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.

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!

We recently reached out to Joan Ruttenberg, the Program Director for the Heyman Fellowship Program, to pick her mind on the issue.

Q: Generally speaking, what does HLS have to offer students interested in federal government work?

A: HLS has made a real priority of encouraging students to consider federal government work, and of supporting students who try it out. We offer targeted career advising for federal government work, extra stipends for federal summer internships, a competitive post-graduate fellowship program that offers both stipends and significant loan repayment assistance for grads starting federal careers, and on-campus programming with federal lawyers from all practice settings. Perhaps most important, Harvard’s network of willing alumni mentors in federal careers is unparalleled.

The result of these benefits is tangible: at DOJ alone, for example, in the past decade, from 26% to 41% of Harvard Law students applying to the extremely competitive post-grad DOJ Honors Program have received offers every year (from 14 to 26 students); the percentages for students receiving offers for the competitive second year DOJ Summer Law Intern Program are comparable, ranging from 22% to 46% of applicants each year (from 12 to 25 students). Typically, Harvard Law students receive more offers for the Honors and SLIP programs than students at any other law school in the nation. And dozens of students participate in the second year Volunteer Law Intern program at DOJ as well.

Q: What is the Heyman Fellowship Program?

A: The Heyman Fellowship Program was established in 2000 by HLS alumnus Samuel J. Heyman, ’63. Heyman spent the early years of his career in Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department, and still regards that experience as unmatched in excitement, challenge and commitment. Through the Heyman Fellowship Program, he seeks to encourage more of the best and the brightest of HLS students to enter federal public service. The Heyman Program has several components: a summer internship program, offering extra stipends to students in federal summer internships and providing the opportunity for students to meet and converse with prominent federal lawyers and judges; the graduate fellowship program, providing fellowship payments to 15-20 young HLS graduates in federal careers annually and (to a subset with heavy debt loads) loan repayment assistance on top of HLS’ already-generous loan repayment program; and on-campus programming, including visits from Heyman Fellows to talk about their careers, as well as brownbags and one-on-one counseling sessions with federal lawyers from a variety of practice settings.

Q: How does the Heyman Fellowship Program work?

A: Any first or second year student who is pursuing a summer job in federal government can apply to be a Heyman Summer Intern. Any federal position other than a judicial internship is eligible, whether in DC or elsewhere. Those selected will receive a stipend (that is in addition to any guaranteed Summer Public Interest Funding [SPIF] they may already be getting from HLS). During the summer, Heyman Summer Interns will be able to attend lunches with lawyers like the Legal Adviser to the State Department, top legislative counsels on Capitol Hill and United States Attorneys. They will also socialize with graduate Heyman Fellows and find mentors among them.

Current HLS graduates and those from the prior two years’ classes who are going into federal government work are eligible to apply for the graduate Heyman Fellowship Program. Those who are selected as Heyman Fellows will receive a $5,000 one-time fellowship payment, and some, based on debt load, will also be eligible for up to $25,000 in additional loan repayment assistance. Heyman Fellows agree to spend at least three years in federal government, and to act as mentors to HLS students and graduates interested in federal public service.

Programming throughout the year creates a wonderful sense of community among the Heyman Fellows; for example, upwards of 60 Fellows and program alumni attend our annual banquet in Washington, DC every year, where they welcome the new class of Fellows and hear comments from Dean Elena Kagan, founder Samuel J. Heyman, and other HLS alumni with impressive federal careers.

The Heyman Fellows are a growing and inspiring network of HLS graduates in federal public service. This network is available for all HLS students and graduates to use in their own career planning and exploration. Heyman Fellows have helped students get some great summer jobs at the last minute when other plans have fallen through (for example, when one student’s security clearance did not come through in time for her internship at the Department of Defense, a Heyman Fellow was able to point her to an opening in the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Department of Treasury, where she had a fantastic summer) and give each other the heads-up about job opportunities in their own offices (more than one Heyman Fellow has found a second federal job through information on the Heyman network). Heyman Fellows also return regularly to HLS to speak on panels and offer one-on-one counseling with HLS students interested in or curious about federal practice.

Q: How does the Heyman Fellowship Program differ from similar programs at other schools?

A: There are essentially no comparable programs at other law schools. A few schools have much smaller programs that offer assistance to one or two students a year, but none are of the magnitude of HLS’ program. Federal public service (or even government work in general) is often excluded from other schools’ loan repayment assistance programs, either categorically or de facto because of resource limitations. HLS has always had an incredible set of alumni who have had spent stellar careers (or portions of their careers) in federal government. But the Heyman Program has added to this a growing sense of community and giving back among its federal government alumni that is of tremendous value to current and future students. The size of the HLS student body and of the Heyman Program itself have resulted in a critical mass of alumni federal lawyers and active mentors that is not replicated at any other school.

For more details, and to see a roster of Heyman Fellows and where they work, go to www.law.harvard.edu/students/opia/fellowships/heyman/

Here are the details on the Student Financial Services website.

It is also being covered in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

We’re very excited to be the first law school in the country to do this!

Q: Does the LIPP program allow you to practice in the private sector, say in a small law firm?

A: Sure. LIPP is based on income and debt level—so private practice or small law firm practice works just as well as public service if your income level is low enough. We also have several graduates working as in-house counsel at for-profit companies.

Q: Can you get a political job, like on a campaign or in a congressional office, and still qualify for LIPP?

A: Absolutely. Though Summer Public Interest Funding (SPIF) doesn’t cover campaign work, the LIPP program definitely covers political work of all kinds. We’ve had a number of graduates in think tanks, working on campaigns, congressional staff, etc.

Q: Some people think that an HLS graduate’s only choices are a law firm paying $160,000 a year or a very low-paying public interest job. Are those the only feasible options?

A: There is a huge range of employment between those two extremes. Many people are surprised to find that there are public sector positions with starting salaries of $50,000 and above. Jobs in the middle range of salaries present different kinds financial challenges and require good personal budgeting skills, but LIPP will help based on actual income level and debt load, so each individual has his or her own unique situation. Some scenarios are available at this link.

Q: When I do the math, it seems like my loans would be as much as $200,000. That’s got to be something like $5000/month to repay! Is that doable?

A: First of all, not a single HLS graduate has left with that much law school debt any time in the last five years! And 80% of the HLS Class of 2006 who had law school debt graduated with a debt load under $135,000, with a median debt load of under $100,000 (which would mean monthly payments of no more than $1500 and $1200 respectively). Graduates in private sector jobs can manage that kind of debt load (with take-home pay of as much as $7000/month), and those earning low incomes can get help from LIPP for as long as they need it. Plus, with summer jobs paying upwards of $30,000 or $35,000, students who would otherwise borrow the full cost of attendance can cut down on their debt load quite a bit. Many students also supplement their budget with work as a research assistant, undergraduate house tutor, or teaching fellow.

Ken also told me to encourage everyone to check out the financial aid website for the facts about LIPP, SPIF, and financial aid generally.