This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Public Service Venture Fund, which serves to support HLS graduates’ public interest careers and amplify the impact of their work. Read more about the PSVF, its history, and how some alumni are using PSVF funds to build a better world.

All 2L and 3L students considering or planning to apply for clerkships for the 2024 cycle can now refer to HLS’s updated 2023 anecdotal list of judges with a public interest focus when researching potential clerkship options. Note that this version has been significantly expanded to include federal circuit and district judges confirmed in the last year, as well as additional federal magistrate and state court judges. The updated list can be accessed here.

Student Government's Public Interest Committee and the Law and Social Change Program are coordinating a peer-to-peer mentoring program for public interest students! 1Ls will be matched with more experienced students who have similar public interest career aspirations to share advice/resources/frustrations. The program will have a budget for mentors and mentees to get coffee or pastries, and will also be coordinating small group meetings with HLS professors in each interest area. Please sign up if you are interested in being a mentor or mentee! The program is open to all kinds of public interest students, including students who are going to firms upon graduation but hoping to transition later in their careers.

As you may have heard, beginning this September, HLS will institute a new orientation session for returning 2L students designed to help you reconnect with classmates, reflect on what you have learned in your first year and first summer as a law student, and look ahead to your future career. HLS will offer the three-hour orientation program on three different afternoons: Thursday, September 28; Friday, September 29; and Sunday, October 1, and you will be asked to choose the session that works best for you.

Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) (HLS JD 1980) will be making a virtual visit to Professor Howell Jackson’s Federal Budget Policy class on Tuesday, November 22nd, from 9 to 10 am in WCC 2009. Students not enrolled in the course are welcome to sit in on the session. 

A few plaintiffs’ firms and several litigation boutiques participate in EIP, but most plaintiffs’ firms and private public interest law firms (PPILFs) do not participate in campus recruiting programs like EIP or V-PIIP. Learn more about how the hiring processes differ with these types of firms.

All HLS students who are receiving SPIF funding and will traveling abroad this summer, including international students returning to their home countries, must fulfill several pre-travel requirements prior to departing the U.S. If you have any questions, email International Legal Studies.

We've expanded our popular summer public interest job search FAQs with additional answers to common general and post-grad public interest job search questions to help you get started or answer questions wherever you are in the process. Check out all of our FAQS!

OPIA advisers and HLS students give advice on how to balance classes, clinics, and extracurriculars during your 2L year. Check out more videos of…

Are you still searching for a 1L or 2L summer position? OPIA advisors are here to help - sign up for an open advising appointment!

Application materials for the Harvard Law School Public Service Venture Fund Seed Grant will be accepted online until Friday, January 15, 2021 at 5 pm. The PSVF Selection Committee invites J.D. alumni to apply for a seed grant to support a proposed organization that is in its initial stages and has few available funding sources. Learn more and apply!

Unfortunately, given the uncertainty surrounding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and consistent with Harvard University's policies regarding travel and gatherings, we will be cancelling our Public Interest Reception in NYC on March 19.

Attorneys general are independent state constitutional officers vested with extraordinarily broad criminal and civil responsibilities. They are elected statewide in 43 states, and appointed in…

Attorneys general are independent state constitutional officers vested with extraordinarily broad criminal and civil responsibilities. Learn more about state AG work and resources available to you at HLS.

Missed the MLSC bidding deadline for the U.S. DOJ, Civil Rights Division, Disability Section? It's now extended to Friday, September 20, 2019! Learn more and submit your materials.

One of the benefits of attending Harvard Law School is that it gives you a lot of freedom to carve out your unique career path.

A comprehensive listing of diversity scholarships, clerkships, mentorships, internships, conventions, and job fairs available to law students.

"The point is not just to protect victims and hold people accountable—the deterrence function—but to make sure we’re using our resources to effectively address what led the person to commit this act."

1Ls are now able to apply for for entry into the Graduate Law program while 2Ls are able to apply for the One Year College Program. Online applications will be accepted until January 10, 2019. Other important deadlines for the program include:
January 10, 2019: Complete an interview with AFROTC Detachment Commander
February 1, 2019: Complete an interview with a Staff Judge Advocate

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The HLS website has moved to HarvardKey. This means secure webpages that use LDAP (HLS Me) credentials to log in will now require HarvardKey credentials instead. There will be a new login screen that will prompt you to enter your HarvardKey with two-factor authentication. Once logged in, you’ll be able to view content on the HLS website.

If you have any questions or problems logging in, please contact ITS at 617-495-0722 or submit a ticket through the HLS Administrative Services Hub.

Check out two webinar recordings to hear from different attorneys and  learn more about working at the Department of Justice !
The webinar links will remain open until December 1, 2018
November 14th Webinar Session November 15th Webinar Session