Skip to content

Archive

  • Articles on HLS Alums and Skadden Fellows

    May 8, 2011

    Here are two articles featuring Alison Kamhi '08 and Damon King '09, both awarded Skadden Fellowships upon graduating from HLS. Alison Kamhi spent her Skadden Fellowship at Catholic Charities in New York and is now at Bay Area Legal Aid serving again as a Skadden Fellow. Damon King is spending his Skadden Fellowship at the Youth Law Center in San Francisco.

  • Iconic Defense Lawyer Passes

    May 8, 2011

    Leonard Weinglass, one of the most pre-eminent defense lawyers of his time, passed away in March.

  • OCS/OPIA Cover Letter Workshop (Video)

    February 22, 2011

    OCS’s Yih-hsien Shen and OPIA’s Catherine Pattanayak cover the fundamentals of effective cover letter writing and editing in this workshop.

  • Want interview tips? SPEAK CLEARLY AND ELOQUENTLY

    February 2, 2011

    A recent Harvard study found that it matters less what you say during an interview then how you say it.

  • Funding issues for legal aid orgs. lingers as IOLTA funds hit all time low

    February 2, 2011

    Legal aid organizations appear to be in the center of what the National Law Journal calls a "perfect storm" of funding and resource issues. It's all hitting at once, according to the article.

  • Thinking about pouring through the Wikileaks documents? Think again.

    February 2, 2011

    Students who have strong opinions about the recent release of thousands of classified government cables and documents and who might want to or have already commented on them through blog posts, message boards, or other electronic mediums, might want to read this tale.

  • Law firms hiring…Seriously

    September 7, 2010

    In what appears to be early signs of an economic recovery for law firms, and perhaps the legal market overall, law schools are seeing signs of an unfreezing of law firm hiring. Although organizations such as NALP are cautious about projecting potential hiring, and it appears the numbers of summer associates being hired isn't quite reaching the level of 3 or 4 years ago, the numbers do seem promising.

  • Careers in perspective

    September 7, 2010

    Nell Minow, Dean Minow's sister, offers a really interesting perspective on her career as a critic and former lawyer.

  • Bonuses for public interest lawyers goes to court

    April 28, 2010

    Should public interest attorneys get paid bonuses for their work? The answer is apparently yes and no.

  • Law clinics coming under fire

    April 27, 2010

    Law clinics across the country are coming under fire for what is perceived as an over extension of their role. The state of Maryland is debating a bill that includes a measure that would cut money from its clinic if it doesn't provide sufficient information on its funding and practices. Although this specific legislation is being taken up in Maryland, other states such as Louisiana and Michigan are also tackling the issue. Louisiana, in fact, has already created rules restricting state-funded law school clinics.

  • Law firm associates’ pay could change

    April 13, 2010

    The statistics are pretty stark: "In one decade, in part because of the Internet and housing bubbles, salaries for associates at big firms shot to the moon. From 1997 to 2007, the median starting salary at the nation’s largest firms doubled, to $160,000 a year plus bonus, from $80,000, according to the Association for Legal Career Professionals."

  • Legal Times blog shows law schools shifting legal job market focus

    March 28, 2010

    In a recent blog post on the Legal Times, the author highlights how law school career placement offices in Washington D.C. are shifting their focus from big firms to public interest work and small/medium-sized firms.

  • NY Bar retracts recent deferred associate survey

    March 28, 2010

    The New York Bar had to retract a recent report on the deferred associates experiences at public interest organizations. The initial report came to the conclusion that most of the deferred associates were unhappy with their placement and experience with public interest attorneys. The unrevised report highlighted a "culture gap" that the deferred associates felt with the organizations they were placed with.

  • Zero-tolerance policy in schools debate to take stage in North Carolina Supreme Court

    March 28, 2010

    Recent HLS graduate Jim Freeman ('03), and the organization he works for, the Advancement Project, were included in a recent New York Times article about the debate occurring on the zero tolerance policies that have been implemented in many schools across the country. The idea is to punish swiftly and severely, which is often popular among parents, but questioned by administrators and other school officials.

  • Doctors and Lawyers forming uncommon partnership

    March 28, 2010

    According to this recent NY Times article, an all-too rare but growing partnership between doctors and lawyers has been growing in various parts of the country. The purpose of these medical-legal partnerships? To simultaneously address the serious health concerns of the poor and connect them with legal aid to redress these health issues.

  • Do you need to be a lawyer to give legal advice?

    March 15, 2010

    In this recent Washington Post op-ed by Gillian Hadfield, Sidley Austin Visiting Professor of Law at HLS, Hadfield contends that other countries may have it right in the way legal advice is delivered. Rather than solely being provided by attorneys, Hadfield contends that advice can be more effective (and has proven to be more effective in other countries) when it comes from alternate sources.

  • Diversity among staff on the Hill rising slowly but changes may be coming

    March 3, 2010

    An internal congressional survey was conducted back in 2009 to look at diversity on Capitol Hill and they shared some surprising (or perhaps not so surprising) statistics: While diversity on the Hill was up, it was up by a paltry 2.5 percent from 2003.

  • Federal agencies could see staff increases in 2011

    February 11, 2010

    The publication Government Executive recently came out with an article forecasting federal agency employment in 2011.

  • Law firm jobs are no longer the “golden ticket” they used to be

    February 11, 2010

    Yet another post about the declining appeal of a law firm job. Although not offering entirely new insight, it does help bring up the question to many junior associates who are slaving away if the work is worth it. Increasing demands and pressure from partners, declining pay, and even declining esteem are at play when identifying the new issues young lawyers are facing amidst this job market. As the article goes on to explain,

  • American Law Institute project on capital justice deemed a failure

    January 15, 2010

    In a fairly dramatic event, the American Law Institute, which created the "intellectual framework" of our capital justice system, walked away from one of its defining projects: finding a intellectual rationale for capital punishment.

  • Student engagement survey shows debt mounting for law school students

    January 15, 2010

    A recent survey on student engagement shows that nearly 30 percent of law school graduates are graduating law school with $120,000 in debt. This figure is up 11 percent since 2006. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the debt factor does not seem to be a huge deterrent in applying to law schools, as law school admissions have admitted seeing a rise in applicants.