HLS in Focus

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!

In a recent phone interview with staffer Julia Foresman, HLS alumnus Ethan Levisohn ‘06 talked about his career path in criminal justice including the DOJ application process and considerations for those interested in pursuing a career in government.  After graduation, Ethan clerked for Judge Charles Sifton in the Eastern District of New York and now serves in the Criminal Division of the Public Integrity Section in the US Department of Justice.

Ethan Levisohn: (18:40)

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.

You can read the complete story here at the HLS home page.

In an era where the financial world is rife with corporate scandal, the demand for attorneys who specialize in white-collar litigation is fast on the rise. Recently, the Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB) hosted a panel of New York-based attorneys who are familiar with this new trend in corporate litigation through their work in investment banking, hedge funds, law firms, and the U.S. attorney’s office.

“The market for white-collar criminal defense is very new,” began Carey Dunne, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and former prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “Back when I started in the mid-1980s, very few firms had a white-collar criminal practice and there was no focus on the prosecution of corporations, mainly because the Justice Department didn’t see fit to do so.” This began to change in the mid-1990s in part because of the Uniform Sentencing Laws, which reshaped the view of corporations engaging in criminal behavior. “Thus, as these larger companies have run into such problems as compliance with SEC enforcement, the market for expertise in law firms has changed,” explained Dunne. All the panelists agreed that this new market is unlikely to change regardless of which transgressions are under scrutiny; the recent credit fallout is merely the latest crisis.

“Because of this new white collar focus, the regulating agencies have come into play in a huge way, and thus what it means to be in-house counsel has changed dramatically,” said Pierre Gentin, Managing Director and Head of Litigation at Credit Suisse Securities, LLC. Gentin cited four focal points that he felt banks should reexamine frequently: 1) evaluating the ability to manage the regulatory obligations of SEC agencies; 2) determining whether any litigations brought against the firm involve counterparties or new claims for civil litigation consequences; 3) approaching and dealing with the “ethical minefield” of non-compliant employees; and 4) analyzing the under-discussed impact of the media on company press. “As an in-house attorney, you must manage these risks simultaneously,” said Gentin.

Looks like lots of opportunities for HLS-trained attorneys…!

Tax Help is a student-run organization that helps local people in need file their tax returns. The organization’s president, Jesse Gurman, 2L, sat down with me to discuss the benefits both to students and to community.

Podcast: Jesse Gurman (5:53)