Clinical Voices – Page 2 – Clinical and Pro Bono Programs

Category: Clinical Voices (page 2 of 5)

Using the law to heal the wounds of racism

By Rena Karefa-Johnson, J.D. ’16

In my law school applications, I wrote that I wanted to be a lawyer to continue my grandfather’s legacy of healing. While he fought to heal the suffering in his colonized, impoverished country of Sierra Leone through public health and politics, I wanted to come to law school to heal this country’s racial wounds, and the rampant inequity those wounds cause, through the law. Though I did not know it then, I was writing in part about the Criminal Justice Institute (CJI).

Rena Karefa-Johnson, J.D. ’16

Working as a student attorney and defending members of the larger Boston community in criminal cases has been my most educational, meaningful and all-around best academic experience in law school. As a law student, it’s easy to lose focus on the outward-facing reason why many of us came here: to help change the world for the better. As we focus our brainpower on trying to learn and digest the theory of law, we sometimes forget that the law ultimately is not in a textbook or exam answer but rather it is a real force in the real world with an enormous impact on real lives. And we can get so caught up in thinking about our own, admittedly busy, lives – our schedules, assignments, extracurriculars and job applications – that we inadvertently deprioritize thinking about others.

But if those are some of the pitfalls of law school, then CJI is the ladder out.

There, I have used my classroom education to practice law rather than simply theorizing about it. This has deepened my understanding of how the law actually interacts with communities, specifically low-income communities of color. Not only will I take these realizations with me into my career, I also share them with my classmates and draw on them to enrich other classroom discussions.

In CJI our clients, rather than ourselves, became the priority. CJI is tremendously worthwhile for the students both for the incredible legal experience and the personal fulfillment. But the challenge of CJI is ensuring that we deserve the honor of representing our clients; that we make the experience worthwhile for them, too. It is in trying to meet that high bar – through extremely hard work and dedication, and with the guidance of the most skilled, committed and wonderful clinical faculty and staff – that I got what I came to law school for: the tools to use the law to combat and heal, rather than reinforce, racial inequality.

Crimmigration Clinic: “A unique and fascinating capstone to my law school career”

March 28, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Hanne Sandison, J.D. ’16

Hanne Sandison, J.D. ’16

I knew I wanted to be involved in the clinical programs before I came to Harvard my 1L year. One of the main things that drew me to the school was its plethora of clinical programs, allowing me to gain real world experience and figure out who I wanted to be as lawyer. Participating in various clinics – the International Human Rights Clinic, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, the Crimmigration Clinic, and two independent clinicals during J-Term – have helped me find my strengths and passion while surrounding me with mentors and colleagues I respect, admire, and enjoy.

Working in the Crimmigration Clinic this semester has been a unique and fascinating capstone to my law school career. Crimmigration (the intersection of criminal law and immigration law) is a relatively new and constantly evolving legal discipline. The law is always changing, and advocates are constantly trying to find creative solutions to new problems. In the Crimmigration Clinic we have the unique opportunity to interact with both criminal defense and immigration legal spheres, as criminal laws affect clients in immigration proceedings, and a client’s immigration status affects their priorities in criminal court.

This semester, I was fortunate to work with Philip Torrey and Sabrina Lee, J.D. ’17 on three distinct projects. We worked with the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) on a toolkit to help their defense attorneys avoid criminal convictions that would carry additional immigration consequences (such as deportation). Drastic budget cuts in criminal representation have left OPD underfunded and without immigration specialists, putting their immigrant clients in a precarious legal position. To help fill this gap, OPD sent us a list of commonly-charged misdemeanors in New Orleans, and we put together a manual to help their defense attorneys understand the immigration consequences of certain convictions – specifically whether such a conviction would lead to deportation.

My colleagues and I also worked on a project to map out the Massachusetts drug schedules – a tool that will help immigration advocates know how best to advocate for clients with drug convictions on their records.

Finally, I was able to partner with the Criminal Justice Institute and work with one student attorney on a case involving a non-citizen client. Here I was able to see where the rubber hits the road, and how criminal convictions can impact the ability of non-citizens to stay in this country. Working with CJI put a face and a story to the many statutes and cases we had read and digested throughout the semester.

While I find the most joy in working directly with and advocating for clients, my experience in the Crimmigration Clinic showed me how imperative it is to have capable and passionate people working at all levels and doing all types of legal work. Policy work, impact litigation, advising, and direct client services all work in harmony to create a more just and equitable system for those most vulnerable to abuse and neglect. I am excited to continue to be a part of this talented and inspiring community of lawyers, and I feel honored to have learned from and with them.

Creating opportunities through the Community Enterprise Project

March 28, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Lauren Maynard, J.D. ’16

Lauren Maynard, J.D. ’16

I came to law school with a weak vision of what I wanted to do. Just like everyone else, I wanted to affect positive change in the world. The problem was, and to an extent continues to be, that I am not sure how to do that. In an effort to find an answer, I have taken a variety of public interest oriented classes and clinics. I learned a lot and did some important work in those, but nothing quite fit the bill. Now, through my work with the Community Enterprise Project (CEP) of the Transactional Law Clinics, I feel like I have found a starting point.

My goal in life is to help create opportunity for those who do not have a chance. I grew up in a region burdened with three major problems: low educational attainment, poverty, and high rates of drug abuse. I could focus my work on any of the three, but I thought the ideal solution is one that addresses them all. I believe this is possible through economic development; we can build a thriving economy that encourages educational attainment and curbs drug abuse.

CEP has provided me with a forum for thinking creatively about community development. For example, this semester we are hosting presentations to help worker cooperatives navigate their unique legal landscape. Local cooperatives are doing great work in their communities, and a growing number of entrepreneurs are looking to this model. It is exciting to see community members empowered to strengthen their economies from the ground up, and I’m glad that, through my work with CEP, I can help make the legal regulations more accessible to them. I am grateful that I got to work in this clinic, and that I finally found a basis on which to build my future career.

In the Health Law and Policy Clinic, a slew of opportunities to sharpen legal and policy skills

March 25, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Kelly Jo Popkin, J.D. ’17

L-R: Kelly Jo Popkin, J.D. ’17; Robert Greenwald, Clinical Professor of Law; and Kevin Costello, Senior Associate Director and Litigation Manager

I became interested in the Health Law and Policy Clinic after solidifying my summer employment working with the General Counsel of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC). Unlike the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), where I worked as the organization’s U.S. Policy and Advocacy Analyst last summer, PPAC focuses on the legal issues affecting their seven clinics in California in the moment and on the ground. Though I had a firm grasp on reproductive legal and policy strategies thanks to CRR, I was forewarned by PPAC that I would need to know more about barriers to healthcare access, public health concerns, and health disparities writ large. The clinic seemed like the perfect way to learn about these issues while cultivating a useful skillset for my summertime employment.

In the first couple of weeks, I immersed myself into the world of health policy reform by taking a few projects with a tight turnaround time. Along with Lauren Kuhlik (J.D., MPH ’17), I assisted in drafting a Supreme Court amicus brief re. Zubik v. Burwell, a follow-up to the Hobby Lobby decision. I also traveled to New York to visit a cancer center and assisted in launching their nonprofit lung cancer screening initiative for upper Manhattan. The excitement of the first few weeks has set the pace for the weeks to follow.

Working in the Health Law and Policy Clinic has given me exposure to a variety of public health topics, from HIV and hepatitis C, to specialty care access, to psychosocial determinants of health. The issues vary just as much as the policy tools used to address them. In one month’s time, I have drafted a policy roadmap for a community-based health organization, a preliminary injunction against a state Medicaid agency, a Supreme Court amicus brief, and an administrative complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. I have engaged in thorough legal analysis and research for all of my projects, using a wide swath of sources to evaluate case law, market statistics, and other indicators of health law and regulations as implemented in a post-Affordable Care Act landscape. I would highly recommend this clinic to any Harvard Law student interested in becoming well-versed in a variety of legal and policy strategies, whether or not they are considering a career in health law.

I would venture to say that I learned more in the few weeks working in the clinic than I had learned in my entire law school career thus far. My supervisors have provided constructive and crucial guidance every step of the way, and have gone out of their way to show how much our work is appreciated. For example, when Professor Robert Greenwald and Clinical Instructor Carmel Shachar learned that they couldn’t put our names on the Zubik amicus brief, they contacted Dean Martha Minow to acknowledge our hard work and praise us on a job well done.

While deeply invested in achieving impactful policy changes, the Health Law and Policy Clinic is equally invested in the cultivation of future policy advocates. Thanks to the clinic’s culture of mentorship, I feel competent and confident in my ability to produce meaningful work products this summer and for the years to come.

“The clinic broadened my horizons”

March 21, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Alexander Leone, J.D. ’16

The Food Law and Policy Clinic is renowned for its groundbreaking work on a variety of issues, including a report it released with the Natural Resources Defense Council on the staggering amount of food we waste in the United States. As someone who has been interested in food since college—and in the countless ways it affects both body and mind and our natural world—the Clinic was on my radar even before I chose to attend Harvard Law School.

Alexander Leone, J.D. ’16

During my time in the Clinic, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on two projects that mirrored perfectly my deepest food policy concerns: the ways in which our food system affects, or disserves, society’s most vulnerable; and how our food production practices affect, or destroy, the environment.

First, I worked with an attorney and fellow student to draft a letter to federal legislators on what standards should govern what millions of children, particularly low-income children, eat for their school meals. That letter ultimately became a Clinic policy brief, which “urges Congress to continue progress towards making nutritious, healthy, and delicious school meals available to all children.” Second, I analyzed novel ways in which the tort system could be used to deter the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture, a practice that has been linked to the antibiotic resistance crisis that threatens the future of modern medicine.

My projects not only developed my research and writing skills, but enlightened me as to different ways in which to research and write. Contacting and conference calling with a variety of different stakeholders in the legislative process taught me perspectives that I wouldn’t find in a case book. The need to use creativity and analogy to craft arguments at the frontiers of existing legal doctrine sharpened my intellect in a manner unlike a traditional law school class. And I have hope that the efforts of the Clinic will concretely affect food policy—perhaps, for example, through persuasion of lawmakers who will determine what millions of children will be eating during school.

The Clinic also broadened my horizons at Harvard Law School: It led directly to my participation as president of the Harvard Food Law Society. The Clinic sharpened my knowledge of American food law and policy and prepared me to lead an organization that, primarily through educational talks and its annual conference, seeks to advance food justice in our community and society.

Three clinics, one common value

March 21, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Lauren Blodgett, J.D. ’16

My clinical experiences at Harvard Law School have deeply enriched and shaped my legal education. During my time at HLS, I have had the privilege of engaging with many different clinics. I participated in the International Human Rights Clinic for two semesters, as well as the Immigration and Refugee Clinic, the Child Advocacy Clinic, and an independent clinical in Tanzania. These experiences helped pave my career path and contributed to my personal and professional growth. These clinics have given me the opportunity to collaborate with clinicians and classmates on pressing issues, travel to countries across the world, and see the positive impact of our legal work on individuals’ lives.

Lauren Blodgett, J.D. ’16

By gaining practical experience in these clinics, I learned many lessons that I hope to carry with me throughout my legal career. In the International Human Rights Clinic, I worked on two projects: one, advocating for the prosecution of senior U.S. officials for authorizing and implementing the use of torture and another, proposing stricter regulations on the use of incendiary weapons. This international advocacy taught me to stand up for what I believe in, even if it is an unpopular or controversial position. It also taught me the importance of negotiation, compromise, and teamwork when advocating for new international laws and norms. In the Immigration and Refugee Clinic, my teammate and I helped our clients through various stages of the asylum application process. This experience not only helped me improve my interviewing and writing skills, but also taught me how to be a compassionate and effective advocate when working directly with clients. Finally, through the Child Advocacy Clinic I am currently representing children with mental disabilities in their interactions with their school system. I am learning how the support of a lawyer can have such a profound impact on the realization of the rights of these children – a vulnerable population who might otherwise be voiceless.

A common value that was instilled in me from all of these experiences is the importance of public service work. These clinics strengthened my commitment and ability to dedicate my career to fighting for the human rights of others. After graduation, I will be providing representation and community outreach to child refugees in New York City. My passion and preparation for this position are directly attributable to the experiences I had in the clinical programs here at HLS.

Empowering clients through the Estate Planning Project

March 8, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Stephanie Jimenez, J.D. ’17

One of my most valuable experiences at Harvard Law School has been working with the Estate Planning Project in the Veterans Legal Clinic. As a student attorney, my responsibilities included preparing for client meetings, interviewing clients, drafting documents, and preparing documents for execution. Along with all this, I constantly worked with the supervising attorney, Tamara Kolz-Griffin, to spot any potential issues and brainstorm solutions for the clients.

Estate Planning Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic

Stephanie Jimenez, J.D. ’17

There are several reasons why I enjoyed this clinic. First, it was a great way to gain experience in building relationships with clients. Because I worked with such personal information, I got to know my clients really well. Secondly, much of my work required discussions about death and incapacity and this helped me learn how to hold difficult conversations. Also, I was assigned cases that were in varied stages: some were at the beginning stages so I had to conduct intake interviews with the veterans, while some were already at the drafting documents stage. I liked this because in one semester I saw how the process works from beginning to end and I gained new skills in managing and prioritizing my cases.

Finally, I learned so much about estate planning even though I had very little previous experience. The documents we drafted included wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, living wills, and declarations as to remains. One of the most interesting documents I drafted is the Supplemental Needs Trust. This is a trust that clients can put in place to protect their loved ones who receive government benefits. If they want to leave assets to that loved one, they can put the assets into the trust instead of giving them directly to the individual, ensuring that their loved ones receive the much-needed government benefits.

Estate planning requires a lot of thinking about what could happen with each possible decision that the client makes and thinking of ways to have the best possible outcome. For me, it is really great work to do because clients leave feeling empowered that they have control over their lives during difficult times.

Film as Advocacy in the Food Law and Policy Clinic

March 8, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Katherine Sandson, J.D. ’17

When I enrolled in the Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) during the January term, I was assigned to work on the clinic’s food waste and food recovery projects. These projects included a short film, entitled Expired? Food Waste in America, that the clinic was producing in conjunction with Racing Horse Productions. The film explores the effects of an administrative rule in Montana that prevents milk from being sold after its labeled date, which must be no more than twelve days following pasteurization, even though milk is safe for consumption far longer. FLPC produced the film to provide one example of how the lack of uniform, federal standards for date labeling in the U.S. contributes to the 160 billion pounds of food waste generated by Americans each year.

By the time I joined the clinic, the film itself was nearly complete. While past clinical students had worked on producing the script, conducting interviews, and editing the film, I spent time preparing for the film’s release. This work included drafting and editing op-eds to accompany the short film in online news outlets, providing feedback on the content of the film’s website, and drafting guidance materials to help people run screenings of the film. During the spring semester, now that the film has been released, I have continued to help brainstorm and execute additional strategies for getting the film out to a broader audience.

Prior to joining FLPC, I would not have categorized most of this work as legal in nature. Through my work on this film, however, I have come to appreciate the value of media advocacy as a complement to legislative or policy advocacy. The release of this film was timed to coincide with the announcement that a bill that would standardize date labeling at the federal level will soon be introduced in the Senate. This bill has the potential to significantly reduce food waste, but it will require support to get passed, and mediums like film can help create that support. Moreover, legislation, once in effect, does not operate in a vacuum. Because food—everything from how we shop for food to how we store and dispose of it—is so cultural and habitual, education and awareness of what date labels mean and how they relate to food safety will likely be important to maximizing the effectiveness of any date labeling legislation that is passed.

Over the past few months, I have learned that non-legal tools like film can play an important role in supporting legislative and policy efforts by generating conversation and awareness. The Expired film, for example, tells one story, accompanied by vivid images, that illustrates a larger problem in only a few minutes. As a result, the clinic sees it as an important tool for raising public awareness about the connection between date labeling and food waste, in advance of the upcoming federal legislation and related efforts at the state or local levels.

Through my work to promote this film, I have gained a detailed understanding of the current legal framework for regulating date labels, and of the framework FLPC would like to see put in place. Perhaps more importantly, I have also learned to break down these legal frameworks for non-legal audiences. I am grateful for the opportunity to work on a project that has expanded my ideas about what legal skills and legal advocacy look like.

Out of the classroom and into the courtroom

March 3, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Suria Bahadue, J.D. ’16

Suria Bahadue, J.D. ’16

I came to Harvard Law School because I want to help people. Previously, I worked as a paralegal at a large law firm. In that role, I worked on pro bono cases involving clients seeking restraining orders. Fortunately, my supervisors gave me substantial responsibilities, which included meeting domestic violence survivors, hearing their stories, and helping them write their affidavits. My supervising attorney and I won every case, leaving each client in a better position than before and fueling my desire to continue this work in law school.

Unfortunately, I lost sight of that purpose during 1L year. As one could imagine, my first year immediately subsumed me with grades, job applications and ideas of clerkships. My monotonous run through the law school grind ended, however, when I spent two semesters working in the Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic.

I initially enrolled in the clinic because I felt my experiences as a paralegal prepared me well for family law cases. At the same time, I assumed that I would assist a supervising attorney rather than manage my own cases and clients. I was so happy to be wrong. On day one, I received my own cases and clients. My supervising attorney, Nnena Odim, instructed that it was my job to move the cases forward to resolution.

Nnena Odim, Senior Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law

My caseload included divorces, paternity actions, and restraining orders. Each day began the same: I would meet with Nnena and review each case’s posture. For each case, Nnena would conclude our strategy meeting by asking me about the “next steps.” By doing this, she taught me to develop as many options as I could and to prepare for a judge to ask me about every single one.

In short, Nnena taught me that successful legal practice requires over-preparation.

Significantly, my cases challenged me to consider myself as a practicing attorney rather than a student attorney. I represented clients in court multiple times; filed complaints for divorce, modification of child support, and contempt; interacted with opposing parties; negotiated with opposing counsels; conducted a direct examination in court; obtained a restraining order for a client; and drafted and finalized a divorce settlement agreement. One of the more memorable courtroom experiences occurred in a post-judgment action for contempt. The judge began the hearing by stating, “Counselor, how would you like to proceed?” It took me a few seconds to realize that he was talking to me and that I was a counselor and not a student.

Above all, the biggest lessons came from my clients. Their tales of bravery and survival reinvigorated my personal and professional goals. For one example, I worked with a client over my two semesters. She had fled her abuser after five years of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, and lived in shelters and public housing shortly thereafter. We helped her obtain a restraining order and file for divorce. Over the last year, I watched her achieve so many milestones because of her courage to flee and seek legal recourse: she obtained citizenship; entered into a criminal justice degree program; began a new job; and settled into her first apartment. That client and many others helped me return to the reason why I went to law school in the first place: to help people.

I am forever grateful to the Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic and Nnena for taking me out of the classroom and into the courtroom. The experience truly defined my three years at Harvard Law School.

A reflection on my semester with the Estate Planning Project

February 29, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Travis Leverett, J.D. ’17

This past September, I enrolled in the Estate Planning Project, with the Veteran’s Legal Clinic. My work with that clinic turned out to be one of the most valuable, and absolutely the most rewarding experience of my academic career.

I was motivated to work with veterans largely thanks to my grandfather. He was an incredible influence in my life, and I was hopeful that I would meet and help people, like him, who sacrificed for my freedom, and now needed legal services that they likely could not find elsewhere. I was immediately attracted to the Estate Planning Project, which offered the opportunity to work closely with clients as they made important, and often difficult decisions. I have heard the phrase ‘counselor’ used my entire life to describe attorneys, but it wasn’t until working with the Estate Planning Project that I fully understood how true that description could be.

The learning curve was steep, as my two colleagues and I had to digest the substantive law behind the estate planning process, and begin moving cases forward within one semester. I was assigned a total of around 12 cases for the semester, which at times felt like about 11 too many, but I learned techniques to better balance a high volume of cases. Those practical skills will absolutely make me a better lawyer, and could only have been developed through clinical work.

As I reflect on my semester with the Estate Planning Project, one client will always stick with me. He was an older gentleman, who was looking to have fairly standard estate planning documents prepared. As we sat together at a small conference table in Jamaica Plain, he told me about his career, his children, his wife of 50+ years, and of the worries he felt for the future. I asked difficult questions, but tried to do so in a way that made him as comfortable as possible. Following our meeting, I called my client weekly to check in, and clarify some of his wishes, developing an exceptional relationship in the process. When the Legal Services Center’s work with this client is complete, I am confident that he will have received world-class estate planning, but equally important, I believe that man will feel empowered, respected, and at peace when he signs his documents, and leaves the LSC for the last time. He sure deserves to.

A sense of community and a chance to represent clients in court

February 17, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Alison Burton, J.D. ’16

Alison Burton, J.D. ’16

I have always been interested in women’s issues, including the power imbalances that help perpetuate domestic violence. As a college student, I volunteered at the University of Virginia Women’s Center and coordinated the legal clinic, which offered free legal services including advice relating to family law and domestic violence issues. The Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic gave me an opportunity to continue to advocate for victims of domestic violence.

At the clinic, students take on between four and eight cases involving protective orders, child custody and support, divorce, and collateral issues. Students are responsible for communicating with the client, drafting pleadings and motions, and representing the client in court. I really loved the chance to work with clients every day and being able to not only draft documents for court, but also represent clients in court many times. I was involved with the clinic for two semesters, and I went to court hearings four or five times each semester. The experience has been one of my highlights at Harvard Law School.

One of my favorite things about the clinic is the sense of community. From day one, the clinical instructors, Nnena Odim and Stephanie Davidson, constantly provide feedback and collaborate with students. Their feedback on the documents I drafted and on my performance in court taught me how to strategize effectively and how to zealously advocate for my clients. The students in the Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic also tend to be a close knit group. Getting to hear about their cases and working together as a clinical unit helped us in our brainstorming and problem solving abilities.

Overall, the clinical experience went above and beyond my expectations. While the cases moved along more slowly than I expected, I had far more client contact, feedback from supervisors, and time in court than I thought I would get. Working in the clinic gave me the chance to get outside of the Harvard Law School campus, get involved in a different community, and do work that impacts clients directly.

Learning from an Israeli Immigration Law Clinic

February 10, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Nathan MacKenzie, J.D. ’17

Nathan MacKenzie, J.D. ’17 pictured (first one from the right), with a team of lawyers and client at the Supreme Court in Israel

Sometimes the best way to better understand your own world is to visit another. Doing so gives you a different frame of reference, an alternative against which you can challenge your perspective and your preconceived notions. As a student of immigration policy here in the U.S., I found that spending January term working in an Israeli immigration clinic in Tel Aviv challenged many of my own ideas on citizenship, society, and immigration. I had the opportunity to work as a student attorney for the Clinic for Migrant’s Rights at the College of Law and Business, where I assisted with client intake interviews for asylum seekers, met with organizations and government officials involved in the immigration debate in Israel, and conducted international and comparative research for upcoming impact litigation cases. In order to gain some additional perspective, I spent my weekends traveling to the Holot detention center for immigrants, the holy sites in Jerusalem, and the West Bank. What I learned from all of these work and travel experiences left me with a picture of an immigration system very different from our own, both in its philosophical aims and its technical administration.

Israel considers itself a “Jewish Democratic State,” but there is a big debate raging about what exactly that means. What should take priority, being Jewish, or being a liberal democracy? What should the demographics of Israeli society look like moving forward? These questions illicit fierce and seemingly irreconcilable responses from various factions. This divide has led to system of laws that is a mash-up of western democratic principles, old Jewish law, and protectionist policies. For example, though the government is elected democratically and several human rights are protected in Basic Laws, buses do not run on Saturday (Shabbat) and Jews cannot marry non-Jews.

These competing concepts have an enormous impact in Israel’s immigration policy. Unlike the U.S., Israel’s immigration policy only really allows people of Jewish ancestry to attain residency and citizenship. Known as the Law of Return or “making aliyah,” Jewish people worldwide can come to Israel and apply for citizenship. There are very few opportunities for other people to achieve permanent residence in Israel, even through the asylum process.

Approximately 46,000 asylum seekers live in Israel, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan. They arrived by crossing the Sinai from Egypt (before Israel constructed a massive wall on the border) and many spent months in Bedouin torture camps there before their families could pay high ransoms to secure their release. Though the government will not deport people to either Sudan or Eritrea because of human rights concerns in those countries, it has been loath to grant refugee status and asylum to non-Jewish immigrants and has been engaging in a campaign to coerce these individuals to “voluntarily” leave to a third party country (Rwanda or Uganda) through detention in the infamous Holot facility and over burdensome administrative procedures.

While working at the clinic, I had the opportunity to use the interviewing skills I learned at the Harvard Immigration & Refugee Clinic (HIRC) to conduct an intake interview and then produced a legal memo on the new client’s case. Additionally, I conducted research for several cases, including a major impact litigation case that will be going before the Israeli Supreme Court next month. Though I was only there for a few weeks, I felt like I was able to perform meaningful work that helped my hosts with their large caseloads. Perhaps just as importantly, this experience gave me the opportunity to learn about Israel and its immigration system, which in turn has allowed me to reflect upon the aims and administration of our own system here in the U.S.

Mental Health: Aspirations and Reality in India

February 4, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Ariel Simms, J.D. ’16

: Current and former advocates of the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy of the Indian Law Society, January 2016

This Winter Term, I had the opportunity to work with the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy (Centre), a nonprofit disability rights organization based in Pune, India. The Centre is dedicated to ensuring implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a United Nations treaty that has been signed and ratified by many countries, but unfortunately, not by the United States. The treaty requires that all persons with disabilities, including mental disabilities, be treated with respect, dignity, and on an equal basis with others.

My interest in working with people with disabilities came from my experience working as a Mental Health Counselor in a locked, psychiatric unit of a hospital. For two years, I counseled patients with serious mental illness under a paradigm of substitute decision-making. As a professional, this paradigm was extremely frustrating, as it considered only the putative “best interests” of the patient, without actually consulting the patient regarding his or her own preferences. Rather than making decisions for the patients on our unit, I wanted to help our patients make their own decisions, including treatment decisions, envisioning the role of service providers as helpful aides in decision-making, rather than as substitute decision-makers. Such a paradigm is called supported decision-making and is mandated in human rights law by the CRPD. My professional experience as a counselor led me to come to law school to become an advocate on behalf of those with mental illness, as well as to empower those living with mental disabilities to advocate for themselves.

Having no prior experience with Indian domestic law, I began my clinical work at the Centre with background research, including India’s existing mental health law and a new Mental Health Care Bill introduced in Parliament in 2013. It was this new bill that, if passed, would bring essential tenets of the CRPD into the Indian mental health care context. India though, like many countries that have ratified international human rights treaties, has a gap between what international law mandates and the realities of its domestic laws.

I assisted the Centre with a project around supported decision-making for persons with mental disabilities. In India, there are several barriers that keep caregivers and service providers from implementing supported decision-making, including: a lack of awareness about the CRPD and human rights obligations, a lack of understanding about what supported decision-making is, cultural norms and mores of power among service providers and caregivers, and persistent stigma surrounding mental illness. Although impossible to address any of these barriers sufficiently in three weeks, I had the unique opportunity to address at least some of them by drafting two separate guides on supported decision-making: one for caregivers and family members, and one for service providers. In order to create the most helpful guides, I also became more familiar with the realities of mental health care on the ground through extensive discussion with my colleagues at the Centre, in-person interviews with local psychiatrists, and in-person and group interviews with Indian caregivers.

From these conversations, I was able to gather that many service providers and caregivers have never heard of the CRPD or even think about human rights in their day-to-day lives. Many presume that the service user cannot ever make his or her own decision, so just make the decision for that person instead. In addition to substitute decision-making, service providers and caregivers also regularly engage in more serious human rights violations, including: practices of covert medication (e.g., hiding medication in the service user’s food or drink without his or her knowledge), giving informed consent on behalf of the service user, not seeking any informed consent for treatment (including for electroconvulsive therapy), taking away the person’s property, taking away the person’s liberty, and various other violations. On top of these, some families would just place their family member into one of India’s infamous mental hospitals and then just move on with their own lives.

My experience in India really brought home the gap between what law says we should do, and the realities of enforcing those laws on the ground, especially on a topic as stigmatized and oft swept-under-the-rug as mental illness. Human rights law in particular is often cast as aspirational, rather than as something that can immediately be recognized and enforced. Despite these challenges, I think this clinical experience helped me begin to bridge this gap between aspiration and reality in India, moving closer to the ultimate goal that all those living with disabilities will be able to lead lives characterized by dignity, equality, and autonomy.

I would like to sincerely thank and commend all the wonderful advocates at the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy who work hard every day to advance disability rights in India and who not only helped me with my project, but also with navigating a new country, and so much more. Special thanks to Dr. Soumitra Pathare, Professor Jaya Sagade, and Professor Michael Stein for their supervision and support throughout this project. I would also thank the Harvard Project on Disability, the Office of International Legal Studies, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP for their recommendations and financial support.

Food Sovereignty in Navajo Nation

February 3, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Via Food Law and Policy Clinic
By Jevhon Rivers, J.D. ’17

20160114_134252 I spent two weeks in the Navajo Nation as a Continuing Clinical student for the Food Law and Policy Clinic. I had been working on food sovereignty research for a partner in the area during the Fall, but could not comprehend the true depth of the challenges facing the Navajo Nation nor the passion and knowledge of its food advocates until I had the opportunity to visit it myself. During my time there, I was able to see advocates and government representatives working together to solve the complex food issues on the Navajo Nation, while also getting to see the work organizations are already doing, specifically to address chronic illness and increase food access.

In Window Rock, Arizona, the seat of government for the Navajo Nation Council, I had the opportunity to join a coalition of diverse advocates working toward food sovereignty. Indeed, the Nation seems to be on the precipice of real reform. I attended a committee meeting and a work session of the Health, Education and Human Services Committee (HEHSC) where representatives used the Good Laws, Good Food toolkit, created by FLPC and partners, as a jumping off point. Through these sessions and later meetings with other food advocates and coalition partners, I met key officials that lent insight into the work being done in education, food assistance, and agriculture among others.

During my stay, I was hosted by a partner organization, Community Outreach Patient Empowerment (COPE), a sister organization of Partners in Health (PIH) that works with the Navajo Nation to address chronic illness through education and outreach. Sonlatsa Jim-Martin, the COPE REACH Coalition Coordinator, invited me to participate in a wealth of events and experiences throughout my stay. I was able to get involved in a number of different projects with which COPE is affiliated. I spent one weekend with the Navajo Community Health Outreach (NCHO) Youth Leadership, working with young leaders who serve as public health champions in their communities. Not only did I have the privilege of learning about the role of food in Navajo traditions and culture but I got to witness the variety of public health projects they were creating, such as a campaign to share traditional wisdom on food in local chapter houses.

Later in my stay, I went with the COPE team to a clinic on the opposite end of the reservation to check in with the FVRx program at Monument Valley Clinic. FVRx, or the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, was developed by Wholesome Wave, and enables community healthcare workers to provide health and nutrition counseling coupled with prescriptions for fruits and vegetables that can be redeemed at local stores. Along with store owners and community members, the COPE team planned not only how they would recruit eligible mothers and children, but how they could adjust the education component and vendor partners to best serve their patients. On the way, we stopped at several food vendors as part of COPE’s Healthy Stores Initiative, to give them equipment to facilitate the sale of produce and provide them strategies to make the most of selling healthy food.

My time in the Navajo Nation not only provided an enriching complement to the research I had completed in the Fall, but gave me greater insight into the inspiring power of food to bring people together in inspiring and unexpected ways.

Addressing homelessness in Hawaii

February 2, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Marissa Florio, J.D. ’16

Marissa Florio, J.D. ’16

I spent this January term interning at the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, a public interest law firm in Honolulu that focuses on policy reform related to local and state concerns. One such concern is the great homelessness problem in the state of Hawaii: Hawaii has the highest per capita homelessness rate in America. I spent my internship researching shallow rent subsidies as a potential partial solution to the state homelessness crisis. Rent subsidies have been shown to be one of the most effective ways of reducing homelessness. Most rent subsidy programs in place in the United States offer “deep” subsidies and are extremely expensive (e.g. Section 8). In order to reach the greatest amount of people, a more shallow subsidy program has been introduced in several municipalities. The appeal of these shallower subsidies, which offer lower amounts, is that they can reach more families with less money and that they can target a different audience: the working poor, rather than the homeless.

Notably, the federal government, through HUD, funded shallow rent subsidy programs nationwide for three years through their Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP). HPRP was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and dispersed $1.5 billion in federal grants to shallow rent subsidy programs across the United States to combat the effects of the economic depression in the United States from 2009 to 2012. HPRP effectively prevented homelessness in a period of economic downturn. In the period from 2009 to 2011, homelessness decreased by 1% in the United States.

Over the course of my three weeks at Hawaii Appleseed, I explored what shallow subsidy programs exist in other states, compiling information on the number of participants reached, the eligibility requirements for each program, amount of each subsidy, length of each subsidy, funding sources, and any available information on the efficacy of each program. I then used these programs as models to design a recommended program to potentially implement in the state, taking into account best practices and the unique needs in Hawaii. My research and proposal will be used this legislative session to help spark debate and action on the funding and implementation of a shallow rent subsidy program.

Winter term in Italy: drawing lessons from the U.S. military proceedings

February 1, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Clara Spera, J.D. ’17

: Clara Spera, J.D. ’17

: Clara Spera, J.D. ’17

: Clara Spera, J.D. ’17

This January, I went to Naples, Italy to work with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, specifically with the Victims’ Legal Counsel program. The Victims’ Legal Counsel provides lawyers to victims of sexual assault in the Navy, to help victims in a variety of ways, including guiding them through all the procedural hurdles of reporting an assault, advocating for their rights during court-martial (or other administrative) proceedings, and helping to file requests for expedited transfers. Each branch of the military has now implemented a victims’ counsel program—the creation of these programs was mandated by Congress—but each branch has done it a little bit differently. My focus was on the Navy, but it was fascinating to learn about the differences across branches.

In my role, I helped the Victims’ Legal Counsel for the Europe-Africa-Southwest Asia (EURAFSWA) region, Lieutenant-Commander Jonathan Freimann, HLS J.D. ’01, with various research assignments mainly concerning victims’ rights under the Military Rules of Evidence. The military court-martial proceedings are essentially akin to federal criminal trials: a guilty verdict is a federal criminal verdict that can carry with it prison federal time and, in the case of sex offenses, registration on a sex offender registry. While my paper topic engages in a comparative analysis of on-campus adjudicatory procedures and the military justice system, it’s important not to diminish the severity and implications of a military court-martial.

Aside from my legal research assignments, the most exciting part of my time in Naples was meeting with people involved in the military justice system, from civilians working with Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) program, members of Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS… it’s not just a show!), JAGs working in the defense counsel office, JAGs working as military prosecutors, the JAG in charge of overseeing the legal operations of the base where I was stationed, and a Navy judge. Each person I spoke with had a different take on the Victims’ Legal Counsel program. Though there is general and strong support for the implementation of the program, there are certainly some concerns, many of which mirror the kinds of due process concerns that have been voiced regarding recent reforms of on-campus procedures.

Now that I am back on campus, I am excited to further explore the intersection of on-campus sexual assault policies and proceedings with the military justice system. Something I hadn’t quite realized before this independent clinical placement is that the profile of offenders and victims in both spaces are similar: young adults under 25, many whom are away from home for the first time, closely-knit social and work environments, enclosed physical spaces. In the past half-decade, both the military and college campuses have come under heightened public and congressional scrutiny for the mishandling of sexual assault complaints. I am excited to research how this increased scrutiny has affected both spaces and to see if there are lessons that can be learned and borrowed from one environment to the other.

Extinguishing the Use of Incendiary Weapons

January 11, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

: Sarah Abraham, ‘J.D. 17 (left) and Federica du Pasquier, MA ’16 pictured at the U.N. Convention on Conventional Weapons meeting in Geneva

: L-R: Federica du Pasquier, MA ’16; Bonnie Docherty, Senior Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law; and Sarah Abraham, ‘J.D. 17 at the U.N. Convention on Conventional Weapons meeting in Geneva

By Sarah Abraham, J.D. ’17; Lauren Blodgett J.D. ’16;
and Danae Paterson J.D. ‘16

Incendiary weapons rank among the cruelest means of armed conflict. Through the production of fire and heat, these weapons cause excruciating burns that are difficult to treat and can lead to long-term psychological harm and severe disfigurement. Despite the horrific effects of incendiary weapons, existing international law provides very weak protections against the use of such weapons. Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) purports to regulate incendiary weapons, but in reality is ineffective due to definitional loopholes and textual inconsistencies. Today, we live in a world where these weapons can essentially be used without any consequences, with recent use seen in Syria and Ukraine, and allegations of use in Libya.

As part of the International Human Rights Clinic, we were able to contribute to the fight to regulate – and ideally ban – the use of incendiary weapons. For our clinical project, we partnered with Human Rights Watch to write a memo to States Parties attending the annual CCW meeting in November 2015. The memo outlined the recent use of incendiary weapons, the horrific injuries these weapons cause, and the shortcomings of Protocol III in providing protection from incendiary weapons. The memo looked at developments surrounding incendiary weapons over the past five years and highlighted how over three dozen countries have spoken out against this issue during that time period. In light of five years of discussions and criticism surrounding incendiary weapons, our memo, “From Condemnation to Concrete Action,” called on states to take concrete steps towards strengthening Protocol III. In particular, we proposed specific amendments that State Parties could support to alter Protocol III and provide more protections for civilians.

To make our advocacy more effective, our clinical supervisor (Bonnie Docherty) and one of our team members (Sarah Abraham) travelled to Geneva to attend the CCW meeting in person. In Geneva, they reinforced the message outlined in our memo through formal and informal discussions with state delegates and civil society. Ultimately, 15 state delegates made formal, public statements addressing incendiary weapons. Many states said they were open to discussing potential amendments to Protocol III. This momentum comes at a crucial time, since next year the CCW will be holding a “Review Conference” which occurs once every five years. These review conferences have traditionally been a place for concrete action to take place. We hope that our memo has helped contribute to the push for amending Protocol III during this session.

Through this project, we learned about the importance of international law and UN treaty mechanisms for protecting civilians during armed conflict. These slow and complex processes, however, are frustrating in light of the urgency of the issue of incendiary weapons and the horrors faced by victims and survivors of these attacks. Learning how to navigate this system and be an effective advocate has been indispensible to our legal educations and has enabled us to contribute to this crucial fight against incendiary weapons.

Lessons Learned with the Federal Tax Clinic

January 11, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Jonathan Holbrook, J.D. ’16

When I began working in Professor Keith Fogg’s Federal Tax Clinic, I already knew that I was interested in tax and would be practicing in the field after graduation. But I did not know how the clinic would operate, nor exactly how my clinical experience would relate to future practice. I now move forward from a semester in the Tax Clinic with three major takeaways: a better idea of how part of the IRS functions; a set of practical lawyering skills; and an understanding of how to use those skills to help low-income taxpayers.

Working with the Federal Tax Clinic meant learning a great deal about how the IRS works, the pressures it is under, and how taxpayers interface with its system. The cases I worked on offered an opportunity to interact with IRS employees and to strategize about how best to persuade them of our client’s case. It was particularly interesting to discuss clinical work with other students in the Clinic. Together, we were able to put into practice what we learned in the Clinic’s accompanying class sessions.

As part of the Clinic we were also able to attend the Tax Court when it visited Boston. We observed and assisted as Professor Keith Fogg helped pro se taxpayers prepare their cases. It was a valuable opportunity to see cases at a different stage than we saw in our day-to-day clinical work, as well as to get a taste of tax litigation.

Working with the Federal Tax Clinic also helped me develop practical lawyering skills and, in particular, a sense of legal judgment. In my classes thus far, examinations have typically involved synthesizing a defined set of rules, then applying them to discrete scenarios. It is a relatively straightforward process to determine whether the answer is “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” In the real world, some clients’ issues match that model. With some base level of knowledge, it is possible to mechanically match the scenario up to the rules to produce the right answer. But the most interesting questions are those for which there is no preexisting, easily-accessible answer. In my experience with the clinic, I ran into many such situations. I suspect that is because: (1) low income taxpayers typically settle their cases with the IRS before litigation; and (2) low-income taxpayers have relatively few interested commentators producing secondary source materials relating to their problems. Thus, working with the Clinic meant often making judgment calls in filling out forms, drafting letters and offering advice. By the end of the semester, I had become much more comfortable making such judgment calls.

A final key aspect of the clinical experience was learning from the clients. Hearing about their multiple jobs, disabilities, split-up families, struggles to pay or receive child support and incomprehensible communications from the IRS made real what had previously only been a theoretical understanding of the challenges facing low-income taxpayers. Helping the Clinic’s clients work through their issues with the tax system and come into compliance felt very meaningful.

In sum, the fall semester was a very challenging and educational experience. The Clinic let me do more than I thought was possible. Whatever path my career takes, I’ve gained the skills to be a better lawyer and the tools to effectively help low-income taxpayers through pro bono work. I am grateful to the school and to Professor Fogg for making the Clinic possible.

Advocating for students impacted by trauma

January 7, 2016 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Chen-Chen Jiang, J.D. ’16
Student in the Education Law Clinic

The first time I met Jessica*, she sat quietly in her living room as her mother explained to us that she had suffered serious abuse and had missed a significant amount of school work. The traumatic experiences had left her with post-traumatic stress. She attempted to confide in her friends, but instead of finding comfort, she was bullied. Faced with this bullying and a school environment that could not serve her special needs, Jessica chose to stay in the one remaining place where she still felt safe: her home.

But what struck me the most about her was not the incredible amount of adversity that she had overcome at a young age; it was her dedication to education. In that living room during our first meeting, one of the first things she softly said was “I just want to learn.” Someday, she said, she wanted to be a lawyer, too. From that moment on, she wasn’t just the student I was advocating for; she became part of our advocacy team.

Jessica bravely decided that she would prepare a statement to read at the meeting with school district representatives, where we would argue for a different school placement. I excitedly told her that she was engaging in work that real attorneys, and certainly law students in clinical programs, perform on a daily basis. She learned how to draft the initial statement, trying her best to capture the complex struggles that she faced. Together, we went through an editing process, going line by line through her statement to figure out the best way to present it. When it was done, she practiced delivering the statement to her mother, clinical supervisors, and me.

Over the time that I worked with her, Jessica transformed from a quiet, timid girl to a poised young lady, confident to speak for herself. The day before our meeting with the school district representatives, at our last check-in, she looked directly at me and said, “I’m ready. I’m ready for them to hear my story.” At that moment, I realized the true power of legal advocacy. Representing low-income students is not only about securing the end result; it is also about giving those who are not always heard a voice. It is about introducing them to a foreign system and helping them to develop the ability to navigate that system themselves. And most importantly, it is about building in each client the belief that their stories, their struggles, and their experiences matter and must be shared to ensure a better working system for those who come after them.

On the day of the meeting, Jessica was nervous. She was going to share her story for the first time in a room full of adults. I was nervous, too. I was not sure how these adults would react to her words. As soon as she began, her tears overcame her. It looked as if she would not be able to resume. But after a few moments, and a deep breath, she finished her statement. At the end, the director of special education in the district personally commended her for having the courage to speak up and thanked her for doing so.

We secured a different educational placement for Jessica that day. But the greater victory was the confidence instilled in her to fight for what she deserved. About three months after the meeting, Jessica’s mom called to let me know that she was thriving at her new school. This came as no surprise; she, like so many other students, was primed for success if given the appropriate support. I have no doubt that, someday, she will be the lawyer giving those without a voice a platform to speak.

*Name has been changed to protect confidentiality.

Clinic student advocates for low income taxpayers

December 16, 2015 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Amanda Klopp, J.D. ’16

I first became interested in the problems that low income taxpayers face while working with HLS TaxHelp. TaxHelp is a student practice organization that operates in the spring semester and assists low income taxpayers with completing their current year tax returns. While many taxpayers came to TaxHelp with relatively easy tax returns and walked away receiving refunds, other taxpayers came with more complicated issues. Sometimes, taxpayers had problems that we could not help them with, like tax debt from prior years or unfiled prior year returns. These problems could spur threatening notices from the IRS, prevent taxpayers from receiving refunds, and affect taxpayers’ feelings of economic security. Therefore, when I found out the LSC was starting up the Federal Tax Clinic, I was excited to delve into these more complicated issues that would have a big impact on taxpayers’ financial wellbeing.

When beginning in the Federal Tax Clinic, I was particularly interested to know more about the challenges and types of disputes that low income taxpayers most often face. However, I didn’t expect that there would be so much substantive and procedural knowledge required to navigate the waters of the tax controversy system. Fortunately, the Director of the Federal Tax Clinic and our clinical supervisor, Professor Keith Fogg, had an enormous wealth of experience from more than thirty years in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and from directing a low income taxpayer clinic at Villanova Law School. Through the clinical seminar and daily clinical work, Professor Fogg guided me through the opportunities and hazards the tax controversy system can present.

Each week, I learned about the different types of relief available to taxpayers by filling out the forms and petitions that low income taxpayers would have to fill out themselves in order to obtain relief – and concurrently realized how difficult relief is to obtain without representation. By working through clinical cases, I became familiar with the panoply of IRS correspondence and protocol that accompanies all tax controversies – and realized that such would certainly overwhelm the average taxpayer. By discussing clinical experiences with each other, we created a shared knowledge base of the options available to taxpayers in controversies, the various considerations that came with each option, and the potential ethical concerns that could arise. Soon, we began to strategize about the trajectory of our cases and spot where issues might arise right from the intake meeting.

The Federal Tax Clinic also gave me a great opportunity to advocate on a case-by-case basis and on a more global scale. In the course of the clinic, I wrote a detailed request to the IRS to reconsider the results of an audit, based on new information regarding the taxpayer’s liability. I also had the opportunity to assist in writing an amicus curiae brief for the Tax Court, which advocated for interpreting a filing deadline to be subject to equitable tolling. Other students wrote requests to the IRS for offers in compromise, which are requests to settle taxpayers’ debt for less than the full amount owed. Several students collaborated to submit comments and suggestions to the Tax Court regarding proposed changes to the Tax Court’s Rules of Practice and Procedures and Tax Court forms. These different experiences illustrate that the clinic’s mission is two-fold: to help improve individual taxpayers’ economic circumstances and to encourage policy changes that will hopefully lead to better outcomes in the tax controversy system for all low income taxpayers.

PLAP Testifies to Judiciary Committee on Prison and Parole Reform Bills

December 11, 2015 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Via the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project

9e925e32-b49c-47f4-ba5f-bf5a97b7b42b On October 14, three PLAPpers joined individuals and organizations from across the Commonwealth at the State House to testify before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, in support of bills aimed at improving criminal justice. Despite little advance notice, a dozen PLAPpers volunteered to do research and draft written testimony for the Committee’s review, and three PLAPpers – Michael Mullan (LLM), Katherine Robinson (1L), and Eddie Nasser (1L) – appeared in person to present oral testimony on PLAP’s behalf. Dozens of bills were on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda, but PLAP focused on three issues of considerable importance to its clients.

Solitary Confinement. Michael Mullan expressed PLAP’s support for two bills: one that would require the Massachusetts Department of Correction to collect data and report on the usage of solitary confinement in state prison, and another that would substantially limit the use and duration of solitary confinement. Mr. Mullan highlighted PLAP’s unique familiarity with this issue, as PLAPpers represent state prisoners in dozens of disciplinary hearings each year, with solitary confinement always a potential sanction (and often a feature of the pre-hearing process). For serious charges, the DOC permits sentences of up to ten years in solitary confinement, making Massachusetts an outlier nationally.

Mr. Mullan described the dehumanizing effects of solitary confinement, effects which are well known and acknowledged by experts in many different fields. Being locked in a small, cramped cell, with solid doors and limited natural light, for 23 hours a day, day after day, takes a heavy toll on the inhabitant. The harm done to prisoners in solitary is also visited on the community, as most prisoners are eventually released. The transition to society, which is already difficult, is made even more so when a person has been deprived of normal stimuli or social interaction for extended periods of time.

Mr. Mullan submitted PLAP’s position that given these harms, the DOC should be reporting its usage of solitary confinement, so that it can be monitored and studied, and long-term solitary confinement should be eliminated. Mr. Mullan reminded lawmakers that solitary confinement is imposed not only on the guilty but on those merely accused of violating prison rules, with indefinite confinement for weeks or sometimes months.

CHLPI Clinics Travel to the 9th Annual Southern Obesity Summit

November 30, 2015 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

Via Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
By Michelle Maley, J.D. ’16 and Olivia Smith, J.D. ’17

On November 15, we traveled as representatives of the Harvard Health and Food Law and Policy Clinics to Jackson, Mississippi for the 9^th Annual Southern Obesity Summit. The Summit is the largest regional event that focuses on obesity prevention in the United States. It draws participants from 16 Southern States as well as advocates from around the country. Attendees included policymakers, community-based organizations, health care providers, and members of other public health organizations. Southern Obesity Summit 2015 Logo

The three-day Summit kicked off at the Mississippi Museum of Art with a delicious meal featuring local Mississippi foods prepared by the Museum’s Executive Chef Nick Wallace. The next two days consisted of panels and work groups, which were interspersed with dance parties and other fun activities to get everyone moving. The panels and work groups covered topics such as school foods and nutrition, food access, obesity research, and physical activity. Ona Balkus, a senior clinical fellow with the Food Law and Policy Clinic, presented about procurement of local foods, describing its importance and its potential for promoting sustainable, healthy food systems. Katie Garfield, a clinical fellow with the Health Law and Policy Clinic, also presented about the Clinic’s exciting work with food banks and food pantries as supporters of health promotion in their communities.

For us first-time students in the Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Summit gave us an exciting opportunity to hear from many influential stakeholders whose innovative initiatives are already addressing the obesity crisis. We were able to learn about programs focused on food-related health outcomes in schools, health care facilities, and the community as a whole. Many of these efforts have informed and are often at the forefront of our clinic research, which strives to provide guidance for communities that want to improve the quality of their food systems. Specifically, we are working this semester to update the FLPC’s Good Laws, Good Food local food policy toolkit, which provides a menu of policy options to communities working to improve their food systems. The Summit provided a plethora of ideas and innovations to incorporate into the updated toolkit to share with other communities around the country. We enjoyed being able to connect with individuals who serve as champions in their respective fields, as it is these individuals that we hope to reach through our work and learn from in the process.

Pursuing the vision of Horace Mann

November 16, 2015 / clinicalandprobono / 0 Comments

By Jonathan Wall, J.D. ’16

Jonathan Wall, J.D. ’16

In 1848, Horace Mann, the “father” of American education, wrote, “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of the conditions of men.” These words were rooted in the belief that a great education could overcome the effects of unequal backgrounds and allow any child to thrive in American society. My life experiences have taught me much about the power of education to combat socioeconomic disparities and to transform lives. As a result of these experiences, I have developed a strong interest in the legal and policy issues relating to education equity and adequacy. More than anything, I chose to attend HLS because of the opportunities to pursue these interests through HLS’ diverse and innovative clinical offerings. During the spring semester of my 2L year, I participated in the Semester in Washington Clinic, where I worked in the Educational Opportunities Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Now, as a 3L, I am participating in my second external clinic in as many semesters – Public Education Policy and Consulting Clinic (PEPCC).

PEPCC brings together graduate students in business, policy, education, and law from universities across the nation to engage in consulting projects serving public and social-sector organizations undertaking and supporting transformational change in the education sector. Through the clinic, I’m on a team with three other students, working with a large urban school district. The district is operating under state-law constraints, and is in the process of developing a strategy toward independence from the state. In December, our consulting team will provide the district with a proposal that will allow the district to transition to an economically and politically feasible “end state” that is aligned with its vision, includes key stakeholders, and sustains academic progress.

Among other things, my work has included conducting legal research and drafting memos, interviewing key stakeholders within the district, and attending meetings to brief the district’s superintendent and other leaders on different aspects of our team’s proposal. In addition to the consulting work, the class includes weekly seminars on topics in education policy, governance, management, and politics. We also engage in “skills sessions,” in which we’ve learned tangible skills, like how to translate a scope of work into a clear project plan, how to prepare for and conduct interviews, and how to calculate and analyze descriptive statistics. In the end, I’ll leave the class with a new skill set and knowledge base that far exceeds my original expectations of what I could learn in a semester.

As an aspiring lawyer, I find hope in my belief that through thoughtful collaboration and legal advocacy, our education system will one day become the “great equalizer” that Horace Mann envisioned. I’m thankful that HLS and the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs have allowed me to spend some time away from Cambridge and the traditional law school classroom, to gain practical experiences within organizations tackling the important education issues that I hope to dedicate my career towards addressing.

Pivotal Elections in Myanmar

November 12, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

Via International Human Rights Clinic

By Roni Druks, J.D. ’17, and Sharon Yuen, LL.M. ’16

Today, Myanmar held its first contested general election in 25 years — one that will have major implications for human rights. As vote counting starts, everyone is waiting to see whether the current ruling party, the military-backed United Solidarity and Development Party, or the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, will win control of the parliament. There is a long history between military-backed parties and the NLD, dating to 1990, when the NLD won a landslide victory that was never recognized. In 2010, after decades of military rule, the country held elections again, leading to a USDP victory in parliament and the appointment of former general Thein Sein as president. But the NLD boycotted the 2010 vote, which was largely considered illegitimate.

Today, as the USDP, NLD, and other parties face off, seats in both the upper and lower houses of the national legislature, as well as at the state and division levels, are at stake. Despite concerns about whether the election will be free and fair, the key question is whether the NLD or USDP will win a victory and be able to control parliament—either alone or in a coalition. The winning party should control the selection of the next president, who will have a major influence over the course of human rights in the country over the next few years.

The outcome of the election will prove especially crucial since the president and newly elected parliament will bear responsibility of advancing a challenging peace process. Although the Myanmar government signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with eight ethnic armed organizations on October 15, 2015, the agreement remains neither nationwide nor a ceasefire. (For more on that, see the recent piece by our fellow clinic student, Roi Bachmutsky, JD ’17). Fighting has continued in several ethnic areas, raising concerns about the displacement of ethnic communities and other human rights violations.

Beyond the elections, Myanmar’s human rights record was under scrutiny this past Friday through the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which is evaluating Myanmar’s progress on human rights since 2011. Regrettably, Myanmar appointed Lt. Gen. Ko Ko to head the committee responsible for Myanmar’s UPR process. Ko Ko has a long track record of alleged involvement in human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity as the International Human Rights Clinic previously documented in a four-year investigation.

The Clinic made a UPR submission in March highlighting that the Myanmar government has not taken any steps to investigate the allegations against Lt. Gen. Ko Ko. In a major development, more than 500 groups from Myanmar (who must remain anonymous for fear of retaliation) have signed a petition calling for international action to hold Lt. Gen. Ko Ko accountable due to inaction at the national level. In response, the Clinic, along with eight other organizations, released a statement echoing the need for an end to impunity.

Whether on the election front, in its peace process, or on issues of accountability, it is a pivotal time in Myanmar. Along with the world, the people of Myanmar wait to see whether a new chapter for human rights is on the horizon or whether it will be more of the same.

The World’s Role in Burma’s Peace Process

November 5, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

By Roi Bachmutsky, J.D. ’17, student in the International Human Rights Clinic

There is a joke in Burma* that George Orwell unintentionally wrote a trilogy about the country: Burmese Days about its colonial era, Animal Farm about its road to socialism, and 1984 about its military dictatorship. With Burma’s national elections coming up in just one week, President Thein Sein has been using smoke and mirrors to persuade the world that dystopian Burma is history. The final act is the recent signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the Ethnic Armed Organizations that have long been plagued by armed conflict with the regime. Burma has changed, the story goes: it is a democracy, it has made peace. Enticing though it may be, this narrative is just not true.

Christina Zuba reflects on her summer at Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic

October 2, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

Via Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

Christina Zuba, HLS ’16

By Christina Zuba, 2015 Cleary Gottlieb Summer Fellow

I am unbelievably grateful for the time I spent working as the Cleary Gottlieb Summer Fellow at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC). Throughout my summer at HIRC, I was challenged daily and learned so much about immigration law, the provision of legal services, and myself. I was so fortunate to be supervised by incredibly talented, supportive, and helpful people who genuinely care about their work and about teaching students to be compassionate and effective lawyers. Professor Deborah Anker, Sabi Ardalan, Phil Torrey, and Maggie Morgan all served as wonderful role models and mentors, and I cannot imagine a better group of people to have supervised me.

During my time at HIRC I represented clients in various stages of their asylum and immigration processes. I was able to develop and strengthen many important skills through working at HIRC while seeing clearly that I was truly making a difference in the lives of my clients. In my first two weeks at HIRC I presented at two master calendar hearings, which is something I had not had the opportunity to do previously. I formed strong relationships with wonderful and resilient individuals seeking asylum, and I interviewed them many times throughout the summer in order to develop their cases and file their applications. These interviews were often difficult and incredibly moving, and they had an immeasurable impact on me. I learned to write affidavits effectively for my clients, being sure to make a strong case and include all the necessary legal elements while still maintaining the client’s unique voice. In addition to various other assignments, I assisted clients in their applications for work authorization and legal permanent residence.

I cannot put into words how fortunate I feel to have spent my summer at HIRC and to have had the opportunity to work with such inspiring clients and welcoming and passionate supervisors. These experiences will remain with me for not only the rest of my career but also the rest of my life. Thank you so much to the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic staff for giving me this opportunity and for encouraging, guiding, and teaching me every day.

Student Spotlight: Ariel Eckblad ’16

September 21, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

Ariel Eckblad, J.D. ’16

Via Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP)

“I write with the fundamental belief that the problems created by humanity can be solved by humanity.”

This note from my mother, at some point, became my mantra after a childhood laced with her stories of the Nigerian civil war, forced migration, and famine. There is a sort of ever-gnawing “it doesn’t have to be this way” ethos that has guided many of my life’s choices. And still, at some point before law school but after high school graduation, these words had hollowed. Penned so often and repeated with such frequency, it seemed they had shed their sincerity. I believed these words in theory but had no clue what they meant in practice. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, HNMCP (and a Google search) gave these words a newfound meaning.

I appreciate that I am a bit of an anomaly amongst my peers in that the Negotiation Workshop was the reason I came to HLS. In fact, I remember the evening I decided not to forgo my acceptance after 3 years of deferring—I was skimming an article on peace-building and the Harvard Program on Negotiation was spotlighted. I, at the time wondering whether a three year postponement had made law school redundant, did a quick Google search for “Harvard Law Negotiation.” What I found, a simple website detailing the work of HNMCP, altered the trajectory of my academic career. It was not until I was sitting in the UK scrolling the HNMCP website that I realized that there was a community of people dedicated not only to the study but to the practice of conflict resolution. I realized that I was not alone in believing that it did not have to be this way—we could peaceably and elegantly resolve the conflicts we caused.

I came to HLS hoping to close the gap between dispute resolution theory and practice. The Spring 2014 Negotiation Workshop was my first step in narrowing this gap. It was here that I was pushed to not only hone my negotiating skills but to question the tacit assumptions that shaped me as a negotiator: What does it mean to “win”? Can one be both empathetic and assertive? What is the role of relationships in reaching an agreement? The Workshop proved to be more than a rigorous academic endeavor. It was here that I began to revisit my once hollow mantra. Conflict resolution morphed from a possibility to a process. Conflict resolution was, in fact, an art and there was a community of people seeking to master it.

After the Workshop, eager to fully engage with this community, I enrolled in The Lawyer as Facilitator (LAF) class and the Negotiation and Mediation Clinic in the Fall of 2014 and served as a Teaching Assistant for the Negotiation Workshop in the Spring of 2015. The clinic and LAF worked in tandem to buttress that which I had begun to explore in the Workshop. In LAF I was encouraged to both develop my facilitation skills and explore what made it difficult for me to employ said skills. As a member of the Clinic I worked on a fascinating curriculum design project, supervised by Professor Bordone, and began to re-engage with concepts that I had learned but not yet taught. Ultimately, delivering a negotiation and conflict resolution training for Seeds of Peace (the culmination of my work in the clinic) and serving as a Teaching Assistant for the Negotiation Workshop were professionally and personally transformative. It was in these moments that I came to appreciate the power of facilitation, the potentiality of collective brilliance, and the sheer joy of teaching.

HNMCP has created a unique space at HLS for which I am eternally grateful. It is, without question, a context in which skills are honed, assumptions are challenged, and rigorous academic work is done. And still, in a larger setting where all of that is commonplace, what makes HNMCP unique is its underbelly of hope. Underneath HNMCP’s work, is a hope that is neither idealistic nor naïve but grounded in study, process, and precision. In this paradigm, student and faculty are allowed to collectively re-imagine conflict, unearth well-designed solutions, and believe that the problems we create we can also solve. Thank goodness for that Google search.

Student reflects on her clinical work with victims of domestic violence

June 11, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

By Elizabeth Hadaway, J.D. ’15

In the Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic, our work involves helping domestic violence victims, both men and women, escape abuse and regain control of their lives. We work with clients to obtain divorces, child custody, paternity, child support, and restraining orders. This semester, a restraining order matter arose that significantly shifted my understanding of both abuse and the law’s ability to support survivors trying to leave their abusers. Our client suffered severe physical injuries as a result of an attack by her husband, which forced her to undergo medical treatment and miss several weeks of work. During her recovery, she sought out an ex-parte restraining order, and we represented her in hearings related to an extension of the order. While our primary objective was to extend the restraining order, we also requested lost wages and medical expenses to address the financial consequences of her husband’s attack.

In conducting research prior to the extension hearing we discovered that Massachusetts law clearly permits a court to provide monetary compensation to abuse victims. In fact, the law explicitly provides that, once the court has determined that a person has suffered abuse, it may, in addition to ordering a restraining order extension, require “the defendant to pay the person abused monetary compensation for the losses suffered as a direct result of such abuse. Compensatory losses shall include, but not be limited to, loss of earnings or support, costs for restoring utilities, out-of-pocket losses for injuries sustained, replacement costs for locks or personal property removed or destroyed, medical and moving expenses and reasonable attorney’s fees.” M.G.L. c. 209, §3(f).

We had to return to court three times in order to obtain full relief for our client. During one hearing, one judge elected to pass us to a different judge to hear the compensation remedy, after she noted how unusual the request seemed to her. But in the end, the clear language and intent of the Massachusetts legislature to protect abuse victims from the further economic harms of abuse won out. Our client walked away with not only the standard year-long extension order but also with an order for lost wages and additional money for medical expenses.

To be sure, the victory in hand does not end the process, either for the client’s self-liberation from her abuser, or for her ability to collect on the judgment. Violations of restraining order provisions related to compensation can be tricky to enforce, especially when clients may still fear inciting their abuser’s wrath if they push too hard to collect a judgment. Likewise, the economic impact of abuse does not boil down so easily into a one-time snapshot of lost wages over a few weeks following abuse. Some clients become homeless upon leaving abusers (indeed, the National Network to End Domestic Violence found that 63% of homeless women have been victims of domestic violence as adults). Others have difficulty finding work because of lost income-earning years during the abusive relationship, or they lose their current job due to missed work, caused either by the abuse, or because of court dates related to the abuse. Immigration issues often arise as well, as many abusers use the threat of reporting a spouse as a form of control and intimidation.

Nevertheless, what is clear from our client’s victory in court and the language of the statute is that the purpose of 209A is to provide remedies for victims that encompass financial losses. In the words of one Massachusetts appellate court, “In terms of the relief available under the Abuse Prevention Act, the statute is sui generis. It incorporates elements of domestic relations relief, criminal relief, equitable relief and tort.” Mitchell v. Mitchell, 62 Mass. App. Ct. 769, 773 (2005) (quoting 3 Kindregan & Inker, Family Law and Practice § 57.8 (3d ed.2002)). Restraining orders under Massachusetts law have greater power than is currently recognized. Accordingly, I hope that our client’s victory and those like it inspire clients and their attorneys to make use of the full scope of relief authorized under chapter 209A, §3, and more broadly to push the conversation on remedying domestic violence to recognize the significant economic impact of abuse.

Clinic Files Reply Brief in Apartheid Litigation Appeal

June 5, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

Via International Human Rights Clinic

Yesterday, the Clinic and our partners filed a reply brief in In re South African Apartheid Litigation, currently on appeal before the Second Circuit. The case, which is being litigated under the Alien Tort Statute, brings claims against Ford and IBM for the assistance and support they provided to the apartheid government and security forces to commit human rights violations against black South Africans.

At issue in the appeal is whether the Plaintiffs will be allowed to file their proposed amended complaints so that the case can proceed. In order to do so, the claims must “touch and concern” the territory of the United States with sufficient force, as mandated by the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.

Plaintiffs argue that they meet this standard because the proposed amended complaints contain detailed and specific allegations of the ways in which both Defendants, in the United States, took actions to aid and abet the South African government and security forces. For example, the complaints allege that, in the United States, IBM developed hardware and software systems used to produce identity documents that stripped black South Africans of their citizenship and that Ford, in the United States, made decisions not only to sell but also to specialize vehicles used by the South African security forces to oppress and control the black population.

Oral argument before the Second Circuit will be heard on June 24, and a decision is expected later this year.

Reflections from the Child Advocacy Clinic

May 22, 2015 / ispaho / 0 Comments

Students in the Child Advocacy Clinic learn about a variety of substantive areas impacting the lives of children, particularly by focusing on child welfare (abuse and neglect, foster care, and adoption), education, and juvenile justice. Through a wide range of field placements with government agencies and organizations throughout the U.S. and other countries, students work on different types of projects such as drafting memoranda and briefs for litigation; developing legislative reform proposals; analyzing social science and psychological research; and providing strategic advice to start-ups. We asked students to share their thoughts about working with the Child Advocacy Clinic. Please read their reflections below.

Lydia Halpern, 3L
“The Child Advocacy Clinic was the perfect capstone to my law school career. Interning at the Middlesex Juvenile Court I was able to put three years of doctrinal knowledge in a wide variety of legal fields to use. Aside from the obvious—Civil Procedure, Evidence—I wrote memos and worked on cases involving Immigration Law, First Amendment Law, Constitutional Law, and Family Law. More so than any other job or clinical placement I’ve had during my time at Harvard Law, this clinic allowed me to put what I was learning in the classroom directly into practice. Spending 8 to 10 hours of every week in court gave me great insight into how the juvenile justice system actually works, and allowed me to connect with a wide variety of people who came from all over spectrum of the juvenile justice legal field.”

Faye Maison, 2L
“As a student in the Child Advocacy Clinic, I enjoyed the opportunity to have in depth discussions about everyone’s placements. Students in the CAP clinic worked at a variety of placements, but the placements were strikingly similar. It was amazing to see how interconnected the presentations were. We were constantly referring back to a comment or scenario someone brought up earlier in the semester that was still relevant to the current discussion. It showed how we can take on a variety of roles to combat and assist people in the same issue-area.”

Mark Hamlin, 2L
“Heading into my Child Advocacy Clinic placement site, a primary goal of mine was to find a way to continue to be involved in child advocacy after law school, even though I would almost certainly be heading into practice at a large law firm. The clinic more than met this goal. It not only showed me the diversity of backgrounds involved in the field of child advocacy, but the diversity of approaches and opportunities through which to become involved. I may not know specifically what my role will be in children’s advocacy post-law school, but I no longer am worried that by working at a large law firm I will be cutting myself off from this incredible community of advocates.

Beyond the realm of child advocacy, the clinic also offered me the most practical experience I have received in law school. My placement exposed me to brief and motion writing, witness interviewing and declaration preparation, client interaction, the dynamics of team collaboration and delegation, and the difficulty of actually getting your day in court. It was very refreshing to move away from the theory of law and towards practical application.”

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Providing clinical and pro bono opportunities to Harvard Law School students

Category: Clinical Voices (page 2 of 5)

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Learning from an Israeli Immigration Law Clinic

Mental Health: Aspirations and Reality in India

Food Sovereignty in Navajo Nation

Addressing homelessness in Hawaii

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Extinguishing the Use of Incendiary Weapons

Lessons Learned with the Federal Tax Clinic

Advocating for students impacted by trauma

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CHLPI Clinics Travel to the 9th Annual Southern Obesity Summit

Pursuing the vision of Horace Mann

Pivotal Elections in Myanmar

The World’s Role in Burma’s Peace Process

Christina Zuba reflects on her summer at Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic

Student Spotlight: Ariel Eckblad ’16

Student reflects on her clinical work with victims of domestic violence

Clinic Files Reply Brief in Apartheid Litigation Appeal

Reflections from the Child Advocacy Clinic

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