HLS in Focus

I recently sat down with Marissa Vahlsing to talk about her experience this summer at La Asociacion Civil por la Igualdad y la Justica in Buenos Aires:

Marissa Vahlsing podcast

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!

If someone told you that the solution to save the planet was building more skyscrapers, you probably wouldn’t believe it. Yet, as explained by Harvard economics professor, Ed Glaeser, in a recent discussion with the HLS Real Estate Association, if you want to be good to the environment, you should stay away from it. In fact, suburbanite Americans are guilty of leaving some of the deepest carbon footprints on the national landscape. Professor Glaeser’s most recent work looks at “the greenness of cities,” with a particular focus on carbon dioxide emissions and urban development. “When environmentalists resist new construction in dense cities,” he said, “they inadvertently ensure that it will take place somewhere else with higher carbon emissions.”

In his study with Professor Matthew Kahn of UCLA, Professor Glaeser began by estimating the amount of carbon dioxide an average household (measured by family size and income) would emit if it settled in a variety of major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and then measured comparative data between projected central city versus suburban emissions within new or recently built homes. “We calculate carbon emissions from four different sources,” said Glaeser, “including home heating, electricity, driving, and public transportation, which make up approximately 40% of America’s carbon footprint.”

When examining the results, it may not come as a surprise that the five metropolitan areas with the lowest levels of carbon emissions are all in California. Naturally temperate climates and dedicated environmentalists battling for the use of energy efficient appliances and hydroelectric power are two factors that make colder or warmer cities like Rochester (with more heating emissions) or Houston (more electricity use) appear ‘browner.’ And New York, in spite of low electricity usage and impressively low transportation-related CO2 emissions, tends to use dirtier sources of power such as coal. Sunbelt cities, like Atlanta and Memphis, ranked worst not by heating their homes but rather by electricity (dirtier sources of energy and hot summers) and the geographic sprawl that demands driving. “The data suggests that households in dense urban areas have significantly lower carbon emissions than households in the suburbs,” said Glaeser.

The question of environmental damage associated with carbon emissions nationwide remains. Even by the most conservative estimates, new homes in Memphis do more than $600 worth of environmental harm per year than homes in San Francisco, which are associated with fewer tons of carbon. “Before carbon taxes,” said Glaeser, “the country should rethink its land-use policies which currently push people towards high emissions areas and away from greener ones.” Specifically, Glaeser referred to California’s strict land use regulations that inhibit the growth both upward and outward of cities. “By restricting local development, California regulators just make that construction occur elsewhere… [more] building in the state would reduce average commute lengths and improve per-capita emissions. Higher densities could also justify more investment in new, low-emissions energy plants.”

Professor Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard, where he also serves as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Interested in working in India doing either public interest or private practice work? If so, a recent panel hosted by the South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA) would have been right up your alley.

2L Nitya Shekar, whose interests include public interest litigation and activism, got her internship last summer with the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) in Bangalore through the Human Rights Program here at HLS. “It was really a great experience in a great city,” she said. “Bangalore is on the rise with public interest movements.” While she was there, Shekar was involved with the city’s first GLBT pride parade and anti-road widening litigation.

3L Lauren Birchfield and SJD student Iain Frame were also involved in public interest with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) in New Delhi were. “The Human Rights Law Network provides pro bono legal services, conducts public interest litigation, participates in advocacy, and collaborates with social movements and human rights organizations. Maintaining both litigation and publishing departments, HRLN works on issues such as right to food, women’s justice, dalit rights, disability rights, and rights for persons living with HIV/AIDS,” explained Birchfield who worked specifically with the Right to Food Campaign. “I greatly appreciated how much HRLN invested in us and in our project, and how much freedom was given to us regarding the project’s construction and implementation. I found HRLN a fantastic organization to work for, and I was pleased to walk away from the internship having recognized that this – this kind of work, this kind of project – is what I want to pursue as a career.”

On the private-sector side was 2L Erin Walczewski, who spent Winter Term with Nishith Desai Associates in Mumbai. “I was interested in alternative dispute resolution and arbitration and got to do lots of research on the differences among arbitration tribunals,” she said. “I met with clients, and the attorneys walked me through how litigation worked in India. The attorneys were especially interested in how business practices differed between the U.S. and India.”

When asked how to approach the application process for public interest firms, the panel advocated being direct and having a project in mind. Respect for interns at HLRN? “It of course depends on the supervisor you get,” said Frame. “Because HRLN was so large it helps to have an idea about what you want to do when you get there… your experience will be more dynamic if you take charge.”

Concerned about needing experience in Indian or international law? “I dealt almost entirely with Indian law which was totally new to me,” said Shekar. “But since ALF is so small, the work they do is very focused and my relationship with them was more intimate… there was no hierarchy and everyone was happy to answer questions for me.” “I found my international law class from 1L year to be very helpful,” said Walczewski, “particularly in terms of understanding how international agreements work.”

With Wall Street on a prolonged rollercoaster ride this year, some of the most interesting events around here this past fall have focused on law and economics. The Harvard Real Estate Association and the Forum on Local Government recent invited Seth Pinsky ’98, the President of the New York Economic Development Corporation, to discuss some of the most important development projects in New York today (and how they’re weathering the current crisis) including new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets, Atlantic Yards and the new Nets Arena, the Hudson Yards project and the development of the World Trade Center site.

“In 2002 when [Mayor Bloomberg] was taking the oath of office the city was experiencing its greatest economic challenges in a while,” said Pinsky, “There were doubts about the City’s future and there was a concern that people would leave the city.” Subsequently, the mayor made some important decisions that restored confidence and has been successful in raising capital; the City now boasts its highest bond rating in 80 years, welcomed 46 million tourists in 2007, and rezoned 1/6 of the land area of the City in order to make it more productive. Specific projects in which Pinsky has been involved including Hudson Yards, an area in midtown on the Westside that has been rezoned to allow for future commercial growth. “The key to this expansion is the extension of the subway line,” he said. “You can’t build on to the central business district without adequate connections to public transportation.” Other projects like Long Island City, Yankee Stadium, and Citi Field are focusing on rehabilitating depressed neighborhoods by constructing new office and residential space. The construction of these projects in addition to new transportation infrastructure will create new jobs.

“Quite a bit has have been accomplished, but it wouldn’t be a fair conversation if we didn’t acknowledge that the environment has become incredibly challenging,” said Pinsky “We’re facing unprecedented economic dislocation, foreclosures have jumped, wages in the city are projected to drop by 8% and large commercial real estate transactions are expected to decline by half.” These figures are important because one of the city’s primary sources of revenue is taxes on commercial transactions.

What does the future hold? Pinsky outlined Bloomberg’s 4 part strategy that first calls for fiscal prudence. “Our ‘rainy day fund’ has allowed us to cushion the fall of city revenue without cutting services which is allowing us to think rationally about how to plan for lower revenues in the next few years,” he said. The plan also attempts to avoid the mistakes of the 1970s that led to the destruction of infrastructure and alienation of residents. The plan also contemplates diversifying the city’s industry to include more film production and biotechnology, and to continue significant capital investment in the city. “Even in bad times, you don’t stop investing,” said Pinsky, “When the economy does recover we want to ensure that the city’s well poised to take advantage of it… the key to getting through this transition period is keep eye on future and keep smart motivated people in the city to ensure it remains vibrant.”

Interested in local government issues such as economic development, urban reform, and charter schools? Want to be inspired by someone who has been committed to public service since graduating from law school? Recently, the Harvard Real Estate Association (HREA) invited Stefan Pryor, Newark’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, to speak about obstacles facing struggling cities and current plans for reform under Mayor Cory Booker. He called on students interested in local government and city planning to join him in his quest to blow the embers on revitalization in Newark, New Jersey.

“This is an exceptional moment for urban life and urban centers in America,” said Pryor, “It’s been a long time since a president-elect has had such an elaborate set of proposals for urban revitalization.” Newark is taking advantage of this moment. As the second fastest growing city in the Northeast behind Boston, the city boasts a number of advantages not the least of which are its quick access to Manhattan and its claims to the largest seaport on eastern seaboard. The city is also a model for efforts to curb crime. “In 2008, Newark has seen a 40% drop in crime… this is the best in U.S.” Dozens of parks and other public spaces across the city are undergoing renovations with better lighting and landscaping. And the sense of safety among residents has begun to pave the way for further investment in commercial and residential space that Mayor Booker is overseeing.

But there are problems. With thousands of foreclosed properties, record high job losses, and frozen lines of credit to small business, Newark might not yet be worthy of Pryor’s rosy outlook. Yet the key to Newark’s silver lining seems to be its real estate potential. “Because Newark is so undervalued in region,” he said, “we think we will become a prime place for investment precisely because we are a lower cost environment in which to produce and lease office space and residential units.” Pryor later said that, over a 10-year period, Newark can save companies currently occupying office space in New York $40-70.

Yet given the current economy, one student asked, can builders get financing to make this stuff happen? Pryor is cautious but remains optimistic. “We brought in 25 banks to see what’s possible… we asked them, in effect, if we underwrite these deals, scrutinize them and establish a scorecard where we formally analyze which projects are most efficient with the least the public subsidy… would they form consortium of lenders? We got a very favorable response.”

When later asked how Newark plans to capitalize on its location without becoming a mere satellite for Manhattan, Pryor acknowledged the risk. “You want people to value their community which requires doing more than plopping buildings down… we need to revitalize streetscape, renovate parks, and the arts community has to be vibrant,” he said. We can capitalize on our assets, on our strategically important position on the eastern seaboard, our waterfront, our access to NYC and our community. I’m hoping we can recruit some of you to help us along the way.”

Continuing with our series highlighting the summer experiences of the Chayes Fellows here at HLS is 3L Katy Glenn, to whom I reached out a couple of weeks ago. Katy focuses primarily on human rights issues in post-conflict settings, particularly children’s rights and justice sector reform. After graduation, she plans to take a job with a non-governmental organization in West Africa.

Can you discuss what sorts of activities are you involved in, specifically the Human Rights Program?

I’ve been involved with human rights advocacy since the beginning of my 1L year. I joined HLS Advocates for Human Rights as soon as the year started. Advocates is a student-led organization that provides volunteer support on a variety of human rights projects that are supervised by the International Human Rights Clinic at HLS. My first project focused on options for holding perpetrators of human rights violations in apartheid-era South Africa accountable for their actions. I continued working on Advocates projects during 2L year, including starting one of my own on juvenile justice in Sierra Leone. This year, I am the president of Advocates. We have over 150 members, and in addition to our advocacy projects, we host events throughout the year: speakers, debates, career panels, movies, and social events.

I am also a clinical student in the Human Rights Program. I work on projects spanning a wide range of topics: prison conditions, immunity laws, mass atrocity, corporate involvement in human rights violations, Alien Tort Statute litigation, and children’s rights, to name a few. In addition, I have traveled to Panama, Haiti, Sierra Leone, and Liberia for HRP-related work.

What have you done over your summers and how has it impacted your course of study?

I have spent both of my summers in West Africa. The summer after my 1L year, I went to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to work for a local human rights organization called the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme. The Programme’s director was incredibly knowledgeable and supportive, and he gave me a lot of freedom to work on juvenile justice issues: I observed juvenile court proceedings, met regularly with government officials and other NGOs involved with children’s rights, and visited Freetown’s prison to interview the children held there. The summer sparked my interest in children’s rights, and in justice sector reform.

This past summer, I worked for an organization in Monrovia, Liberia, called Green Advocates. They focus on the human rights aspects of many environmental policy issues, including protection of communities affected by logging operations, labor and environmental rights violations on Firestone’s rubber plantation, and problems within the diamond mining sector, among other things. Working there gave me a broader perspective on human rights, and demonstrated the close connection between environmental issues—particularly in the natural resource sector—and conflict.

What is one thing about HLS that you think everyone should know about?

HLS does not yet have a reputation for being a strong supporter of public interest work, or for being a human rights powerhouse—but it should, and very soon it will! The opportunities to gain experience as a human rights advocate at HLS are simply unmatched. The faculty and staff at the Human Rights Program are amazing. Most of the faculty spent years working at various human rights organizations before coming to HLS, and they are full of practical advice on how to be an effective advocate.

Equally important, HLS supports public interest work financially in a number of ways: with funding for summer internships and winter term work, the Low Income Protection Plan, the new Public Service Initiative, and post-graduate fellowships. These programs have removed virtually every financial barrier that could stand between a law student and a career in public interest work.

Here’s a snippet of Katy’s talk during the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship debriefing dinner a few weeks ago: (1:45)

We did a bunch more interviews of students and faculty members to add to the HLS Speaks page off the JD Admissions home page.  New categories of interview clips include: (1) Clinical & Pro Bono Programs; (2) Criminal Law & Justice; (3) Law, Business & Economics; (4) Negotiation & Conflict Resolution; (5) Constitutional Law & Policy; (6) Why Law School; (7) Law, Science & Technology; (8) Reading Groups & Small Seminars; (9) National Security & Terrorism; (10) Social & Gender Justice, Civil Rights; (11) Career Plans; and (12) Joint Degrees.

Please visit the link to HLS Speaks off the JD Admissions home page if you’re interested in these subjects.

I’m guessing most of you out there aren’t daily Crimson readers.  So you probably missed this nice piece on the latest happenings at HLS.