Lawyering for Justice in the United States

This seminar will allow students who have participated in an HLS clinic or SPO to draw on their collective experiences to explore questions about lawyering for justice in the United States in 2018. The course will take a deep dive into the why and how of systemic change and the role of lawyers in supporting it. Students will have conversations with each other and with faculty from a wide variety of HLS clinical programs, engaging in deep, guided reflection on their own past or ongoing clinical work. Students and faculty together will explore contemporary problems through a structural lens and will practice creative problem-solving geared toward identifying and evaluating potential structural solutions.

This course is by-application.  Interested students must submit: a resume (detailing their relevant legal practice experience), a short explanation of their interest in justice in the United States, how the course fits into their goals for law school and beyond, and what they hope to gain from the course.

Applications are due by Wednesday, October 25.

Read Course Catalog description

Location: Washington D.C.

Applications Due: October 20, 2017

The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center in Washington, D.C. (“MJC”) is offering a two-credit winter term clinical opportunity for students who are interested in appellate litigation and passionate about criminal justice issues.

Students admitted to the clinic will travel to Washington, D.C. office for the winter term to work full-time on appeals before federal circuit courts and/or the U.S. Supreme Court, which raise important issues related to civil rights and the criminal justice system. Students will have the opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the office’s ongoing appellate cases, including performing research and draft legal analysis for briefs that will be filed in federal court. Students will gain exposure to the broader appellate process, which may include participation in client interaction and strategic decision-making, analysis of factual records, and participation in moot oral arguments (depending upon the stage of their assigned appeals). Students will also have the option of continuing the clinic in the spring semester, allowing more substantial involvement in their assigned appeals and increased exposure to appellate litigation.

MJC is one of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations and champions criminal justice reform through litigation, in areas that include police misconduct, rights of the accused, issues facing indigent prisoners, the death penalty, and the rights of detainees. The organization’s Washington, D.C. office focuses specifically on appellate litigation as a vehicle for achieving change in these areas. Examples of issues raised in MJC appeals include:

• Unsettled questions of criminal procedure under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments (search & seizure, privilege against self-incrimination, right to a jury, right to counsel);
• Fundamental trial rights under the Due Process Clause, including issues unique to capital trials;
• Issues facing indigent prisoners, including the constitutional rights of prisoners to be free from cruel and unusual treatment by prison officials and access to courts;
• Constitutional challenges to the use of solitary confinement in the prison system;
• Challenges to certain discriminatory executive actions outside of the criminal justice system, including discriminatory practices of Immigrations and Custom Enforcement and discrimination against Muslim travelers at the border.

Students admitted to the clinic will be supervised by Amir H. Ali, who founded MJC’s Washington, D.C. office and serves as Supreme Court & Appellate Counsel. Mr. Ali will be a Lecturer at the law school during the spring term, providing opportunities to meet with students who continue the clinic during the spring semester.

Application:

Students interested in this clinic should submit a resume, an unedited writing sample, and a statement of interest (less than 300 words) that includes: (i) the student’s reason for applying to the clinic, including particular criminal justice issues the student is interested in; (ii) any prior exposure to appellate and/or criminal justice issues; (iii) whether the student would be interested in continuing the clinic during the Spring semester. Applications should be submitted to clinical@law.harvard.edu by October 20, 2017.

Limited funding for students’ travel/accommodations in Washington, D.C. will be available through the Office of Clinical Programs. Students will be notified of their application results by October 23, 2017.  Accepted students will be required to submit an Independent Clinical Application to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs by October 31, 2017.

Students interested in applying for funding must submit the Independent Clinical Funding Application by October 31, 2017 as well.

The New Markets Lab, a non-profit law and development center, will supervise an independent clinical project in January 2018 to offer students an opportunity to see firsthand the impact that the economic legal and regulatory environment has on development and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.  The independent clinical project will take place in both Washington, D.C. and Tanzania, where the New Markets Lab is working with partners on the ground, including the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, Tanzania Horticultural Association, and African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership, among others. The program will expose students to the roles of government, business, and international institutions in interacting with and shaping the enabling environment for business and trade to encourage agricultural development at the grassroots level.

The 2018 winter term independent clinical placement will involve working with the New Markets Lab to develop a Case Study that applies understanding of law and regulation to challenges affecting enterprises in the agricultural sector. As in past years, it will also include consultations with agribusinesses, local organizations and institutions, and public sector and civil society representatives to better understand how legal and regulatory needs and challenges are dealt with in the market and how local institutions could be strengthened in this area.  As part of the program, students are also required to produce a 15-page paper that conforms to the independent clinical program guidelines and is supervised by a Faculty Sponsor.

Application 

Students interested in applying should email their resume and a short statement of interest by October 20, 2017 to Katrin Kuhlmann at kkuhlmann at newmarketslab.org

Students will be notified of their application results by October 23.

Accepted students will need to secure a faculty sponsor and submit and Independent Clinical Application to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs by October 31, 2017.

Funding

This project is being funded through the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs, and, therefore, there is no need to submit a funding application. It is anticipated that students who are selected for the program will have their transportation and housing costs covered.

Please feel free to email Ms. Kuhlmann if you have questions about the project and/or are trying to decide whether to apply.  She can be reached at kkuhlmann at newmarketslab.org, with a copy to Shannon Keating (skeating@newmarketslab.org), or by telephone on 202-309-5564 or 617-998-1569.

Location: Washington D.C.

Applications Due: October 20, 2017

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious faiths. Becket seeks interns for the winter term to work in its Washington, D.C. office on a variety of Supreme Court, appellate and trial-level matters. Such work might include representing: religious ministries seeking protection from government mandates to violate their faith; Native Americans seeking the right to use eagle feathers in their religious ceremonies; prisoners seeking the right to exercise religion while incarcerated; members of the military seeking accommodations to allow them to continue to serve while meeting religious requirements for their appearance or dress; and mosques, churches, and temples challenging zoning decisions that restrict their ability to build houses of worship or other ministries.

Interested students are requested to send a resume and cover email to clinical@law.harvard.edu and Chelise Fox at cfox@becketlaw.org by 5pm on Friday October 20, 2017.

Students who are selected must submit an independent clinical application to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP) by October 31, 2017.

Students will be eligible for housing expense reimbursement from Becket.

Students seeking reimbursements for travel will need to submit a funding request to OCP by October 31, 2017.

Please note the upcoming clinic application deadlines:

Making Rights Real: The Ghana Project Clinic – Application Deadline Extended to August 25, 2017

Government Lawyer: Semester in Washington Clinic – Applications Due By August 25, 2017

Spanish for Public Interest Lawyers is a non-credit class that offers HLS students the opportunity to learn Spanish language skills in a legal context, emphasizing language most commonly used in civil and criminal legal services practice. The class will strengthen existing Spanish speaking and comprehension abilities and teach Spanish legal vocabulary to students involved in public interest legal practice. The class will introduce students to general legal Spanish vocabulary (e.g. immigration, human rights, legal aid, etc.). Students will work to develop stronger attorney-client relations by improving communication with Spanish-speaking clients.

STUDENTS MUST HAVE AT LEAST ADVANCED PROFICIENCY IN SPANISH.

To Apply: Email clinical@law.harvard.edu with the following information by 5 PM on Wednesday, August 30:

• Name
• Year (1L, 2L, 3L, LL.M.)
• If applicable, name of the clinic or SPO you will be working with in the spring and any clinic or SPO you have previously worked with.
• At least one paragraph, in Spanish, describing your general interests and your focus in law sch
• Bullet points (also in Spanish) that list past or current experiences you’ve had speaking Spanish or working with Spanish-speaking client

Students will be contacted by September 1 with the results of their application. Students who are accepted will receive more information about the class schedule and location. Classes will be held weekly. The first class will meet the week of September 11 and the last class will meet the week of November 13.

Please note the upcoming clinical application deadlines!

April 10, 2017 – Public Education Policy & Consulting Clinic (deadline extended)
April 10, 2017 – Community Enterprise Project of the Transactional Law Clinics

The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs is announcing a new clinic, Democracy and the Rule of Law Clinic.

Please visit the clinic webpage and read the course catalog description for more information.

Fall, Winter, and Spring Semesters

March 29 (9am) – March 30 (5pm)
Visit our website for more information about clinical registration preferencing.

Please note that there are a handful of by-application clinics with rapidly approaching application deadlines:

• Public Education Policy and Consulting Clinic (Fall or Spring) – March 27, 2017
• Government Lawyer: United States Attorney Clinic (Fall or Spring) – March 27, 2017
• Semester in Human Rights Clinic (Fall) – April 7, 2017
• Community Enterprise Project of the Transactional Law Clinics (Fall or Spring) – April 21, 2017

Please do not hesitate to contact us (clinical@law.harvard.edu) or stop by our office (WCC 3085) with any questions.  OCP offers general clinic advising as well as more individualized logistical/preferencing advice.

To help HLS students with the upcoming clinical registration at the end of March, the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs has organized a a series of info sessions, ClinicTalks, designed to help students learn about the work in each of the clinics. Faculty Directors as well as current and former clinical students will attend to help answer questions about the clinic and the clinical registration process.

All sessions are scheduled from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm and food will be served at each event.

View Full Calendar

Clinical Advising
Students can schedule an individual advising appointment with one of our advisers here.
OCP also holds student walk-in hours every Friday from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

Dear Students,

The general clinic add/drop deadline for the spring 2017 semester is tomorrow, January 13, at 11:59:59PM.

There are a few spring clinics that currently have open seats available.

Interested students may log in to Helios and add themselves to these clinics (in the “Add/Drop” section of Helios) – any open seats will be claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Students have until midnight tomorrow to enroll in one of the below clinics:

• Cyberlaw Clinic
• Employment Law Clinic
• Family Law Clinic
• Federal Tax Clinic
• Food Law & Policy Clinic
• Health Law & Policy Clinic
• International Human Rights Clinic
• Predatory Lending & Consumer Protection Clinic

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or run into any issues trying to enroll in one of the above clinics through Helios!

Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs
WCC 3085 | 617.495.5202 |  clinical at law.harvard.edu

Description

Spanish for Public Interest Lawyers is a non-credit class that offers HLS students the opportunity to learn Spanish language skills in a legal context, emphasizing language most commonly used in civil and criminal legal services practice.

The class will strengthen existing Spanish speaking and comprehension abilities and teach Spanish legal vocabulary to students involved in public interest legal practice. The class will introduce students to general legal Spanish vocabulary (e.g. immigration, human rights, legal aid, etc.). Students will work to develop stronger attorney-client relations by improving communication with Spanish-speaking clients.

 Student Requirements

• Students must have at least advanced proficiency in Spanish.
• This class is not for credit, but regular attendance is required.
• The class will meet for 10 weeks, for two hours each week (day & time TBD).
• Class participation is vital. Language practice and listening to Spanish between classes is encouraged.

 Enrollment

• 2L and 3L students currently in a direct services clinic or SPO who have at least advanced proficiency in Spanish will receive priority.
• Students meeting the criteria will be accepted through a randomized selection process.

 To Apply

Email clinical at law.harvard.edu with the following information by 5 PM on Tuesday, January 10.

• Name
• Year (1L, 2L, 3L, LL.M.)
• If applicable, name of the clinic or SPO you will be working with in the spring and any clinic or SPO you have previously worked with.
• At least one paragraph, in Spanish, describing your general interests and your focus in law school.
• Bullet points (also in Spanish) that list past or current experiences you’ve had speaking Spanish or working with Spanish-speaking clients.

Students will be contacted by January 13 with the results of their application. Students who are accepted will receive more information about the class schedule and location. Classes will be held weekly. The first class will meet the week of January 23 and the last class will meet the week of April 10.