HLS in Focus

La Alianza is the Latino law student group on campus. As Co-Chair for this organization I get to participate in a lot of different activities and take an active role in planning and organizing our events and initiatives. As Co-Chair, I also get the opportunity to interact with other student group leaders at Harvard and in the Boston area. Because many other schools have organizations with similar missions La Alianza often gets emails from student groups at other schools asking for collaboration on different projects or inviting us to attend their conferences and social events. These events are great networking opportunities and also a nice way to get out of the law school bubble and explore the area a bit. Our events are always open to the entire student body and we often have a large number of non-members at our social events.

In addition to hosting social events, we also sponsor more substantive activities. Next week we will be hosting a talk with a Federal Judge from Texas who will talk about Latinos in the law, public interest careers and clerkships. This will give students the opportunity to talk with a Latino professional about any questions or concerns they might have entering a field where Latinos have been historically underrepresented. 

One of our major events is a conference that we co-sponsor with the Latino group at the Kennedy School. The theme of the conference always focuses on issues involving Latinos in law and public policy. Last year’s conference was a great success. The keynote speaker was José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States. The conference drew attendees from Harvard as a whole as well as alumni and people from the community. The plans for this year’s conference are still being settled but our membership is really enthusiastic about it and the conference is coming together nicely.

Last year La Alianza’s membership was down and we didn’t get to host as many events as in years past. This was a major part of the reason that I decided to run for Co-Chair. I wanted to see more actitivies and a greater sense of community among the Latinos on campus. We now have a new board full of enthusiastic people and we have started the year off very well. Helping to increase the group’s presence on campus and welcome the new 1Ls has been very fulfilling for me. Being a student group leader has been great experience so far and I would definitely recommend that other students try to take a leadership role in at least one organization.

- Elizabeth