This past weekend was Fall Fest, a Harvard-wide day of service. Basically, the school organized a bunch of service projects and encouraged students to participate in them. I’m not going to pretend that my initial inkling towards getting involved was completely altruistic. The night of the deadline to sign-up, I got an excited email from a friend of mine saying that our section was four people away from being the section with the most people to participate. The prize for the most well-represented section was a free tab at the bar of their choosing. I figured that if I got to help the community, hang out with my friends, and get a shot at free drinks all at the same event, it probably made sense to give it a try.

I threw my name down on the last activity that still had spots available, Project No One Leaves. I woke up the next morning, bright and early, and headed over to campus to figure out what I would be doing that day. As it turns out, No One Leaves is a group that educates foreclosed homeowners and renters about their options and provides them with free legal advice. I was going to spend the day with a small group of law students, going door to door to homes that had recently been foreclosed on and talking with the residents about their rights. After a training session, we were broken up into small groups and assigned a member of No One Leaves to canvass with.

On the drive over to the neighborhood that we would be canvassing, I started to ask our group leader more about the rights of foreclosed people. She told me a number of things that I had not known about the foreclosure crisis. For one, the banks usually try to undergo “no fault” evictions. They will try to kick renters off the foreclosed property despite the fact that the renters have paid, and would like to continue to pay, their rent. If this doesn’t work they will offer people small, one-time cash sums to get people out of their homes. What is most incredible is that in most instances the tenant has the right to stay in their home, if the eviction is of no fault of their own. The whole situation was something I had read about in the paper and seen on the news, but not something I had been given a chance to interact with firsthand.

As we began canvassing I was surprised by a number of things. At first, I was shocked at how welcoming people were to us. I am not sure why, but I had just assumed that people would be highly suspicious of the random ivy league twenty-somethings that had showed up on their doorstep on a Saturday morning, with fliers in hand ready to lecture them about the law. In actuality, people were just excited to have some reasonable person speak with them about their situations.

The other thing that surprised me, was how I was able to apply what I had been learning in class to what I was seeing that day. In civil procedure, we had learned that before taking away someone’s property you must give them “service of process” or fair notice. But if this were true, why were so many of the people we were speaking with learning of their foreclosure for the first time? In contracts, we learned that in order for a contract to be formed there must be a “meeting of the minds”. But how could the tenants and the banks be on the same page when the tenants were so woefully misinformed about their rights?

I know that the rudimentary grasp of these complex issues I have as a first semester law student probably didn’t allow me to fully understand what I was seeing. However, it wouldn’t take a legal expert to realize that on some level the situations we were confronting were fundamentally unjust. When we were driving back home after our day spent canvassing, I was pretty glad that my friends had managed to convince me to come out. I had spent the day learning about a truly meaningful application of my coursework, placed in a setting that, up until that point, I had only really known from newspaper headlines and talking head segments. I’m not sure if this is a fair barometer of how successful the day was, but I had actually forgotten about the free bar tab that had driven me to help out in the first place, until I wrote about it for this post.

- Anit

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!

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.

“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.”

“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.”

Over the last several years, local government and community economic development programs have been on the rise at law schools. Through the leadership of people like Professors Gerald Frug and David Barron, Harvard has been at the fore of this trend with such courses as the Green Cities Seminar and the Real Estate Clinic that provides legal assistance to entities engaged in residential and commercial real estate transactions and development. We also have tremendous alumni resources for those interested in this area of law, as Leonard Zax HLS/HSD ’75 recently reminded us.

Having spent nearly three decades at two firms in Washington, DC as a partner in their real estate and project finance practices and as a special assistant to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Zax is currently leading the effort to revitalize his home city of Paterson, New Jersey. He is seeking to create a National Historical Park at the site that Alexander Hamilton selected to begin implementing his plan to secure America’s economic independence and provide economic opportunities for immigrants. Indeed for much of the 19^th century, Paterson was a manufacturing powerhouse and an important industrial center.

“Pro-bono, I represented the New Jersey Community Development Corp. (NJCDC), for whom I testified before the Congress to support the creation of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park,” he said. The project would help resuscitate the economically depressed city and improve the quality of life for its 175,000 predominantly Latino, African American and Muslim American residents. “I had to make the case that this was an issue of national, not just local, significance,” he said. “The New York Times described one of the briefs I submitted to the Secretary of the Interior as a ‘38-page tour de force to argue for adding Paterson’s old industrial heart to the National Park System.’”

“In our research we found that the community as a whole felt this would be good for the city with great benefits,” explained Zax. “Latinos and Muslim Americans saw Hamilton as a primary spokesperson for the strength immigration brings to a country… they saw him as an ally to free Spanish colonies in the Americas. The African Americans in turn saw Hamilton as an ardent anti-slavery advocate.”

When asked by 1L Stephanie Dorenbosch to further explain what the Community Development Corp is doing, Zax said, “We’re going to create this national historical park, that’s the bottom line… hopefully Congress will pass this final piece of legislation. We already have $10 million from state. More importantly we see this as an opportunity to plan for the revitalization of the city.” He said they’re simultaneously working on a plan to reach out to the community to find out what kind of business the city wants to attract. Zax is currently looking for HLS interns to help him next summer to, among other activities, draft a series of agreements among the National Park Service, the City of Paterson and the state of New Jersey.

Sounds like a fantastic opportunity! Those interested, should contact Mr. Zax with a resume and letter at lzax (at) gsd.harvard.edu.

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

While we have long had a student-faculty ratio like that at some of the small, elite liberal arts colleges (like Bowdoin or Middlebury) we have made a concerted effort in recent years to try to further drive down that ratio by hiring some outstanding scholars.  Many of them have come here from other law schools.  We expect the trend to continue and believe that this is one of the things that makes Harvard Law School the most exciting place in the world to pursue a legal education.  Harvard has the most intellectually interesting and diverse faculty in the nation and it is great to see outsiders take notice, particularly those who, like Professor Leiter, watch these trends carefully.

“I found my summer internship with the Legal Assistance Foundation by taking advantage of the individual advising from the OPIA (Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising). In my meeting, Director Alexa Shabecoff suggested several options in the handful of geographic areas I was interested in spending the summer. Not only did Alexa provide names of organizations but also the names of HLS alumi and current students who had worked at these various places. After speaking with an alum who is currently working at LAF and a current student who had spent a summer there, I realized that LAF was going to be a great fit for me.’

“When preparing for my phone interview, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the LAF supervisory attorney in charge of hiring interns was an HLS grad. This connection allowed us to have an easy start to the interview. He was especially impressed with my involvement with the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review of which he was an active member in his law school days.’

“Before coming to law school, I had done both a semester long internship and a year of Americorps*VISTA in the field of low-income housing. This experience led me toward the Home Ownership Preservation Project at LAF. We are a very busy project this summer as the bulk of our work is in mitigating the effects of foreclosure. From advising people of their rights when they are first foreclosed upon to bringing suit against fraudulent parties who cheated clients while claiming to be rescuing them from foreclosure, I am part of a team that is doing real work to make a difference for people who are being effected by this very real headline-grabbing problem. I leave work feeling good most days knowing that I was able to have at least a small part in making the system a little more fair for the people who have been left behind or treated unfairly in the past.’

“Aside from the interesting substance of the work that I am doing, I am also learning a great deal about the day-to-day life of a public interest lawyer. Everything from filing documents at the Daley Center Courthouse to scouring depositions for something useful to our case has become part of my lawyerly repertoire because of this summer. I’ve even caught myself applying things from first year Legal Research and Writing and Civil Procedure that, at the time I learned them, I was certain I never would actually need to know.’

“I look forward to bringing the skills I have gained this summer back to Cambridge in the fall. I am sure they will be helpful as I begin my first year as a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.’