Assisting Prisoners
Our student practice organizations give students the opportunity to engage in “real lawyering” even in the first year. These organizations are the Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP), Harvard Defenders, the Legal Aid Bureau (which Mira Edmonds just blogged about), the Mediation Program, and the Prison Legal Assistance Project (PLAP). 2L Christina Chung describes her experience with PLAP:
“When a prisoner breaks a rule in prison, he/she will get a disciplinary ticket. The ticket can be given for any range of violations from assault on a guard or other prisoner to possessing contraband in their cells. If the prisoner wants to contest the ticket, either because he wants to prove his innocence or he thinks the sanctions are too harsh, he will call us at PLAP (Prison Legal Assistance Project).
“Once we hear the details of the prisoner’s ticket, we decide whether or not we want to represent him during his disciplinary hearing. The hearing provides a great experience for learning real-life lawyering skills because you have to pursue a wide range of activities for your client and you have to construct persuasive arguments from the evidence and relevant statutes.
“When a PLAP-er decides to take a case, the first thing she does is interview the prisoner. Next she will file discovery requests to get any relevant evidence that may be helpful, from surveillance videos to unit activity logs. During the hearing the student attorney makes motions, cross-examines witnesses, and of course makes closing arguments.
“Finally, after the hearing is over, if you do not get a favorable result, you can write an appeal for your client. Writing an appeal memo is a great way to learn persuasive writing and careful marshalling of the facts.
“But aside from lawyering skills, PLAP also helps future lawyers by letting them see a side of the criminal justice system that most will never encounter: prison life. To witness what happens after the sentence is handed down from the judge’s bench is to learn compassion and to appreciate the complex realities of criminal law.”
