HLS in Focus

William Langer ‘08 reflects on the factors that went into his decision to transfer to HLS. He is currently working temporarily at Machado Meyer Sendacz e Opice in São Paulo until he returns to Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett LLP where he is an associate.

“Looking back over the last three years since my decision to transfer to HLS, and reflecting on the various wonderful personal, academic and professional experiences that HLS made available to me over these years, I cannot imagine having done things differently, and I highly recommend making the transfer to HLS to anyone considering doing so.’

“After growing up in central New Jersey and going to college in New York City, I felt a need to see a bit more of the world beyond the northeastern US, and ended up spending a year teaching English and studying Spanish in Madrid. In addition to developing my interest in foreign languages, I was captivated by the international atmosphere and world view that I was exposed to in Europe, and I decided that I wanted to do something with an international focus in my legal career.’

“After my first year of law school, I was still committed to doing something international, however I was still unsure of the specifics. My academic and professional interests had always been broad, and my college majors in Economics and Political Science, as well as several humanities courses that I took, had only widened my interests. This became a principal factor in my interest in transferring to HLS.’

“Because I was still figuring out what I wanted to do, I felt that HLS would offer me a wide variety of options, and also that the various departments and programs were among the best in each of their respective areas. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a richer array of options than those offered at HLS, with its long list of top professors in all fields of study, various clinical programs, and dynamic campus life revolving around the many student organizations and journals, run by intelligent and inspiring students, all of whom bring amazing experiences to share with one another.’

“With all of these options, HLS makes the task of exploring one’s interests easy and rewarding for anyone willing to commit the effort to their own personal and professional development. Personally, I am amazed and humbled by the various academic and professional opportunities that I was offered during my two years after transferring, from a three-week internship working with a judge in Peru (during HLS’ month-long Winter Term), to my experience working on two of the various specialty journals, to two different internships working in microfinance with organizations in the Boston/Cambridge area, to my 2L summer, which I split working at a New York City law firm and then at a New York City microfinance/urban development organization, to fascinating courses in diverse areas such as Human Rights, International Finance, and Law and Public Health, as well as a course on the world history of legal thought from 1850-2000, a seminar on the writings of Freud and Nietzsche, a reading group on the city of Mumbai, and language courses in French and Portuguese at Harvard undergrad. HLS’ training and reputation also helped me to get two papers that I wrote as part of my coursework accepted for publication in law journals. Currently, I am working at a Brazilian law firm in São Paulo, practicing international corporate law. Living and working in Brazil has been a fascinating experience thus far. Another advantage of HLS is that when you travel to other countries everyone knows Harvard, which is good from both a professional as well as a social standpoint, since HLS is a good conversation starter, which is nice even when the questions people ask you are about Legally Blonde.’

“Finally, and perhaps most importantly, in terms of the transition to HLS there was (and, I believe, continues to be) an excellent organizational effort among the 3L transfers to hold events and get-togethers so that the relatively large group of transfer students from both classes could all meet each other. The 3Ls were also readily available and extremely helpful in answering all of our questions about academic and student life, which further served to ease the transition process. I quickly acquired a group of friends among the transfer students during the transfer orientation, and eventually, with the help of classes, student groups, journals, etc, my close friends consisted of both transfers and non-transfers, and also included 1Ls, 3Ls, and members of the large LLM class, in addition to my fellow 2Ls. Indeed, the reason why much of this post is not specifically about my transfer experience is that, after a certain point in my experience, I stopped noticing the transfer/non-transfer distinction and just thought of myself as a normal HLS student.’

“In all, I can say that my transfer to HLS helped me tremendously in my personal and professional development. In my first year out of law school, it is difficult and a bit daunting to predict exactly what the future will hold in terms of my career, but I can be certain that my background at HLS, and the many different academic and professional experiences that I was able to take advantage of during my time there, will serve me well as my career path continues to develop.”

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.

Now back from her January abroad with UNCITRAL, 2L Leslie Lang followed back up with us for a quick recap.

“My three week winter clinic at UNCITRAL in Vienna, Austria has been an exceptional learning experience. In this small department made up of ten attorneys housed within the larger United Nations family, I was able to experience how influential legislative guides that impact national laws across the world are written and developed. Specifically, I participated in this process through the lens of legal solutions to cross-border insolvency of corporate groups. With the recent global financial debacle, an increasing number of corporations are entering bankruptcy to restructure or liquidate their businesses. The complicated global structures of multinational corporations demand a more coordinated insolvency regime to facilitate the legal reliability and efficiency that can help turn around corporations, corporate groups, and ultimately the world economy. In addition to researching existing literature on the topic and reviewing UNCITRAL papers on insolvency law, I had the opportunity to participate in a meeting of global insolvency experts who discussed potential legal solutions to the problem of cross-border group insolvency. Although UNCITRAL covers a wide range of legal topics, from arbitration to secured transactions, experiencing the institution through today’s prevalent topic of insolvency gave me the opportunity to learn about both a substantive legal topic and the procedures of international legal harmonization.’

“Having participated in an international winter clinic, I should not conclude this entry without at least a few lines about the beautiful city of Vienna. It was certainly to my advantage that UNCITRAL is located in the UN office of one of Europe’s leading cultural capitals. The impressive, grandiose buildings at the turn of every street corner do not disappoint when one walks in to experience the works of Gustav Klimt, a Beethoven symphony, or an opera by Mozart. Perhaps the best part is that with the right tickets, a budget-conscious UN intern can enjoy the opulence of the former Habsburg Empire for less than the price of a movie ticket!”

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.”

… and the season of winter clinicals is well underway!

Admissions staffer Julia Foresman recently sat down with 2L Leslie Lang who is participating in a winter clinical at UNCITRAL in Vienna, Austria. She is working with the insolvency law working group, which is producing a legislative guide that contributes to the harmonization of insolvency laws to facilitate international trade and commerce. Her responsibilities include conducting research to prepare for two experts conferences on corporate groups in insolvency and treatment of intellectual property in insolvency. Prior to attending law school, Leslie worked at the World Bank. Her other international work experience include the African Development Bank, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and an NGO in Beijing.

Have a listen: Leslie Lang (5:40)

Stay tuned for a follow-up with Leslie!

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.”

Last spring, we did an interview with now 3L Tony Borich about an organization he jump-started here at HLS called Boston Coalition to Stop Bank Evictions. As the year went on the number of foreclosures and predatory-lending cases nationwide skyrocketed. Consequently, many of the country’s legal aid bureaus are being overrun with more cases than they have attorneys. Just ask Sarah Bolling ’07, a Skadden fellow and staff attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society who was just featured on NPR for her work on behalf of foreclosed tenants and former homeowners. Admissions staffer Julia Foresman recently caught up with Sarah to find out more.

Have a listen: Sarah Bolling (6:27)

While the situation on the ground here in Boston is still bleak, the work of Tony Borich, now a student attorney with the Legal Services Center and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau has burgeoned into a broader effort called the Foreclosure Task Force within the law school and universities around town. “There’s usually a delay between that time when the bank takes over the property and when they bring eviction action in court, which is when lawyers can effect change,” he said. Intimidated or offered small amounts of money from banks, many tenants vacate without being fully aware of their legal rights guaranteed under Massachusetts’ landlord tenant law. “We recognized that we needed to focus on the period immediately around the foreclosure sale if we wanted to increase the number of people staying in homes as opposed to abandoning them and leaving them vacant or boarding them up,” he said.

True, there are many more potential clients than there are students attorneys to help them, but this is where the door-to-door outreach campaign ‘No One Leaves’ comes into play. “We’re helping renters who are experiencing the most egregious behavior by banks, such as illegal evictions … we’re hoping to drive up the costs of evicting tenants for banks and dissuade them in future from continuing their current policies. It’s sort of a triaged approach,” he said. “We take the winnable cases, those that most directly serve our broader goal of changing the economics of what banks are doing.”

And they have had success. Take HLAB member Dave Haller, for instance, who recently scored a $54,000 verdict against the Bank of New York for cutting off the water and heat of a Dorchester man it was trying to force out of the home he rented, which had been foreclosed on after the owner failed to make mortgage payments. The verdict may yet be doubled or tripled under the state’s consumer protection law. Short of securing representation for every client, the Foreclosure Task Force is canvassing as many homes as possible and informing people about their rights and persuading them to stay in their homes and fight. “The important part about getting to people early,” explained Borich, “is that by educating tenants and introducing them to attorneys who can help them, they start to learn through how to represent themselves. We’re doing more with less if we reach people earlier.”

Since it’s a beautiful sunny day in Cambridge today, I thought I’d  post another summer story…

I ran across 2L Matt Carpenter-Dennis, a current Chayes Fellow and a Columbia grad with a degree in Economics and Philosophy. Driven by his interest in international commercial law, human rights and development studies, Matt spent his summer in the legal department of the African Development Bank in Tunisia.  Here’s what he had to say about the experience both in person with us and during the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship debriefing dinner a few weeks ago:Matt Carpenter-Dennis

How did you choose your internship at the African Development Bank
I have had an interest in economic development and emerging market economies since college. However, I never had an opportunity to expand that curiosity outside of the classroom in any substantive way. Coming to Harvard, I was dead-set on going abroad and doing public interest work during my 1L summer. The only question was: where? As I thumbed through the OPIA summer job guide they disseminated at the beginning of 1L year, I found that students in the past had gone to work in the legal department of the African Development Bank. This looked to be a perfect way to combine my interest in development studies with substantive legal work abroad. I spoke with several people in OPIA, OCS and former interns at the Bank about the application process and to get a sense of what this internship entailed. After some further independent research, I concluded that this was the right path for me to take. Looking back, working at the Bank gave me everything that I initially wanted out of my 1L summer.

What is one thing about HLS that you think everyone should know about?
One thing I think stands out most for me about Harvard Law School is the amount of academic freedom it provides its student body. There are so many resources on this campus; from various student organizations to the diversity of professors to easy access to the university at large. Law students, like me, who walk into this institution without a perfect grasp of which areas of law to pursue are able to cast a wide net of academic interests.
In my opinion, this is largely a function of encouragement from the administration as well as the sheer size of the law school. Allowing 1Ls to join journals and offering two electives in the first year curriculum are just two examples of the school’s willingness to respond to student requests to have flexibility and autonomy in shaping their legal education. Meanwhile, the size of the student body and the faculty help facilitate discussion a wide array of interests and make it more likely that students will be able to find a community of people at HLS who share similar interests.

How have you taken advantage of the resources and opportunities offered at HLS?
The most notable opportunity I have taken advantage of at HLS was landing my internship at the African Development Bank. The intern program there has only been in existence for 5 years and traditionally only takes HLS students for the summer. My experience in Tunisia was phenomenal and would likely not have happened were I not at Harvard. Further, SPIF funding and my Chayes Fellowship made it economically feasible for me to take this opportunity. OPIA and the ILS encouraged me and guided me during the entire job search process and at the end of the day helped me realize an unforgettable summer.