Chayes Fellow Jodie Liu ’15 on working with the Open Society Justice Initiative, Hungary

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“My time here as OSJI has been really rewarding. I’ve been putting a lot of work into an amicus brief for a freedom of expression case pending before the Argentinean Supreme Court on the liability of Internet search engines for third party violations. The Argentinean Supreme Court considers case precedent from many different countries, so I’ve been doing legal research in at least five languages. Although I have several other projects going on as well, this one has really stood out so far — it’s been really fascinating to see how international freedom of expression law has been developing in different jurisdictions as the capabilities of the Internet become increasingly expansive. 

Budapest is beautifully varied. There are some key places I haven’t visited yet, though, so my next few weekends will be busy.”

Jodie is one of 23 HLS students working this summer in 18 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!

 

Snapshot: Derek Galley, J.D./M.U.P. ’14

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Just a week before Derek arrived in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the city implemented a new program eliminating fares on public transportation for city residents. For Derek — who came to Harvard to study urban planning, then became interested in how legal institutions affect how cities develop — this was a local experiment with global significance. “An idea like this helps people get around and save money, but it also challenges the traditional ways that the law thinks about how cities should be governed,” he explained, involving issues ranging from fiscal structures and shifts in urban population to politically marginalized communities. By traveling to Tallinn, Derek was able to do archival research with medieval documents that helped to explain Estonia’s long tradition of local autonomy, then visit City Hall to interview the deputy mayor and director of transportation. Equally important, “I could wait at a bus stop, ask people for change (because I still had to pay), and see who was using the bus,” Derek remembered; “It’s a popular policy, voted in by a referendum, but there was also a lot of cynicism, a sense of disillusionment with the politics behind it.” His winter term project has given him a “rich vein of material” for his academic work and an appetite for more international travel:  “I want to go to places where there’s something to learn from.”

(Please visit “Winter Term 2013: Snapshots from Students” to read about other recent projects.)

Snapshot: Samiron Ray ’14

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A growing interest in start-ups, incubators and entrepreneurship took Samiron to Santiago to look closely at Start-Up Chile, a program created by the Chilean government that provides grants to entrepreneurs from around the world willing to relocate to Santiago and grow their businesses there. “Although Chile is a fast-growing economy and has a stable political system, it has not been traditionally thought of as an entrepreneurial country,” Samiron said; “the government takes no equity stake in the ventures, but instead hopes that the presence of hundreds of entrepreneurs in Chile will help establish its own version of Silicon Valley.” During his trip, Samiron interviewed program staff, attended Start-Up Chile social events and functions. and met with  entrepreneurs participating in the program and with lawyers and investors working with them. By talking with “the people in the trenches,” he was able to look at the financial and business concerns facing the entrepreneurs, ranging from personal liability to employment issues, and explore the ways in which government infrastructures and legal institutions might hinder or support business growth. “I am fascinated by the intersection of law, entrepreneurship, and economic development,” Samiron explained, an interest that he has also explored in working with Harvard’s Innovation Lab and the HLS Cyberlaw Clinic.

(Please visit “Winter Term 2013: Snapshots from Students” to read about other recent projects.)

 

Snapshot: Stephen Lam ’13

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Stephen’s winter term writing project focused on understanding the legal and regulatory impact that efforts to transform the Chinese Renminbi into an international currency will have on the development of Chinese capital markets and on the future development of China as a financial actor. By traveling to Beijing and Hong Kong in January, he was able to interview experts — including law firm partners, financial economists, journalists and ratings officials — and refine his research thesis. There was a clear benefit in “being able to sit down with practitioners in the field and talk about what is going on,” Stephen noted; “there’s only so much you can get from secondary sources, especially in a subject area like this, where there is so much change.” His project grew out of a long-standing interest in East Asian and Chinese legal studies, reflected in the courses, independent research, and Chayes International Public Service Fellowship he has undertaken during the last three years. Stephen grew up speaking Cantonese, but the four semesters of advanced Mandarin that he took through cross-registration allowed him to delve more deeply into the cultural and social aspects of his research, as well as the legal ones. “The resources available to internationally focused students are one of the things that attracted me to HLS,” he explained.

(Please visit “Winter Term 2013: Snapshots from Students” to read about other recent projects.)

 

Meet the 2013 Chayes Fellows

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Twenty-three Harvard Law School students have been awarded the 2013 Chayes International Public Service Fellowship this summer. They are working abroad in Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, France, India, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Portugal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Yemen, as well as in New York City and Washington, DC. Please click here to read brief biographies and descriptions of their summer placements submitted by the students