Tag Archives: Awards

HLAB Student David Barber Receives Law Student Ethics Award

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David Barber (center) with Ethics Chair Jim Peck and Chapter President Kathleen Burke

Congratulations to Harvard Legal Aid Bureau student David Barber, who received the 2013 Law Student Ethics Award from the Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel! Elizabeth Nesson, Dave’s Clinical Instructor at Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, nominated him for the award, highlighting his dedication to his clients:

Throughout Dave’s four semesters of intense clinical work he has impressed me as a dedicated and thoughtful student who makes the extra effort to be both effective and ethically sound in representing his clients. He has demonstrated superb legal abilities, personal qualities and an understanding and sensitivity to ethical issues as they arise in his cases and in the office. He has taken on challenging cases and worked extremely hard and passionately on behalf of his clients. Dave works very hard not only to be effective in his work, but also to be thoughtful and compassionate. He accomplishes this by trying to consider honestly and explicitly the many competing concerns and interests involved with each client, with himself, and with the community involved.”

According to The Chapter, the award was created “to recognize and encourage the ethical practice of law at the earliest stages of a young lawyer’s professional career, and at the same time to shine a spotlight on ethics more generally, demonstrating that the legal community values lawyers who are guided by ethical principles. The award, which includes a $1,000 scholarship, is given to twelve students, one from each of the participating local law schools, who have demonstrated an early commitment to ethics through work in clinical programs representing their first real clients.”

The Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel held the ninth annual Law Student Ethics Awards dinner on April 12, 2013 at the Union Club in Boston. Former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank gave the keynote address.

LSC’s Isabel Lima Receives Richardson Staff Award

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Isabel Lima

The Class of 2013 selected the Clinical Programs’ very own Isabel Lima for the Suzanne Richardson Staff Appreciation Award, which is given each year to a member of the staff who demonstrates commitment to the student experience and concern for students’ lives and work at the Law School.

From Dean Martha Minow:

“Isabel has worked at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center since 1980, and currently serves as Office Manager. One student explained, ‘Isabel is the heart and soul of the legal services center. From making sure each student is prepared from the day they set foot in the clinic, to translating for Spanish-speaking clients, and keeping our cases organized, there is no one who demonstrates more commitment to clinical education and our many needy clients than Isabel.’ Congratulations and deep thanks to all named here and to all students, faculty, and staff who make this school such a stimulating, rewarding, and meaningful community.”

Congratulations, Isabel!

2013 Gary Bellow Public Service Award student finalists all involved in HLS clinics

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The Gary Bellow Public Service Award was created in 2001 to recognize excellence in public interest work at HLS and to honor Professor Bellow (’60). The awards are given annually by the student body of Harvard Law School to a student and alumnus/a for their commitment to social justice.

The three student finalists for the 2013 Gary Bellow Public Service Award are all HLS clinical students. Their involvement spans a range of HLS clinics and SPOs.

Crystal Redd: Prison Legal Assistance Project, Harvard Defenders, The Mississippi Delta Project, Post-Foreclosure Eviction Defense Clinic, Employment Law Clinic, and Criminal Justice Institute.

Lara Berlin: International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Mediation Program.

Stephanie Davidson: Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

Read more about finalists’ work and vote for student and alumnae candidates by March 27th.

Gary Bellow was the founder and former faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Clinical Programs, and a pioneering public interest lawyer. His career was dedicated to providing legal services to the poor and to teaching law students practical skills. Commenting about his time from 1962-1965, when he was serving as deputy director of the Legal Aid Agency for the District of Columbia, and when he and his colleagues faced an enormous caseload with no job training, Professor Bellow told the Harvard Law Bulletin, “We discovered the best legal education America had to offer didn’t teach us how to get someone out of a cell block.”

Professor Bellow co-founded the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, the school’s major legal clinic, located in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.

Snapshot: Rajan Sonik Awarded ACC-Northeast Law Student Ethics Award

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Rajan Sonik accepts his ACC-Northeast Law Student Ethics Award

Congratulations to Rajan Sonik, who was recently awarded the ACC-Northeast Law Student Ethics Award. During his time at HLS, Rajan participated in the Health Law and Policy Clinic, the Education Law Clinic of the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, and the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project (where he is currently co-executive director). To top it off, he has completed over 2000(!) pro bono hours over the past three years.

We wish Rajan the very best as he starts work later this year at Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston on an Equal Justice Works Fellowship.