HLS in Focus

1L and Co-Chair of the Public Interest Auction Sarah Jelsema recently sat down for a Q & A with us after this yearly highlight of the HLS calendar.

What is the public interest auction?
The public interest auction is a fundraiser run entirely by the 1L class that raises money to support students who do public interest work over the summer. We solicit donations from faculty, staff, alumni, parents, students, firms, and local businesses. Some donate money and some donate things to auction off. We receive all sorts of donations – things like Red Sox tickets, gift certificates to restaurants and salons, lunches and fishing trips with professors, cookies and brownies made by the librarians, and a tour of the Northwest Corner Construction project. The auction is one of the biggest social events of the year. Every year the auction has a theme, and we decorate Austin Hall accordingly. This year the theme was “Bright Lights: Bid City” and so the different rooms were decorated as different big cities – London, Paris, and New York.

What has gone into preparing for this event and what have you gotten out of the experience as a co-chair?
Almost all of the 1L class helps out with the auction. We divide the students up by committees and committees mostly help out either by asking for donations, calling alumni and asking them to donate, emailing firms, going door to door in Cambridge, or by helping process the donations and get them ready to sell, or by helping out on the night of the auction. As one of the auction co-chairs, I had the opportunity to work with a group of amazing people to try to plan and coordinate this huge event – it was definitely a  challenging experience for all of us. From coordinating hundreds of student volunteers to keeping track of hundreds of donations, to making sure everything comes together on the night of the auction, being a co-chair was a lot of work, but it was extremely rewarding. It was also a good opportunity to meet new students.

The event is always a lot of fun for students, faculty and staff. What was your favorite part of the evening? Did anything surprise you?
The event was a huge success. My favorite part of the evening was the live auction. Our auctioneers – this year Professors Elizabeth Warren and Jonathan Zittrain – were auctioning off the “right to be – or not be – in the 2010 parody.” The first bidder was the Dean of Students because they gave her a hard time this year in the parody, but then Professor Mann, who bought this item last year, got in a bidding war with Professor Warren and everyone was laughing so hard!

Why should admitted and prospective students seeking a strong public interest community choose Harvard? Why did you?
I think that students looking for a strong public interest community should choose Harvard because they can go anywhere and do anything with a degree from Harvard Law. We are a bigger law school, but as a result, we have so many more options to pick from than other law schools. Good public interest law jobs are really competitive – and since I want one, I’m glad I chose Harvard. I know that the connections and friends that I will make here, with professors and fellow students, will be of benefit for the rest of my life.

Starting April 15, HLS will begin accepting transfer applications for the fall. Over the last couple of years, there have been increased opportunities for Harvard Law students to study off-campus through joint degree and foreign study programs which make it possible for us to admit more transfer students than ever before.

The question of whether to apply as a transfer student is the right move is up to you, but we think that a little research will show you the vast benefits of transferring to HLS. With 102 full-time professors and more than 300 courses, HLS is home to the most intellectually stimulating legal community in the world. Outside the classroom, there are 14 journals, over100 student organizations, clinical placements in approximately 30 areas of the law, and more than enough opportunities for you to experience the incredible diversity of the HLS community during your second- and third- year. For example, the Harvard Law Review encourages transfer applicants to apply for membership and several past transfer students have been successful in that endeavor.

Bottom line? Whether you are interested in constitutional law or environmental law or human rights advocacy or any number of other areas, the breadth and depth of our offerings is incredible. Whether you want to clerk at the circuit court level, follow the path to academia, or pursue a career in public service, the opportunities presented to our graduates are unsurpassed.

For more details on the transfer application process including eligibility guidelines, deadlines, and application requirements, please visit: http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/j…

Also, stay tuned in the coming days and weeks for blog entries of a few students talking about their experience transferring into Harvard Law School!

The Program on Negotiation is one of the most valuable and dynamic resources here at HLS. Dedicated to developing the manifold theories and practices of negotiation and dispute resolution, PON encourages an open dialogue for alternative theories. We recently caught up with one of the program’s featured guest speakers, Nancy Shippen, executive director of an organization called Our Prison Neighbors, a local organization committed to recruiting, supporting and expanding the role of volunteers in Massachusetts’ prisons.

What is ‘Our Prison Neighbors’ and how did you come to get involved?

Our Prison Neighbors is an organization dedicated to bringing enriching programming into the prisons and to being a voice for prison reform and the humanity of prisoners. When I moved to the suburbs, I couldn’t find a way to be of service in the affluent culture. One day, driving past MCI-Concord Prison, I was struck that there was surely something in my years of special education teaching and community work that could be useful.

We recruit, train and provide ongoing support for volunteers providing the internationally recognized programs Alternatives to Violence Project, Emotional Literacy and Toastmasters as well as book discussion groups, literacy tutors, writer’s groups, father’s groups and many other programs. When possible we make public presentations on the importance of this work and the need for change in our criminal justice system to encourage the growth and development of all.

How has the organization evolved over time?

Our central programs have grown in availability, we have gained appreciation by our incarcerated participants and respect from the Department of Corrections, and we have come to know much more about the needs of incarcerated people. We have designed new curricula, and identified a number of areas where we would hope to make Massachusetts prisons more proactive. Examples are working to make the Correctional Health program aware of the many prison hospice programs and the positive effects they have had on the prisons that have them.

Other programs we have been working on include bringing programs like the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, Facing History and Ourselves and Thomas Lickona’s character education framework to the education departments, and providing books for the prison libraries from donations and free books available at town library sales. Recently we have been working to encourage the DOC to develop a green jobs vocational program so that incarcerated people can learn valuable job skills and state prisons could gain solar and/or wind energy systems.

You’re currently working to get students involved. How do you envision them working in the prison setting?

Graduate and mature undergraduate students would be welcome as outside participants in all of our programs and in time they could become facilitators and/or help design new programs and curricula. A program on negotiation skills would be deeply appreciated by many imprisoned people.

What of value about the experience might an HLS student interested in alternative dispute resolution take away?

Work with people in prison is a powerful way to experience some of the impact of our current criminal justice system, education system, welfare system and social services system. Students volunteering in our programs would have the opportunity to be trained in several internationally recognized programs. The Alternatives to Violence Project provides an experiential introduction to the power of a community based on respect and caring. While building community, participants learn skills in listening, communication, cooperation and conflict resolution. AVP is active in over 25 countries so we hope that international students and those intending on doing international work might train with us and be able to take this excellent material to ever-wider applications. The Emotional Literacy program develops the ability to identify, manage, and express one’s emotions in a mature and conscientious manner. Also anyone who intends to work with the criminal justice system in any way can benefit enormously from some first hand experience through programs with a record of providing opportunities for real growth and development.

How do you see this collaboration with HLS and the Program on Negotiation moving forward?

Our Prison Neighbors would like to work with HLS and PON to develop opportunities for students to participate in programming for prisoners in Massachusetts and to become leaders of programs related to their studies. This could be done through internships, service learning programs, or independent volunteering. We provide mentoring for our volunteers and could provide evaluations, recommendations and powerful experiences for ongoing professional development.

HLS has commemorated a number of historical milestones in recent months including the 40^th anniversary of Terry v. Ohio, a case which held that ‘stop and frisks’ were not a violation of Fourth Amendment rights where an officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. Some believed this case to have been wrongly decided, including the man who argued the case before the Court, Louis Stokes. Later in 1968 Stokes was elected to the United States Congress and served 15 consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Stokes was honored at a recent event by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

The case itself involved two men who were stopped, searched, and found to possess guns in broad day on the streets of Cleveland in 1963 by a police officer who claimed the two to be exhibiting suspicious behavior. “I had no idea that Terry would become a landmark case,” said Stokes. “The more I talked to [the suspects, John Terry and Richard Chilton], the more it seemed to me that we might have a possibility of excluding the guns based on the testimony that this event had happened on the streets.” In the wake of such landmark cases as Miranda and Escobedo that succeeded in expanding the rights of the accused, Stokes filed a motion to suppress the evidence. “The officer had no probable cause accosting them,” he said, “They weren’t brandishing guns, running, or doing anything related to a crime.

In spite of the violence and turmoil of American cities in the sixties, Stokes was confident his case would prevail before the Court. “As a black man I understood how black males were stopped in urban settings and if they didn’t have contraband as a result of stopping subjecting them to the indignity of being stopped…they were just told to move on down the street. That’s why I took this case.” Yet in the final analysis the Supreme Court based their decision upon the safety of the police officer and failed to extend Fourth Amendment protections.

“What I say to you as law students is that it pays to think outside of the box as a lawyer,” advised Stokes. “It would have been easy for me to plead them guilty and work out some light sentence. It took more to go against the custom and utilize the Constitution to try to uphold what it means in light of what people are subjected to on the streets in our country.”

Stokes presence moved the audience to emotion. As one student asked, “Did you or your brother Carl, the first black mayor of a major U.S. city ever envision this day [the election of President-Elect Obama]? You must have because surely you paved the way.” Stokes remarked that Obama’s whole campaign reminded him of 1967 when his brother became the mayor of Cleveland. “Carl built coalition in Cleveland of blacks and white. That’s how he won. For many reasons related to what Carl did and my victory as the first black congressman in Ohio the following year, Barack Obama’s meant so much. It reminded me how far we’ve come.”

While at HLS, alumnus Lam Ho was a public interest dynamo. As president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a supervising member of Reaching Out About Depression (R.O.A.D.), and Founder & Coordinator of the Giving Tree, which raises holiday gifts for children of the HLS clinical and student practice organization clients, Lam never shied away from going above and beyond the call of duty… including 60-90 hours a week dedicated to his clinicals.

Lam is currently on a Skadden Fellowship starting a community legal clinic for low income youths and their families in Chicago. Admissions staffer Julia Foresman recently caught up with Lam in the wake of a victory he scored with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Lam had been trying to get Chicago Public Schools to follow through with the Individualized Educational Plan that CPS and his client Mary Greenlee had put in place for her 6 year old grandson, Rayvaughn.  “It’s been extremely rewarding to educate and empower my clients,” he said.  “… this is what gets me up in the morning.”

Podcast: Lam Ho (13:09)

With the spring semester getting underway, the opportunity to explore new pro bono options and summer internships has begun anew. Anna Schleelein, the Veterans Program Director and a staff attorney for Shelter Legal Services, a non-profit organization offering free legal advice and representation to homeless and low-income individuals in the Boston area, recently stopped by to chat about the organization. Shelter Legal Services (SLS) offers many different opportunities for law students, including 1Ls, to gain legal experience working directly with low income clients. By providing a vast array of civil legal services on site, Shelter Legal Services reaches underserved individuals who otherwise would not receive legal assistance.

“SLS is unique,” said Schleelein, “we don’t see clients in our office, but in order to serve the maximum number of people and provide services to those who might not otherwise have access we offer a variety of legal clinics at homeless shelters and service centers in the greater Boston area.” These centers, at which students perform intake surveys with clients alongside a staff attorney, include: Rosie’s Place; Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless; New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans; Chelsea Soldiers’ Home; and Veterans Advocacy Network.

The Veterans’ Advocacy Network (VAN) is a new collaborative with the Massachusetts Bar Association to assist veterans with benefits issues. Law student volunteers will be supervised by Shelter Legal Services while taking calls from veterans, providing referrals, and completing intakes. Veterans are then referred to attorneys for in-depth legal assistance with their veterans benefits claims.

“Once we’ve decided to take on a case for full representation, there’s a wide variety of ways in which students can be involved,” said Schleelein. “In addition to the intake process, we also follow up with a client confirming our agreement to represent them and specifically about which issue; clients often have multiple issues and we may only be able to help with one.” Schleelein stressed that she wants students to get as involved as possible. “One of the most rewarding parts of students volunteering with us is that they can to see a case through start to finish.”

That having been said, if you’re a 1L and the idea of going to court makes you nervous, SLS is looking for help in a variety of areas, including discrete research projects. “We’re all about practical experience… we want you to work with 2Ls and 3Ls who have done it before. Not going to be thrown to the wolves.”

When asked what sorts of cases they can take on, Schleelein responded, “Not everything that comes through our door is something we can take… we’re funded through various grants the terms of which limit is from taking criminal cases and fee generating cases.”

Bogged down with classes and constrained by time? Fear not. The time commitment is what you want to make it. As you get more familiar you can take on more. “What’s key is maintaining open communication with people who have agreed to take on major projects,” said Schleelein. “The more in depth you work on a case and get to know an individual client, the more rewarding it will be; we really do work on cases that make huge differences in people’s lives.”

For interested students, Shelter Legal Services is currently accepting resumes and cover letters for their summer internship program: info@shelterlegalservices.org. The deadline for submissions is February 27.

Anyone interested in clerking after law school knows how tough clerkships are to clench.  Famous for its attention to top grades, stellar references, and flawless essays (sound familiar?), the clerkship application process can be fiercely competitive.  We figured some words of wisdom from a recent alumnus, Dan Sullivan, might be in order…

What was your background before coming to HLS? I graduated from Williams College in 2001 and worked for three years before attending HLS. Before law school, I worked as an investment banking analyst at a Wall Street firm, a research assistant at a public policy organization, and a legislative aide to a U.S. Congressman on Capitol Hill.

Why law school? I became interested in law school when I was a student at Regis High School, a Catholic high-school for boys in New York City that emphasizes a lot of lawyerly skills, such as reading, writing, and debate. But I put the idea on hold until I began working in Washington, DC after college. In Washington, my interest in law school was re-ignited by working with a number of smart, dedicated lawyers. My experience working with them showed me that a legal education would be great training for a variety of careers, from law and public policy to business and finance.

How did you get your clerkship? What was the process like? I clerked for Chief Judge Edith Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, who is an excellent judge and a wonderful person. I formally applied for federal clerkships in August before my 3L year, but I started the application process (e.g., researching judges, asking professors for recommendations) half-way through my 2L year. The application process can be long and cumbersome. But the HLS Office of Career Services (OCS) provides students with terrific, step-by-step information about the clerkship process and critical support throughout the process. Beyond reading OCS’s excellent materials and following its advice, I recommend doing independent research on judges by talking with current and former law clerks, seeking advice from professors, reading articles about and by judges, and looking up federal judges’ bios on the Federal Judicial Center website (www.fjc.gov).

What classes or activities exist at HLS for those students interested in clerking after HLS? Law clerks do a lot of research, writing, editing, and critical reading. Students interested in clerking should do activities that will help them improve those skills, such as working as an editor on the Harvard Law Review or another law journal; working as a research assistant for a professor during the school year or the summer; doing relevant pro bono or clinical work; or writing a significant research paper for course credit. While I was at HLS, I worked on the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and as a research assistant for Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who currently serves as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. Both experiences were great preparation for clerking, particularly working for Professor Glendon since she is an outstanding teacher and mentor. In terms of courses, students interested in clerking should definitely take Federal Courts, Constitutional Law, and Evidence. Other good, basic courses that provide a solid foundation for clerking are Statutory Interpretation/Legislation, Administrative Law, Corporations, and Advanced Legal Research.

Alumni advice for the incoming class? Make the most of your time at HLS. Dean Kagan likes to say (and she’s right) that HLS is like New York City because it has so many things to offer. Take advantage of the many opportunities to learn available at HLS both inside and outside the classroom. I recommend becoming actively involved in at least one student organization, such as a law journal or a club. Through your involvement in an organization you will have a chance to befriend and learn from other HLS students, one of the greatest assets HLS has to offer. During my time at HLS, I was actively involved in the Harvard chapter of the Federalist Society, a national organization of conservative and libertarian law students and lawyers that promotes intellectual diversity in the legal profession. My work with the Harvard Federalist Society was one of the highlights of my law school experience because it introduced me to so many students with such diverse interests, experiences, and backgrounds.

Clara Long ‘11 has been working on a web-based documentary project called Border Stories.  As she and her partners put it, “Border Stories, a web-based documentary exploring the length of the longest boundary between the developed and developing world, is an effort to promote tolerance by showcasing the humanity behind border issues. We present a mosaic of hyper-focused films from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border that illustrate, among other rights, everyone’s right to live in freedom and safety, and to work and get a salary.”

Internews, a non-profit organization dedicated “to empower local media worldwide,” recently awarded Border Stories their Every Human Has Rights Media Award in a public ceremony.  Check out Border Stores here.

I thought you might want to get a sense for our dean’s thoughts on being a public service-minded dean.  Now let’s see if I’m able to imbed a youtube clip into my blog…

If you missed the story, here it is.

By the way, I don’t suppose I need to blog about our new president-elect and HLS alumnus (’91)…do I? We expect to see more than a few HLS grads as part of the new administration (including the First Lady).

The last decade has caused many of us at HLS to reframe what we perceive as threats to national security and how to legally reconcile them. Nowhere is this more evident than in how the Western world has come to handle terrorism within its borders. Lecturer Shaheed Fatima, a barrister with Blackstone Chambers in London, gave a recent talk examining human rights law in the U.K. and abroad since September 11, looking specifically at the human rights ramifications of the war in Iraq, pre-charge detention, the use of “control orders” restraining suspected terrorists, extraordinary rendition, and the admissibility (in U.K. legal proceedings) of evidence obtained from torture. “I merely seek to highlight some of the themes that have arisen since 2001,” she said, “and to raise some questions.”

There has been a marked pattern of ‘to-ing’ and ‘fro-ing’ between the judiciary that seeks to protect against incursions on one’s civil liberties and the executive that ensures national security. Fatima referred specifically to the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) to detain indefinitely without trial foreign nationals suspected of involvement in international terrorism (claimed by Parliament in 2002 to be compatible with the U.K.’s human rights obligations) and the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act of Parliament intended to deal with the ruling that the detention without trial of nine foreigners was unlawful, being incompatible with European human rights laws. The Act allows the Home Secretary to impose “control orders” on people who are suspected of involvement in terrorism, which in some cases may disagree with human rights laws. Yet, there have been a number of spinoff cases in which the appellants have successfully demonstrated before the Court that their control orders amounted to a deprivation of liberty contrary to Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

A second theme focuses on how to reconcile national security with human rights obligations. The issue of the admissibility of evidence obtained via torture is further illustrative of the conflict between the judiciary and the executive. There was a huge stir in 2005 among human rights advocates when Parliament- while upholding the inadmissibility of evidence obtained from torture by British soldiers- alluded to the admissibility of evidence so long as British soldiers were not a direct party to any transgressions.

“Terrorism is not new to the U.K.,” said Fatima, “what is new is its internationalism.” A third and Fatima’s final point focused on the extraterritorial application of the Human Rights Act on 1998. “Part of the issue is defining how various sets of law interact,” she said. “You have international law, European law, and English law all needing to be reconciled.” Therefore even if a case is interpreted one way on the plane of international law, British courts continue to demand that cases fit within the frame of English law. “Of course the cases of the War on Terror are all fact specific… we must extrapolate lessons and find pragmatic solutions. I still think there’s room for idealism.”

For those interested in learning more about Ms. Fatima’s work, please her course site.