Guest blogger Anne Healey is currently a 2L and Vice-President of Collaborations of the Harvard Law & International Development Society. You can also read about Anne’s personal experience here.
Access to justice for Burmese refugees in Thailand. Criminal justice reform in post-conflict Liberia. Private sector development in Tanzania. These are just some of the real-world issues that this year’s 1Ls have been able to tackle through one of HLS’s newest and fastest-growing student organizations, the Harvard Law and International Development Society (LIDS). LIDS was founded in 2009 in light of the growing recognition that many pressing challenges in international development are legal in nature. For instance, governance and rule of law development, regulatory reform, litigation of economic and social rights, justice sector reform, and land titling programs all require a deep understanding of both development practice and the law. Whether you come to HLS with prior interest and experience in development or are looking to get your first taste of some of the most exciting international work in which lawyers can be engaged, you’ll find a welcoming community at LIDS.
LIDS’s primary activity is partnering with international development organizations to offer exciting, hands-on opportunities for students to get involved in development work. Each semester, we offer opportunities to work on one of 5-10 teams that are tasked with completing a tangible work product for a development organization. For example, last semester, one team partnered with Technoserve – an NGO that seeks to identify business solutions to addressing poverty – to develop a model cocoa policy for Tanzania. Students assessed the policy environment in the Tanzanian cocoa sector and explored opportunities to change it, with a view to improving the viability of the cocoa sector for smallholder farmers. This semester, a group of students is working with the Liberian Ministry of Justice to revise its legislation pertaining to probation and to propose a broad framework for operationalizing probation in a country that has never had a functional probation system or viable alternative to imprisonment. These are just two examples of the many projects in which students can be engaged as early as their first semester at HLS.
As these examples suggest, LIDS is a great opportunity to get substantive experience in development work while a student, particularly if you come to HLS with more limited professional experience. Given the multidisciplinary nature of many of the projects, participating on a team is also a fantastic opportunity to get to know graduate students from other schools, particularly the Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, which also participate in LIDS projects. And, an added perk is that the time you spend working on the project counts for your pro bono requirement.
Beyond projects, LIDS is also working to deepen HLS’s engagement in law and development. In partnership with, for example, the International Legal Studies program and the Office of Public Interest Advising, we organize speakers and events by academics and development practitioners, such as a panel on development and rule of law in Afghanistan with speakers from across the University and an event with an HLS alumna who will be speaking about her work on microfinance in the water sector. Furthermore, given the experience of its Board members in development, LIDS also offers career support, including a panel for 1Ls about internship opportunities in development and one-on-one student advising appointments. Finally, in an effort to build a University-wide international development community, LIDS has taken the lead in organizing a number of social events with student organizations focused on development at the Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Fletcher School at Tufts. LIDS has also initiated conversations with the HLS administration about expanding the school’s academic and clinical offerings on law and development over the next several years, building on the strengths of such classes as Law and Development (Prof. David Kennedy) and Making Rights Real: The Ghana Project (Prof. Lucie White).
I came to HLS with experience working in international development in Africa and a sense that a legal education was essential to my long-term career interests in the field. Despite its array of course and clinical offerings in international law and human rights, I was nevertheless nervous coming to HLS – really, any law school – that I wouldn’t find other students passionate about development. But, LIDS has assuaged that fear. As a member of the LIDS Board and a project team leader, I have had the opportunity to get to know the many other students with an interest in these issues and, perhaps more importantly, to share my enthusiasm about working in this field with 1Ls and other students who may have never seriously considered the possibilities of a career in law and development. Although HLS was already well-known for its international outlook, the enthusiasm and community that I have found at LIDS have reaffirmed my decision to come to Harvard and made me even more excited about working in law and development.
Interested in learning more about law and development at HLS or talking to current students working on these issues? Contact us at hlslids at gmail.com.
– Anne Healy
