HLS in Focus

One of the greatest perks of being at Harvard is getting to know the people. I am always amazed when I talk to my classmates about their interests and hobbies. As a 2L it has been especially interesting to talk to other students about what they did with their 1L summer. I recently sat down with a friend and asked him to tell me all about his summer in New York City. During last year’s spring on-campus interview season, he met with recruiters from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. A week after his short interview he got a phone call with an offer. He immediately accepted. As a native of New York, he was excited to be home for the summer and because the internship was unpaid, he was eligible for a Summer Public Interest Fund stipend.

The summer turned out to be a great success. His placement in the civil division involved a lot of legal research and writing. Throughout the course of the summer, he was able to research several different topics including inmates’ rights to counsel and federal tort claims under the Medical Care Recovery Act. His first big lesson of the summer was that, “1L Civil Procedure does matter.” He realized this when his very first research assignment was all about international service of process and personal jurisdiction under New York’s long arm statute. I know all of this is gibberish unless you have taken civil procedure but after a semester in law school, you will understand how frightening those words can be and how great it is to see that you didn’t spend a week studying them for nothing. In addition to writing informal internal memos, he had the opportunity to write first drafts of motions for his supervising attorneys including a motion for summary judgment on employment discrimination under Title Seven.

The summer wasn’t restricted to just research and writing, the internship also came with trips to the courthouse to observe trials in the district court and oral arguments in the 2nd circuit. The office also offered a trial advocacy workshop for its small group of fifteen summer interns. The interns were able to participate in a mock trial at the end of the program and prepare segments of the oral arguments. Last summer there was even the opportunity to have a picture taken with U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder.

In the end, the internship was exactly what he expected. One of the greatest benefits of working in government is that they are often short on resources and really need help from interns. This means that you get real work that the attorneys often incorporate into their final briefs and presentations. There are so many different legal opportunities to take advantage of your 1L summer and I never get tired of hearing about them.

- Elizabeth

2L Ayalon Eliach recently e-mailed me about his experience this summer at the Hague:

Prior to arriving at HLS, I spent two years living, working, and traveling abroad.  Whether it was trying to understand how tax treaties between the United States and South Korea affected my earnings in Seoul, taking advantage of the easy access to travel and work visas that I enjoyed as an American, or seeing pictures of President Bush on newspaper covers in almost every country I visited, my experiences overseas piqued my interest in international law and heightened my curiosity about the ways in which the United States’ interests are affected by and pursued through international legal institutions.

When I got to HLS, I began thinking about my 1L summer very early on.  I knew the different elements of what I was looking for but wasn’t sure how to combine them.  I wanted to learn more about international law, better understand America’s role in the international legal order, and contribute what I could to my country.  After speaking to some 1L friends and upper-classmen, it became pretty clear that working for the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser presented the perfect opportunity to combine those interests. 

I quickly learned that the Office of the Legal Adviser’s summer internship is only open to law students who have completed their 2L year.  Luckily, OPIA’s Job Search Database contains profiles of internship opportunities impossible to find anywhere else on the Internet.  A quick search for “U.S. Embassy” led me to an evaluation of an internship with the State Department’s Office of the Legal Counselor in The Hague.  The evaluation was extremely enthusiastic and contained contact information for a State Department attorney who worked in the office.  I emailed her and although she had returned to Washington, she was able to put me in contact with the current Legal Counselor who explained the application process to me.

The internship was everything that I had hoped for and more.  I had the opportunity to directly work for and learn from two brilliant attorneys from the Office of the Legal Adviser stationed in The Hague.  I attended meetings with other states’ legal representatives, trials of alleged war criminals, and readings of legal decisions that impacted countries’ sovereignties and borders.  Being in the world’s capital of international law gave me unparalleled exposure to the issues I was interested in, and researching and writing about those issues deepened my understanding of them.  By the end of the summer, I had done substantive work related to the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and other legal institutions. 

The internship brought my 1L Public International Law class to life and enabled me to get out of my 1L summer everything that I had hoped for and more.

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

Last year, I began with the intention of finding a private sector job; however, like many 1Ls, I encountered some difficulty, given the economic climate.  By winter, I decided to make an appointment to meet with an OPIA advisor. I was hesitant to meet with them because I wasn’t all that interested in public service, but I needed to get a job. I met with Lisa Williams for about half an hour. When she asked me what areas I was interested in, I explained to her that I didn’t really have any preference and that I just needed an experience that would help me get a job in the private sector later. Lisa showed me the websites of several reputable organizations in Chicago that were interested in taking first year interns to work on legal issues and offices that would offer the kind of work that would be most comparable to what an intern would get in the private sector. She also told me that I should tap into some Harvard connections. I’ve never been comfortable asking people I don’t know for any kind of favors so she also said she would email some of them herself and see what kinds of positions were available. I left her office with a page full of handwritten notes on organizations to contact and tips on how to approach people with my resume and cover letter. Lisa even reviewed my cover letter the very next day.

I sent out application and went home for spring break worried that I wouldn’t get a job. One day in the middle of break Lisa Williams called me to say that she had spoken to a Wasserstein Fellow in Chicago about my resume and interests. He told her that he would hold on to my resume and try to help me out. He then coincidentally ran into some high-ranking people in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and handed them my resume, which he happened to have printed out and in his briefcase. Lisa was calling to let me know that the AG’s people were very interested in me and that they might be calling me soon so I should get ready for a phone interview at the very least. Instead what I got was an offer to work in the office’s Special Litigation Bureau.

The job turned out to be fantastic. I had the opportunity to work with almost every lawyer in my department on a variety of cases. My work included areas like consumer fraud, the Americans with Disabilities Act, arbitration guidelines, and the state’s whistleblower statute. The Bureau Chief took me under his wing after my second week there and asked me to work on some of his most important cases, including the Chicago Parking meter investigation and a couple major settlements as well. Over the course of the summer I got a pretty good feel for what it will be like to work as a lawyer. I researched issues of first impression and wrote memos for the attorneys that asked for my help.

In addition to getting to do substantive work and refine my research and writing skills I was also able to attend all of the workshops and information sessions that the office organized for interns. There was everything from hearing about the various career paths that lead to working as a department head in the Attorney General’s Office to how to prepare a resume that will get you hired. The unofficial outings were the most beneficial to me. On several occasions I was able to sit in on status hearings in the Daley Center and submit orders to the court clerks. I know all of this sounds like it shouldn’t have been exciting but I had never been in a courtroom before this experience so I was enjoying every minute of it. One of the highlights of my summer was when I went to the federal building with a couple other interns and sat in on oral arguments in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. We were all star struck when we realized that the chief judge on the panel was the Honorable Richard Posner. After reading so many of his cases in our 1L classes, it was amazing to see him in action. The summer turned out to be amazing and I have to say I’m somewhat tempted to “switch sides” and work in public interest. We’ll see. 

 - Elizabeth

Great article up on the HLS main page highlighting four students summer experiences:

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/student-pursuits/25_summer.html

If you weren’t sure before how boundless your international opportunities are at HLS, a recent presentation by the International Legal Studies office allayed much doubt through its introduction to a variety of study abroad programs available including a joint LLM degree with the University of Cambridge.

For those who may not know, the Semester Abroad Program is an opportunity for HLS students to receive a semester of ungraded credit towards the Harvard JD degree for study at a law school overseas. The study abroad program is intended to afford students a valuable educational experience, immersion in a foreign legal culture. This includes exposure to what makes the legal system function as it does: its underlying assumptions, how local lawyers think about the law, what law is designed to do, and how it relates to the society more broadly.

“Study abroad gives you a chance to be a fish out of water,” said ILS staffer Ben Cook. “You gain a perspective on law you wouldn’t otherwise have if you stayed here.” Among the advantages cited is professional development. “Depending on what your post-HLS goals are, you may be at competitive advantage… by studying abroad. You’re having an uncommon experience and a substantive academic experience that can facilitate professional goals and personal development.”

In recent years students have developed individualized programs of study abroad that have enabled them to explore the following: commercial and capital market regulation in Argentina; rights of indigenous people in Australia; environmental law in China; and European take-over law, among others.

Concerned that your area of interest may not relate to a study abroad experience? Don’t be, said Cook. “It is not just for someone interested in human rights or business, but a wide range. In making a decision about whether it’s right for you, be sure to evaluate your goals; is there a program that fits? Also be sure to evaluate your foreign language proficiency if applicable and be mindful of the school’s academic calendar when planning your summer internships.

In addition to studying abroad, Cook urged students to think about the JD/LLM joint program with the University of Cambridge. “This can really set you apart from other students,” he said. “Particularly if your interests lie with the EU… this program can provide a leg up for those thinking about pursuing more in-depth academic work. The Cambridge JD/LLM joint degree program also benefits students interested in learning about British or European Law with an eye to practicing in Europe or for a transatlantic firm.”

For more information, be sure to visit the International Legal Studies website: http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotligh…

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!

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.”

Calling all government lawyer aspirants! Anyone considering heading to DC next summer probably already knows that application deadlines are fast approaching (security clearances!) but I thought I’d highlight yet another option you may not have considered with the newest federal cabinet agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a recent info session, DHS Associate General Counsel Mark A. Patton ‘03 talked broadly about DHS, the summer internship process and the DHS Honors Program. In addition to ensuring that DHS activities comply with all legal requirements, Patton indicated that the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) attorneys play major roles, through policy coordination and various litigation measures, in crafting, developing, and defending policies relating to many of the most important issues facing the nation today including counterterrorism, immigration and border security and emergency response and recovery.

The eight-week summer internship program allows 10-15 students to rotate through various divisions of the General Counsel’s office according to interest including: division of regulatory affairs; immigration; operations and enforcement; intelligence and analysis; and technology programs.

More developed is the two year-long DHS Honors Program open to law students in their 3L year. Like summer interns, honors associates are encouraged to rotate departments. “The office is hungry for legal talent, so we’re pretty flexible on accommodating your interests.”

When pressed on what qualifications the DHS was looking for in applicants, Patton stressed good writing ability over grades. “We’re looking for young lawyers with a commitment to the rule of law.” He indicated that the application process was a sellers’ market and that “arbitrary metrics” were less important that relevant coursework, previous work experience, and a demonstrated ability to exercise good judgment.

What about job mobility? “Because the office is so young, there is a fast trajectory up if you’re talented… external mobility should also be good depending on what you’ve done and what you’d like to do,” he said. Because of the emphasis on rotation, both the summer internship and honors fellowships enable student and young attorneys to make lots of connections fairly quickly with other parts of the government.