The law school can seem like a really big place, especially at first glance. While many law schools are contained within a single building, HLS’s sprawling campus (relatively speaking) casts a simultaneously grand and perhaps intimidating shadow over a 1L like me. And, already, I’ve experienced both the grandeur and the intimidation. During the first week of classes, my section had a reception in one of the richest spaces I’ve ever encountered: Langdell Library’s Casperson Room. A bartender served drinks from Roscoe Pound’s custom desk while Dean Minow addressed my 80-person section in a room with vast art works given to HLS by the British royal family. This room, once called the Treasure Room, is like a Harvard Law time capsule–original manuscripts, paintings, busts, and even Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s homemade lunch box rests along the walls. The place drips of global significance, much like the rest of the law school environment. How can one not be at least a bit taken aback by this confluence of intellectual curiosity and history? Still, when I walk the halls (and tunnels–yes, we have tunnels) of the law school, I am now more comforted than intimidated. I am eager to share in the experiences of those who came before me and my classmates. I relish the opportunities at hand.
