harvard law school celebrates national pro bono...

CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS

LEARNING THE LAW | SERVING THE WORLD

NEWSLETTER

October, 2014

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

CELEBRATES

NATIONAL PRO BONO WEEK

CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS PAGE 1

Celebrating Our Pro Bono Champions

OCP: Why did you choose to

study law and what sparked

your interest in pro bono work?

Edmonds: I decided to study law

because it seemed like many of

the people I admired as social

change agents were lawyers and

the practice of law seemed like

one of the best ways to fight for

justice. I can't exactly say what

sparked my interest in pro bono

work since that is redundant with

my interest in law. It never

occurred to me that I would work

for a client who could afford to pay me. I was only ever

interested in representing people who would not be able to

pay me because they would be the ones who would most need

my services.

OCP: What were your biggest learning experiences at

HLS?

Edmonds: I was fortunate to have extraordinary mentors and

teachers both during my summer internships and during my

two years as a student-attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid

Bureau. I probably learned the most from my mistakes --

things I did which still make me blush, but which my clinical

supervisors helped me to reflect upon and learn from. Above

all, my clinical experience, which is where I did most of my

pro bono hours, taught me how to be self-reflective about my

practice, so that no experience went wasted. In any situation,

whether I performed well or performed poorly,

I was asked to reflect on how I could have done better.

OCP: What do you find most challenging and satisfying

about pro bono work?

Edmonds: Working with clients! Working with clients is so

often the most challenging part of pro bono work, particularly

in the work I have chosen to do, because so many of them

have had really rotten luck in life and consequently assume

that the system is going to give them yet another raw deal, and

unfortunately, I am often seen as part of that system. But the

opportunity to improve a client's life by some modest

modicum, or even to help them to turn it around in some

cases, is so satisfying.

OCP: Did your involvement with pro bono work

influence or change you long terms goals?

Edmonds: I wouldn't say my pro bono work changed my long

term goals, so much as fortifying them. I came into law school

wanting to do public interest work with every ounce of my

being, and yet the pressure to go to a firm is so strong that

even I participated in on-campus interviewing. The

availability of summer funding from HLS enabled me to turn

down the firm offers I received and spend my second summer

at a public defender office instead, which is the field I entered

upon graduation. I certainly could not have imagined that ca-

reer, or been prepared for it, without that summer experience.

And my experience at HLAB was so influential that I am now

doing a clinical teaching fellowship through which I hope to

teach and mentor and inspire a new generation of law students

the way my clinical instructors at the Bureau did for me.

In celebration of the National Pro Bono Week, the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs interviewed past winners of the HLS Andrew

L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award who were chosen for their excellence and extraordinary contributions to the public good. Mira

Edmonds, HLS ’07, is a Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law at George Washington University Law School. At HLS, she completed

2,114 hours of pro bono work with the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Harvard Legal Aid

Bureau (HLAB). Lam Ho, HLS ’08, is the Executive Director at Community Activism Law Alliance and completed over 3,000 hours of pro

bono work with Harvard Defenders and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. And, Kimberly Newberry, HLS ’14, completed over 2,300 hours of

pro bono work with Harvard Defenders, Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project (PLAP), the Criminal Justice Institute (CJI), the

Housing Clinic, and the Capital Punishment Clinic. Please read the interviews with Mira, Lam, and Kimberly below.

INTERVIEWS WITH THE ANDREW L. KAUFMAN PRO BONO SERVICE

AWARD WINNERS

PRO BONO HOURS AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL CLASS OF 2014 - 341,951 hours completed CLASS OF 2011 - 366,204 hours completed

CLASS OF 2013 - 342,069 hours completed CLASS OF 2010 - 329,934 hours completed

CLASS OF 2012 - 352,120 hours completed CLASS OF 2009 - 308,605 hours completed

Mira Edmonds, HLS ’07

INTERVIEW WITH MIRA EDMONDS, HLS ’07

3,025,466 TOTAL PRO BONO HOURS COMPLETED AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL SINCE THE YEAR OF 2005

LEARNING THE LAW | SERVING THE WORLD PAGE 2

OCP: Why did you choose to study law and what sparked your

interest in pro bono work?

Ho: I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be an attorney

working with disadvantaged populations because of my

personal background, which exposed me to many

examples of how unequal access to justice is in our

country, including my mother, a victim of domestic

violence, who was an even greater victim to our legal

system due to her gender, immigrant status, and inability

to speak English.

OCP: What do you think the biggest learning

experiences were?

Ho: For me personally, discovering and negotiating the limitations of

"the law." By acknowledging that the legal system can sometimes be

slow, unfair, inequitable, or ineffectual for creating true social

change, I opened myself to, and learned to push the boundaries, of

what "lawyering" is. My work now is focused on how much more

lawyers can do: besides filing lawsuits, reading statutes, and arguing

in courts. In particular, "community activism lawyering," the model

on which my new organization (the Community Activism Law

Alliance) is based, focuses on how lawyers can create powerful

collaborations with activists and social movements to produce more

meaningful, greater impact than what they can achieve alone in the

courtroom.

OCP: What do you find most challenging and

satisfying about pro bono work?

Ho: Obviously the most satisfying is the assistance that we

can provide our clients. The moment when our

clients realize they've won are the moments that keep us

going. The most challenging is the sheer magnitude and

extent of injustices that exist, and the comparative tininess

of resources available with which to fight them: both in

terms of financial and human capacity.

OCP: Did your involvement with pro bono work influence or

change you long terms goals?

Ho: It definitely affirmed my childhood dream of becoming a public

interest attorney, but more importantly, it gave me greater clarity on

how to pursue and realize the dream, filling in the details and colors

of the vision.

OCP: Why did you choose to study law and what sparked your

interest in pro bono work?

Newberry: I wanted to study law because I believe that it is one of

the most effective ways to implement change, whether it is for an

individual client or for an entire group of people. Our legal system

has so much power to make a difference, but there is often a major

gap between the services available or the potential strategies and the

people who need those services and strategies the

most. I felt that earning a law degree was a way that I

could personally help address that gap in an area that I

feel extremely passionate about. As someone who

knew coming in to law school that I wanted to go into

public interest law, it was also important to me to do

pro bono work throughout school so that I could best

prepare myself for what I wanted to do after

graduation.

OCP: What do you think the biggest learning

experiences were?

Newberry: The biggest learning experiences were any that gave me

an opportunity to appear in court. Having the chance to go to court

as a student was extremely valuable because I do not think I will

ever have that level of supervision and support as I often had in my

clinics, while at the same time having some degree of responsibility

over certain decisions so that I could still learn and take ownership

over what I was doing. That is a combination that I think is difficult

to replicate once you have a real job. Additionally, going through an

entire jury trial before I graduated was a great way to get out of my

comfort zone and feel more confident in my post-graduate

work. Besides the laundry list of practical skills I developed along

the way, becoming an actual attorney is less intimidating now that I

have had that experience.

OCP: What do you find most challenging and satisfying about

pro bono work?

Newberry: For me, the most challenging and most satisfying part of

pro bono work is the same thing - the clients. For a variety of

reasons, it can be difficult to work with the clients sometimes,

whether they have an inherent distrust of anyone involved in the

system - including their own lawyers’ or language barriers, or

differing priorities, etc. Pro bono work involves a lot

of actual legal work, but maintaining client

relationships can be the hardest, and most emotional,

task. But then when you do get on the same page and

you finally earn someone’s trust or get a positive

outcome in the case, it is definitely satisfying to know

that it all paid off. Sometimes it feels like a smile

from a client is a bigger achievement than a win in

court - although it is great to get both, too.

OCP: Did your involvement with pro bono work

influence or change you long terms goals?

Newberry: I came in knowing that I wanted to go into death

penalty appeals, so while my pro bono experiences in law school did

not enlighten me as to a specific career path, they did help me

confirm my goals and develop the skills I needed to feel prepared for

this type of work after graduation. It was really helpful to have

multiple opportunities throughout law school to try different types of

defense work and interact with the criminal justice system at

different stages - the beginning of the process through trial in CJI,

appellate work in the death penalty clinic, and parole hearings

through PLAP. Having these different experiences helped me feel

more confident in my decision that I most enjoy appellate work, and

it also gave me broader knowledge of the system as a whole that I

hope will benefit my work and my future clients.

Lam Ho, HLS ’08

Kimberly Newberry, HLS ’14

INTERVIEW WITH LAM HO, HLS ’08

INTERVIEW WITH KIMBERLY NEWBERRY, HLS ’14

HLS ALUM EMPHASIZES THE NEED AND VALUE OF PRO BONO WORK

By Eric Ruzicka, HLS ’01

Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP

I will never forget the morning of my first class at

Harvard Law School. 8:30 a.m., Civil Procedure, with

Professor Arthur Miller. Truthfully, I found the event

more fear inducing than inspirational. Yet, I was always

in awe while sitting in a historic classroom learning the

law from world renowned professors.

However, one of the bigger regrets I have concerning

my years at Harvard Law School is not participating in

one of the Clinical Programs. While the Clinical

Programs were not as developed then as

they are now, there were still many

excellent opportunities. I can recall

thinking at the time that I only had three

years at HLS and that my time was best

spent in the classroom. I also recall my

concern that as a law student, there

wasn’t much I could offer the

individuals served by the clinics. After

all, I was just learning the law and

certainly didn’t know what it meant to

be a lawyer yet.

It did not take long after graduation to

realize how wrong I was about the

clinical programs. My first day as an

associate, I was given an assignment by a senior partner

to draft a complaint in a contract dispute. After walking

me through what needed to be done, he explained that if

I was going to work with him on the contract dispute, I

also needed to take on a pro bono matter and that he

hoped I would always be working on at least one pro

bono matter while at the firm. With very little guidance,

I then found myself assisting a client in expunging his

criminal record. Years ago, while battling depression,

my client had broken into a home in a misguided plan to

be shot by a cop. While his motive was clear – he knew

the home was vacant for the season, knew the home was

equipped with an alarm, and only stole a single pair of

socks – this dark night left my client unable to find

meaningful employment or consistent housing.

Quickly, I learned what I didn’t realize while at HLS.

First, the unmet need for legal services is significant

and requires the attention of every lawyer. Second,

despite being in my first week of practicing law, I had a

lot to offer my client. At a minimum, I

had the ability to understand the legal

process that he needed to navigate and

the skill to persuasively present his

story.

Currently, I serve as the pro bono

partner for Dorsey & Whitney, oversee-

ing the pro bono program in all of our

offices. In this role I am reminded on a

daily basis of both the never-ending

unmet need for pro bono legal services

as well as the amazing benefit that

lawyers can provide. Sometimes, the

most important component of providing

pro bono services is simply letting the

client know they have someone that is there for them

and on their side. For these reasons, I strongly

encourage students to get involved in the Clinical

Programs at HLS. You will find the experience to be a

great opportunity to learn how to work with clients and

advocate on their behalf. But even more so, you may

find it to be the most rewarding and inspiring

experience in your HLS years.

“I am reminded on a daily basis of both the never-ending unmet need

for pro bono legal services as well as the amazing benefit that

lawyers can provide.”

Eric Ruzicka, HLS ’01

Eric Ruzicka, HLS ’01



A PRO BONO ROLE MODEL AND CHAMPION: EDWARD M. GINSBURG ’58

Via the American Bar Association

On August 9th, 2014, at the ABA Annual Meeting in

Boston, the Hon. Edward M. Ginsburg (Ret.)

received an ABA Pro Bono Publico Award. This award

honors those who have enhanced the human dignity of

others by improving or delivering volunteer legal

services to the poor. Judge – you make us proud!

Via the American Bar Association

Edward M. Ginsburg was an

Associate Justice of the

Massachusetts Probate and Family

Court for nearly 25 years. Prior to

his appointment to the judiciary,

Judge Ginsburg ran his own

private law practice for 18 years.

Upon his retirement from the

bench in 2002, Judge Ginsburg

founded the pro bono program

Senior Partners for Justice in

cooperation with the Volunteer

Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar

Association. Senior Partners has

grown to more than 1000

members including attorneys,

retired judges, and law students.

Among the attorneys are many

experienced family law practition-

ers who represent low-income cli-

ents and mentor newer attorneys.

In addition to his busy pro bono

career with Senior Partners for

Justice, Judge Ginsburg serves as

a mentor to the family law unit of

Community Legal Aid, a legal services organization

that provides free legal assistance to low-income

residents of Central and Western Massachusetts. He is

also an adjunct professor at both Boston College Law

School and Suffolk University Law School, where he

has taught trial practice and family law for many years.

Judge Ginsburg has taught and continues to teach

numerous continuing legal education programs for

Suffolk University Law School, Massachusetts

Continuing Legal Education, the Boston Bar

Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association. A

thought leader before there was such a term, his

published articles and book chapters have helped shape

the practice of family law in Massachusetts. He also

writes the popular and sometimes provocative Ask the

Judge column for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Judge Ginsburg is member of Massachusetts Chapter

of the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and the

Massachusetts Family and Probate American Inn of

Court.

A valued member of the legal community and a true

citizen of the world, Judge

Ginsburg has served in leadership

roles of many legal and civic or-

ganizations. He is one of the long-

est serving members of the Board

of Editors of Massachusetts Law-

yers Weekly; a longstanding

member of the Mental Health

Legal Advisors Committee; and

Trustee Emeritus of the Flaschner

Foundation Judicial Institute. He

was selected by the Supreme

Judicial Court Steering Commit-

tee on Self-Represented Litigants

to chair the Limited Assistance

Representation Advisory Group

which designed the first LAR

pilot project in Massachusetts.

Outside the legal world, Judge

Ginsburg served on the Board of

Trustees of World Education, Inc.

and World Learning, Inc. where

he now has Emeritus status.

Judge Ginsburg has received

many awards honoring his

excellence as a jurist, educator, and force for furthering

access to justice for all. Lawyers Weekly named him

Lawyer of the Year in 2004. In 2005, the Supreme

Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono

selected him for the prestigious John and John Quincy

Adams Pro Bono Public Award. Also in 2005, the

Boston Globe named Judge Ginsburg Bostonian of the

year for his revelations about leaks in Big Dig tunnels

which he discovered while leading efforts in 2002 to

2005 to recover costs from Big Dig contractors. He is a

graduate of Philips Exeter Academy, Harvard College,

and Harvard Law School.

Judge Edward M. Ginsburg (Retired),

Senior Partners for Justice


TENANT ADVOCACY PROJECT

STUDENT WINS HEARING FOR HOUSING CLIENT By Amanda Morejon, J.D. ’16

When I accepted my first case with the Tenant Advocacy

Project, it seemed straightforward enough. My client, a

wheel-chair dependent man in his late 60s, had applied to

the Boston Housing Authority’s Public Housing Program

several years ago. In the last few years he had become

very active in his church and neighborhood community

and maintained his skills as a former chef. After moving

to the top of the wait-list and passing all the neighbor

screenings and financial requirements, his application was

denied due to an old criminal record.

My first thought was

that the Boston Hous-

ing Authority (BHA)

simply did not

realize that my client

had changed his life. I

imagined that once the

BHA saw the mitigat-

ing evidence, their

opinion of my client

would change. I was

surprised to find that

they had already

reviewed letters of

support from his former

employers and letters

from his church community. I quickly learned that the

Occupancy Department at the BHA will not approve an

applicant who has any criminal

record no matter how minor or

how old the record is.

Fortunately, my client could

appeal the decision and contacted

the Tenant Advocacy Project.

I was assigned to his case in

September and almost four

months later (a day before my

last exam) we were informed that the Appeal Hearing

would take place in two weeks, on the first day that stu-

dents returned to campus from winter break.

With the guidance of my supervisor, Lynn Weissberg, I

prepared the case for our hearing. I compiled the

mitigating evidence and character reference letters,

gathered additional letters of support, analyzed the BHA’s

Admissions & Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP),

researched similar cases with favorable outcomes, drafted

direct examination questions for my client, and wrote my

closing argument. In the two weeks leading up to the

hearing, I went over the material with him, reviewed his

criminal record, and discussed the changes he had made in

his life after his last conviction. My client’s testimony

would serve as the strongest source of mitigating

evidence so ensuring he felt comfortable answering my

direct examination questions was hugely important.

On the day of the

hearing, everything

came together. My

client was able to

clearly communicate

with the Hearing Of-

ficer and answered

both my questions and

her questions directly.

His thoughtful charac-

ter and commitment to

his community shone

through in his testimo-

ny. His cousin and his

close friend both

attended and testified

regarding his character.

Sixteen business days later we received the decision and

the denial of public housing was overturned. This wonder-

ful news meant that my client was

placed back at the top of the wait-

list.

Without the guidance of my

supervisor, the general support

from the TAP community, and

my client’s trust and patience, we

may not have achieved this

outcome. Knowing that unfair

decisions can be overturned and indigent individuals like

my client can have their voices heard has given me much

hope and confidence. With due diligence we can work to

ensure that people’s rights to receive public housing are

protected.

“Sixteen business days later we

received the decision and the

denial of public housing was

overturned. This wonderful news meant

that my client was placed back at the

top of the wait-list.”

All student work at TAP is performed without credit

and on a pro bono basis.

PROJECT NO ONE LEAVES

MY TIME WITH PROJECT NO ONE LEAVES REDOUBLED MY COMMITMENT TO

WORKING IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST... By Matt Nickell, J.D. ’14

I started going to Project No One Leaves’ Saturday morning

canvasses in my first year of law school. Project No One

Leaves (PNOL) stood out to me when I got to HLS because

it was one of the only organizations on campus that got law

students out of Cambridge and into Boston communities to

do housing justice work. Project No One Leaves was started

by HLS students at the start of the economic crash in 2008 to

connect people facing foreclosure with legal resources and

community groups that could help them defend against

foreclosure and eviction. Canvassing with PNOL was a great

way to see and enrich my understanding of Boston’s

geography, history, and culture. More important, it gave me

the opportunity to work side-by-

side with community organizers,

homeowners, and tenants as part

of a broader movement resisting

the forces that perpetuate poverty,

inequality, and segregation.

My time with PNOL these past

three years has been tremendously

eventful. A pivotal experience was

attending my first meeting at City

Life / Vida Urbana, a community

organization (and PNOL ally) that

brings together tenants and

homeowners facing foreclosure

and eviction to fight back against

banks and predatory investor-

landlords. The level of energy,

activity, and engagement in the

room was a testament to the

transformative power of com-

munities to transform lives and

neighborhoods through direct

action. Another major highlight

was helping organize PNOL’s

fourth annual foreclosure

conference earlier this year. We

drew 250 lawyers, community

organizers, professors, and

others from over eleven states to talk about the current state

of the foreclosure crisis, including the new dilemmas we are

seeing on the ground and the solutions needed to address

them.

The most important thing about PNOL for me has been the

people. Canvassing with PNOL allowed me to work with

amazing students whose commitment to social justice has

been incredibly inspirational – people like my Co-President

Tyler Anderson, whose thoughtfulness and diligence kept

the organization’s gears moving these past two years; our

Conference Director David Curtis, who helped organize

and run our conference this spring; and our Canvassing

Director Donna Harati, who mapped out and planned

many of our canvasses this past year.

The people I met during PNOL’s weekly canvasses have

been equally inspirational. Almost every homeowner and

tenant who answered my knock at the door was extremely

kind and courteous, but many had sad stories to tell that

could move anyone to tears. Homeowners had been preyed

on by banks that exploited their

vulnerability, tenants did not know

whom to contact about needed

property repairs and health code

violations, and many had recently

lost jobs, health insurance, or

family members. Fortunately,

many of the people I met became

active advocates for change

themselves, attending City Life

meetings and speaking out against

the predatory practices that

devastated their communities. As

a member of the Harvard Legal

Aid Bureau’s Foreclosure Task

Force, I had the privilege to work

with a number of the homeowners

and tenants I canvassed,

defending them against

eviction in Boston Housing

Court. But the real strength

of the people I met came

from their families and their

communities, not from

within the courtroom.

My time with PNOL

constantly reminded me

why I came to law school

and redoubled my commitment to working in the public

interest. To be part of an organization that allowed me to

work with non-lawyers and non-students to push forward a

grassroots model for systemic change has been a tremendous

privilege. Though of course I wish that foreclosure and

displacement would stop plaguing the communities I care

about, I hope that organizations like PNOL continue to bring

people from various backgrounds together to make those

communities healthier, happier, and stronger.

“To be part of an organization that

allowed me to work with non-lawyers

and non-students to push forward a

grassroots model for systemic change

has been a tremendous privilege.”

Matt Nickell, J.D. ’14 (second on the left)

and PNOL Members


All student work at PNOL is performed without credit and on a pro bono basis.

SPRING BREAK ROAD TRIPS LEAD TO THE CLINIC, THE DELTA AND

THE DESERT

From March 15-23, 2014, many Harvard Law students used

their spring break to learn about the law outside the

classroom.

Developed and sponsored by the Office of Clinical and Pro

Bono Programs, several teams of HLS students traveled

across the US to work with humanitarians along the Arizona

border, Bostonians trying to seal their criminal records,

immigrants in Texas and children in the Mississippi Delta.

This is the 10th year that the Office of Clinical and Pro

Bono Programs has funded alternative spring break trips for

students. These trips originated in response to Hurricane

Katrina in 2005, when students went to New Orleans to

assist displaced families. “These trips have provided

students with unique experiences. Students often come back

from these trips and remark on how eye-opening and

transformative their trip was,” said Lisa Dealy, Assistant

Dean for Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.

Immigration Border Work

No More Deaths

(Tucson, Arizona)

Six students worked with No More Deaths, an organization

that provides humanitarian aid to migrants on the U.S.-

Mexico border. Students hiked trails in the region to attempt

to map out new routes for the humanitarian aid teams,

monitor border patrol practices and collect information on

the treatment of detainees by Border Patrol. In the past, No

More Deaths volunteers have filed complaints with the

Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights

and Civil Liberties, and have collaborated with the ACLU of

New Mexico’s Regional Center for Border Rights in

documenting abuses.

Sima Atri ‘15 and Emma Scott ’15 described their

experience in op-ed in the March 27 edition of The Harvard

Law Record.

“What we

found at the

border was

vastly differ-

ent from the

narrative

we’ve heard

in the media

and in poli-

tics. The de-

sert separat-

ing Mexico

and the U.S. is a warzone, and thousands of migrants have

died in the last decade trying to cross it. During our week

there we witnessed the terror border patrol inflicts on both

migrants and residents. We saw the water bottles we put out

slashed and our own tracks closely monitored. On the trail

we found shrines to Our Lady of Guadalupe, abandoned

backpacks, and tattered shoes, left behind by those

embarking on a journey to save their lives or the lives of

those they love. Rather than meeting drug-mules and crimi-

nals, we found the trails walked by families, hopeful

victims, and people trying to return to their true home.

“Although we didn’t meet any travelers on the trail, we felt

and saw their presence. Food and water we left out on

Monday had been consumed by Wednesday, and fresh trash

appeared along popular trails. Our seasoned guides colored

the landscape with stories of their own encounters. Through

their years of collected experience they had met a myriad of

folks – men, women, and children – with unique and

inspiring stories of hardship and endurance. They had

treated a wide range of medical emergencies, rescued the

waning, and recovered the fallen. Migrants had told them

about how they had been attacked by bandits, had been

separated from their group and wandered the desert lost and

alone for days, and had been chased by dogs unleashed on

them by Border Patrol. Without aid from groups like No

More Deaths, many more would fall mercy to the desert, and

many more would die.”

The trip leaders were HLS Clinical Fellow Emily Leung and

Clinical Instructor Phil Torrey, “Whether students are

interested in pursuing a career in immigration law or

learning more about border issues generally, witnessing

firsthand the suffering that is taking place at the U.S./

Mexico border is a transformative experience. It’s

something that will hopefully inform their future work in

law school and beyond,” Leung said.

PAGE 7 CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS

Via HLS News

CORI project

Greater Boston Legal Services Center and Legal Advocacy

and Resource Center

(Boston, Massachusetts)

The existence of any criminal record can be a barrier to

employment, housing, and other opportunities, as employers,

housing agencies, volunteer organizations, as well as

government agencies administering public benefits use

criminal offender record information (CORI) as a screening

tool.

Five students volunteered with Greater Boston Legal Services

Center and the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC)

during spring break to help clients with criminal histories seal

their records, using a Massachusetts law that allows

administrative and court sealing of certain criminal records.

Throughout the week, students met with clients seeking advice

and/or assistance with document preparation. Students helped

prepare CORI requests, petitions to seal (both administratively

before the Office of the Commissioner of Probation and

before the Court), affidavits in support of petition to seal, and

affidavits of indigency.

Sharon Kim ’16 wrote about her experience on her blog: “I

loved my time at LARC, and I am very grateful for having

been provided the opportunity to serve the Greater Boston

community. I’m very thankful to my colleagues, who

reminded me on a daily basis how fortunate I am to be a part

of the HLS community. From our conversations alone, I

learned about the conservative nature of Japanese culture, the

sprawls of ‘Atlanta,’ and the energy industry and its

regulatory framework in the Philippines. It amazed me that

people from all different walks of life could come together in

the way we did for a common cause. Most importantly, I owe

my gratitude to our supervisors Steve [Russo] and Pauline

[Quirion] and the rest of the LARC team, who were extremely

generous with their patience and time. They taught me the

most important lesson of all: that people, regardless of where

they come from, just need someone there to listen to their

story and help carry their burden. That grace and passion can

be found through and from the work you commit yourself to. I

hope that in the future, I can be an inspiration to others as

those at LARC have been to me.”

Voting Rights

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

HLS Students in San Antonio, TX

(San Antonio, Texas)

Six HLS students worked with the Mexican American Legal

Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) to do legal research

and prepare evidence and witnesses for a redistricting case

that could result in

extending Voting Rights

Act preclearance coverage

in one of the most critical

states for minority voters.

Based in San Antonio,

Texas, students drove to

nearby towns and inter-

viewed residents on race

relations and historical

discrimination.

Students also studied San

Antonio’s history of civil

rights issues and the work

that has been done to

establish education, vot-

ing, and other rights for immigrant and minority communities.

Joint Use Project

Delta Directions/Harvard Mississippi Delta Project

(Clarksdale, Mississippi)

Mississippi has both the highest adult and childhood obesity

rates in the country. In one attempt to combat this,

Mississippi passed House Bill 540, which limits the liability

of school districts for claims arising from the joint use of their

facilities.

The goal of the bill was to promote more recreational and

sports activities for Mississippi children by facilitating greater

use of school property, as many communities often lack the

resources for independent facilities.

Four students went to Mississippi schools to compile a toolkit

for implementing joint use agreements with community

organizations to use the school facilities during non-school

hours. Students conducted research on joint use best

practices, and interviewed local school officials to assess their

concerns and needs. Students provided an overview and

training on the joint use toolkit to local schools at the end of

the week.


RECORDING ARTIST PROJECT

PRO BONO WORK WITH ASPIRING MUSICIANS

Via the Harvard Gazette

Let’s just say that Elliot Schwab knows how to multitask.

While at Harvard Law School (HLS), he worked for an Israeli

supreme court judge, raised two small children with his wife,

studied Talmudic law, labored on a U.S. Supreme

Court petition, served as a project manager for an international

legal and policy consulting firm, took classes at Harvard

Business School and Harvard College, and prepared for a

career in real estate law, all while doing pro bono work with

aspiring musicians.

Oh, and he’s a songwriter too.

“I have a hard time turning down cool opportunities that

arise,” said Schwab, who will head to New York with his

family for a job with the firm Simpson Thacher after

graduation. “And in a place like Harvard, cool opportunities

arise all the time.”

The New York native’s route to

Cambridge was less traditional

than the average HLS student’s.

Schwab had studied exclusively

in yeshivas in the United States

and Israel, educational

institutions whose prime focus is

on ancient Jewish law. The work

perfectly prepared him for HLS

and beyond, he said, teaching

him how to analyze theoretical

underpinnings and providing

him with “a strong foundation in

moral, religious, cultural, and

ethical spheres.

“That sort of an education turns out to be excellent training for

law school and life.”

But Schwab’s life could have taken a very different turn

during his first HLS year when the music production team

behind artists such as Lady Gaga, Moby, and Linkin Park

came calling after hearing one of his demos.

Schwab’s formal musical training amounted to a few years

playing the piano as a child, but he always loved “thinking

holistically about chords and the relationships between notes.”

As a teen, he taught himself the guitar, harmonica, and

ukulele, and dabbled in songwriting.

In 2009, as a first anniversary present to his wife, Aliza, he

recorded her a song in Israel. She begged him to do another.

He recorded a handful of songs and then reached out to local

music producers, hoping they might produce his work with

other artists.

“I was persistent. I kept recording more songs and harassing

their email inboxes until somebody started listening.”

Listen they did. Schwab knew he’d found success when he

hopped into a Jerusalem taxi during a clerkship for an Israeli

judge last summer, and one of his songs started playing on the

radio. “It has been both humbling and encouraging to shoot for

a seemingly unattainable goal, work hard to realize it, and then

watch my efforts reach fruition and snowball,” he said.

His musical experience came in handy at HLS. He provided

free counsel to music industry artists and producers through

the School’s Recording Artists Project clinic. He also helped

craft a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court with HLS Professor

Charles Nesson that urged the court

to hear the case of Joel Tenenbaum,

a Boston University student sued

by the recording industry and fined

by federal courts for illegally

downloading and distributing

songs.

It also was a priority for Schwab to

maintain his Talmudic studies. And

he worked closely with HLS

professors Alan Dershowitz and

Noah Feldman, helping them with

research and book projects.

When he wasn’t busy at HLS, or

writing the occasional song, one of

Schwab’s favorite pastimes was hosting dinners at his home in

Brighton with his wife and children Shimon, four, and Yisrael,

two.

“At Harvard Law School there are so many brilliant, talented,

and fascinating people coming from a diverse array of

backgrounds. There were so many people from whom to learn

and this was a great way of connecting.”

There were many opportunities to seize at HLS. For the man

who always loves to do more, Harvard was the perfect fit,

though he didn’t necessarily know that coming in.

“I was very excited, but also a bit nervous, and didn’t know

what to expect,” said Schwab. “My experience here has

surpassed my very high expectations. I know that sounds

cliché, but it’s really true.”


Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Elliot Schwab, HLS ’14

LL.M. STUDENT WORKS PRO BONO TO UPHOLD LANGUAGE ACCESS RIGHTS By Anna Chuwen Dai, LL.M. ’14

Language access is a civil right. I first learned about this last

spring semester, when I worked for the Volunteer Lawyers

Project of the Boston Bar Association (VLP), on the language

access rights project. Language-assistance to limited-English-

proficient (LEP) individuals is an important measure of how

civil rights requirements are met. Under Title VI of Civil

Rights Act of 1964, “no person in the

United States shall, on the ground of

race, color, or national origin, be

excluded from participating in, be denied

the benefits of, or be subjected to

discrimination under any program or

activity receiving Federal financial

assistance.” The right to language access

protects people from being discriminated

against based on their national origin.

Striving to uphold these rights, at VLP I

joined other HLS students to examine the

language accessibility of a clerk’s office of a Massachusetts

Family and Probate Court. As part of my work, I visited the

court to conduct on-site investigation and interviews. I looked

at the signs and services from a LEP individual’s perspective.

For instance, I tried to follow the signs for where to file a

complaint and where to find a courtroom for a hearing.

Additionally, I looked at the available multilingual material

distributed in the courthouse and on the court’s website.

Along with my teammates, I also talked to an attorney, two

clerks, and a Chinese court interpreter. The purpose of these

discussions was to learn more about the court’s language

resources, the needs of the court and its visitors, and the court

efforts to help LEP individuals. Following the visit, we drafted

a report based on the information gathered through our

observations and interviews. VLP could

use the report as a tool for helping

the courts improve language access.

Other projects I had a chance to work on

included designing the ‘Know your

language access rights’ fliers, which could

be used to assist low income tenants in

disputing issues with their landlords,

either through mediation or litigation at

the Boston Housing Court. I also took the

opportunity to observe hearings at the

Boston Housing Court, where interpreters

were involved.

If it were not for the efforts and advocacy from organizations

like VLP, language access rights would likely go ignored. It

felt wonderful to know that as students and lawyers we can use

our expertise to fight for these rights and increase awareness

of this issue.

PAGE 10 LEARNING THE LAW | SERVING THE WORLD

HARVARD IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE CLINICAL PROGRAM

HARVARD IMMIGRATION PROJECT STUDENTS CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR

MASSACHUSETTS TRUST ACT

Via the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

Summer, 2014 came to and end, but the fight to pass the

Massachusetts Trust Act continues. For most of the past year,

the Harvard Immigration Project (HIP) has

had the privilege of membership in the coali-

tion of organizations working to end local law

enforcement compliance with Immigration

and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers, or

“ICE holds.” Though the campaign did not

succeed in persuading the Massachusetts

General Court to adopt a statewide solution, it

helped achieve tremendous successes at the

local level, in the form of new policies adopt-

ed by several localities in Massachusetts,

including the cities of Somerville and

Cambridge and Hampden County, ending or

limiting the use of ICE holds.

HIP students made important contributions to the Trust

campaign. They conducted legal research and helped draft sign

-on letters to policymakers and law enforcement officials on

behalf of the Trust coalition; participated in call-in and write-in

lobbying campaigns to state legislators and city councilors to

encourage the adoption of Trust policies; and

sat in on strategy meetings with coalition

members and their legislative allies. More

importantly, they will continue to play an

important role in the campaign as it moves

forward. The Boston City Council is currently

considering its own Trust Ordinance, and HIP

will assist in the coalition’s efforts to ensure

that the measure that is ultimately adopted

offers the broadest protections possible. And

HIP will be there in 2015, when the statewide

bill is reintroduced in the next legislative

session of the General Court. We look forward

to continuing to work with our community partners to keep up

the fight against warrantless immigration detention here in

Massachusetts!

All student work at HIP is performed without credit


A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH Via Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

Richard A. Johnston, HLS ‘ 76, has had a long and fruitful ca-

reer focusing on the litigation and arbitration of complex busi-

ness disputes.

Despite his success, however, it’s safe to say none of his

previous legal victories ever resulted in a courtroom standing

ovation or front-page story in The New York Times.

Johnston, of WilmerHale in Boston, owes those recent

accomplishments to his pro bono work, which recently helped

exonerate Henry Lee McCollum, an

inmate facing a death

sentence for the 1983 rape and murder

of a North Carolina child.

WilmerHale got involved in the case in

1994, and for 20 years the firm’s

efforts were focused on sparing

McCollum’s life. When Johnston

succeeded retired colleague Harry T.

Daniels as the lead partner on the case

two years ago, the firm and its

co-counsel, the Center for Death Pen-

alty Litigation, set their sights on a

clemency petition (which a former

governor declined to grant) and

motions arguing that, as a matter of

law, the death penalty shouldn’t be

imposed on McCollum because he is

intellectually disabled.

McCollum’s team was preparing for an

evidentiary hearing on the question of

the defendant’s mental disability when

the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry

Commission unearthed exonerating

DNA evidence. The emphasis of the

hearing quickly shifted and concluded with a Superior Court

judge in North Carolina ordering the release of McCollum and

his half-brother, Leon Brown, who was serving a life sentence

for the same crime, earlier this month.

The commission is an independent state agency with broad

subpoena powers that was able to put its hands on evidence

long withheld from defense lawyers, including police evidence

gathered in the initial investigation.

DNA tests linked a cigarette found on the scene to Roscoe

Artis, who is in prison for a life sentence for the rape and

murder of an 18-year-old girl that took place just weeks after

the crime for which McCollum and Brown were wrongfully

convicted.

“It wasn’t until the hearing itself that we learned [the district

attorney] definitely was not going to challenge the innocence

and would go along with a motion that all charges should be

dismissed with prejudice,” Johnston says. “It was quiet an

astounding day. There were many family members, press,

ex-lawyers and judges there to see if justice would be done.”

Johnston says hearing the judge read his order at the end of the

day was “an electric experience.”

“I have never had any such feeling in a

courtroom ever. It was almost just a

shiver,” he recalls. “When the order

was read, the crowd just burst into

spontaneous applause.” Johnston says

the experience further affirmed the

decision he made 30 years ago to join

WilmerHale predecessor Hale & Dorr

“because they had a reputation above

all others in Boston for doing public

service and pro bono work.”

“I went to law school because I thought

the law was the best way to try to make

society a better place,” says Johnston,

who spends about 10 percent of his

time on pro bono matters. “When I

elected to go to a firm, I wanted to go

to a firm that I thought would give me

the opportunity to do pro bono as well

as regular commercial cases. …I didn’t

know how [McCollum's case] would

turn out, but I certainly thought it was

worth taking across the finish line.”

While the stakes won’t always be life-or

-death, Johnston hopes his experience

will encourage other lawyers to devote more time to pro bono

matters. He also hopes other states emulate the first-of-its-kind

North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

“This is one of those magnificent examples of where the system

ultimately corrects itself. But it doesn’t correct itself on its own;

it corrects itself because of the hard work of many people,”

Johnston says. “The fact that all of these parts of the system can

come together along with the judge was a great lesson in how

things can work if everybody labors at it.”

In addition to Johnston and Daniels, former WilmerHale

partner James E. Coleman Jr. (now at Duke University School

of Law), London partner Steven P. Finizio, and Boston

associates Andrew S. Dulberg and Jared B. Cohen worked on

the McCollum’s case.


Richard A. Johnston, HLS ‘ 76 Partner at

WilmerHale, and WilmerHale Pro Bono

Attorney at HLS Center for Health Law and

Policy Innovation

HARVARD PRISON LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT

PLAP LITIGATES IN PRISON AND COURT, WITH A RECENT VICTORY!


The Prison Legal Assistance Project (PLAP) is known

for its work representing Massachusetts state prisoners in

disciplinary and parole hearings since the early

1970s. PLAP is the only law school clinical program of

its kind in the country. In addition to its work in prisons,

PLAP also advocates for clients through lawsuits in the

Massachusetts courts. De-

spite less than encouraging

odds of winning prisoner

lawsuits, earlier this year

PLAP won a Massachusetts

Superior Court case it filed

on behalf of a client,

Benjamin Blake, who was

convicted in a state prison

disciplinary hearing of

smuggling drugs into prison.

“The evidence was

ridiculously thin, in fact it

was nonexistent, and the

students thought if there was

ever a good case to challenge

in court, this was one such

case,” said Supervising

Attorney and Senior Clinical

Instructor John Fitzpatrick.

Preparing the case for court

was a team effort, involving not only the PLAP students

who represented Blake in his prison disciplinary hearing

and wrote his administrative appeal to the state

Department of Correction (DOC) (Sia Henry ’14 and

Andrew Mamo ’14), but also students researching and

writing the brief to the Superior Court (Brendan Selby

’13 and Corey Banks ’13). Oral argument before

Superior Court Associate Justice Paul Wilson was

handled by another PLAPper, Jake Alderdice ’14.

Fitzpatrick, who supervised Alderdice during the

argument, called his performance “amazing” and “better

than most lawyers could do.”

“I’m grateful for all the help I got from the other student

attorneys on the case and from John. It was great to see a

judge step in and look somewhat critically at the issues

within the Massachusetts prison system, such as guilty

disciplinary findings on very little evidence, that PLAP

confronts every day,” said Jake.

“The court argument lasted over an hour, with lots of

vigorous questioning from the bench and back and forth

between the Judge and counsel. Jake handled every

question superbly, even the curve balls. It’s gratifying to

see our students perform so skillfully in real-life court

situations like this,” Fitzpatrick said.

Hon. John C. Cratsley (Ret.) who

supervises the Judicial Process in

Community Courts Clinic, spent

time working with Alderdice and

Fitzpatrick to prepare for the

upcoming oral argument in court.

“His experience and assistance

was a huge help,” Fitzpatrick

said.

Several weeks later, the Court

released its detailed written

decision, siding with PLAP’s

arguments that the DOC’s guilty

findings were unsupported by

legally sufficient evidence. The

Judge ordered the guilty findings

vacated and the charges

dismissed. After considering its

options, the DOC chose not to

appeal, and the decision now

stands as the final – and for

PLAP’s client, a winning – disposition of the case.

Meanwhile, PLAP has brought other recent lawsuits,

with two pending suits challenging prison disciplinary

hearing guilty findings for different clients. A third

ongoing PLAP suit is against the state Parole Board for

its refusal to parole a prisoner because of his mental

disability of traumatic brain injury. “It looks like 2014 –

2015 will be a busy year in court for PLAP,” observed

Fitzpatrick. “But this is exactly the sort of real litigation

experience our students are looking for, and our clients

benefit tremendously from having such capable and

motivated student attorneys working for them.”

“PLAP is the only law school clinical

program of its kind in the country.”

-John Fitzpatrick, Senior Clinical Instructor

Jacob Alderdice, HLS ‘14

All student work at PLAP is performed without credit


Harvard Law School is celebrating National Pro Bono

Week from October 20th to October 24th., 2014 This

celebration honors the outstanding work of lawyers who

volunteer their time to help people in their communities

and increase justice for all. The week will be marked by

ceremonies and panel discussions focused on the value

of pro bono work.

The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs Invites You to Attend the Following Events:

MON. October 20th GLOBAL PRO BONO: STORIES FROM THE FIELD WCC 3007 12 – 1 pm Co-Sponsored by International Legal Studies and the Graduate Program

Professor of Law William Alford will moderate and

share his insights about his global pro bono work with

the Harvard Law School Project on Disability. Speakers

from the Graduate Program, Arpeeta Shams Mizan will

discuss her street lawyering work in Bangladesh; Leire

Larracoechea San Sebastian will be speaking about her

pro bono work at her private law firm and her current

efforts to launch a clearinghouse for pro bono

opportunities in Spain; and Mirembe Susan Nalunkuma

will be talking about her work representing (as a law

student) LGBT people and sex workers in Uganda.

MON. October 20th PRO BONO RECRUITMENT FAIR AND OPEN HOUSE 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA 4:30 – 6:00 pm Sponsored by the Boston Bar Association and Suffolk Law School

You are cordially invited to attend the sixth annual Pro

Bono Fair for local area attorneys and law students. This

event provides attorneys and law students with a range

of pro bono opportunities. The fair is held as part of the

National Pro Bono Celebration. Attendees are

encouraged to drop in and meet representatives from

local legal services organizations and to learn more

about the pro bono opportunities in the community. This

event is offered to attorneys of all levels as well as law

students.

MON. October 20th LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE PROGRAM OF STUDY: COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND LAWYERING WORKSHOP WCC 1010 7 – 9 pm

Join Professor Marshall Ganz from the Harvard

Kennedy School for a workshop on community

organizing and lawyering. Come prepared to participate!

Dinner will be provided. The event is hosted by the Law

and Social Change program of study. For more

information please contact Isabel Broer.

TUE. October 21st 2014 ADAMS PRO BONO PUBLICO AWARDS CEREMONY John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Sq. Boston, MA 4 pm

The Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro

Bono Legal Services annually presents the Adams Pro

Bono Publico Awards to honor Massachusetts lawyers,

law students, small and large law firms, government

attorney offices, corporate law departments, law schools

or other institutions in the legal profession that

demonstrate outstanding and exceptional commitment to

providing volunteer legal services for the poor and

disadvantaged. Faculty, students, and staff are invited to

attend.

For more information please scan the barcode .

You will need a QR barcode application.

PAGE 13 CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS


WED. October 22nd PRO BONO INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP: LAW FIRMS AND THE JUDICIARY WORKING TO CLOSE THE JUSTICE GAP Lewis 214A 12 – 1 pm Co-Sponsored by the Office of Career Services

This panel discussion is led by leaders from law firms and

the judiciary and it is focused on pro bono innovation

locally, nationally, and internationally. Come be inspired

to think about how you can build pro bono work into your

legal practice! You will hear about new partnerships

between legal aid organizations, social service agencies,

and private law firms to better address unmet legal needs

in the community. Some of these partnerships include

initiatives that have assisted those with criminal

convictions who are seeking a second chance; small

entrepreneurs seeking help with business structure,

intellectual property and contracts; and homeless youth in

need of assistance at city homeless shelters. You will

learn about how the local judiciary is playing a critical

role in Massachusetts to expand access to legal services to

the underserved through the Access to Justice

Commission and related initiatives like the Pro Bono

Fellow program. Finally, you will hear about how local

lawyers are engaged in pro bono work internationally

through projects.

Panelists include Associate Justice Cynthia J. Cohen HLS

’75 of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and three law

firm pro bono leaders – Michael Haroz HLS ‘70,

Goulston & Storrs; Harlene Katzman, Simpson Thacher

& Bartlett LLP; and Latonia Haney Keith HLS ’03,

Former Pro Bono Counsel at McDermott Will & Emery

LLP.

WED. October 22nd HARVARD DEFENDERS LITMAN SYMPOSIUM – KEYNOTE SPEAKER, DEBO ADEGBILE Milstein West 5 pm Co-Sponsored by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs

Please join Harvard Defenders for their 65th Anniversary

Celebration and the Third Annual Litman Fellowship

Symposium. Debo Adegbile, Partner, Wilmer Cutler

Pickering Hall and Dorr LLP, Nominee to lead the U.S.

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division with be the

keynote speaker. Dinner Reception begins at 5pm.

Litman Fellowship Presentations at 5:30. Keynote Speak-

er at 7pm. For more information please contact Harvard

Defenders at [email protected].

THUR. October 23rd LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE OTHER 99%: A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER JEFFERY ROBINSON Hauser 104 12 – 1 pm Co-Sponsored by the Criminal Justice Institute, the Har-vard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Law and Social Change Program of Study

To celebrate National Pro Bono Week, HLS alum Jeffery

Robinson will give an inspiring address on our role in

promoting access to justice for all individuals. Jeff has

been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 1993. He

has been selected as one of the top 100 black lawyers in

America by Black Enterprise magazine and is an elected

fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, whose

membership is limited to one percent of the attorneys in

any state. He is currently an attorney/shareholder with

Schroeter Goldmark & Bender in Seattle. After

graduating from HLS in 1981, Jeff spent the next seven

years representing indigent clients in state court at the

Defender Association and then in federal court at the

Federal Public Defender’s Office, both in Seattle. In

private practice at SGB since 1988, Jeff has successfully

represented individuals and corporations in state and

federal court on charges ranging from first-degree murder

to healthcare fraud. Jeff has tried over 200 cases to verdict

and has extensive experience representing clients in

lengthy grand jury investigations that have resulted in no

indictment.

OFFICE OF CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

6 EVERETT STREET

SUITE 3085

[email protected]

WEBSITE: law.harvard.edu/academics/clinical/

index.html

BLOG: blogs.law.harvard.edu/clinicalprobono

harvard law school celebrates national pro bono...

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