s African-American girls, and there’s now an active mentor network among HLS students working with those girls. Ogletree is behind the network, lifting it up, pushing it where it needs to go. “Four teaching roles, four institute responsibilities, four efforts to raise funds, and I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way.”

And what about the students? “Students have been extremely helpful, [both] in research, and in debating me on every major issue that I raise in the books. I like that about Harvard Law students. They come in with ideas; they bring their passions and judgements in, and it helps me to think more critically about what I’m doing.”

Podcast: Professor Charles Ogletree (12:58)