If someone had told me at age 24 that I would become a lawyer, I would have told them they were crazy. I had majored in geology as an undergraduate, spent a couple of summers at Woods Hole, and entered a Ph.D. program with the idea of becoming a marine geologist. After deciding that path was not for me, I had an M.S. in geology and no career aspirations. I considered a number of options, ranging from scientific journalism to carpentry.

Current 3L Jessica Frisina spent last summer in New Orleans as an intern at the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights (formerly known as Juvenile Regional Services).

A career in public interest law was always on the agenda for Suzette Smikle ’02, who currently serves as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Georgia. Smikle was born in a poor neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in New York City, where she attended public schools.

Renika Moore, HLS class of 2003, is currently the director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Economic Justice Group. The purpose of this division is to address racially driven obstacles to economic equality, as well as discrimination in employment and housing.

“I thought my career was ruined,” recalled Ms. Elizabeth Westfall of the moment that she found out she did not receive a Skadden Fellowship. It…

Since graduating from HLS in 2004, Michael Camilleri has worked across Latin America and in Washington D.C. with civil society and grassroots organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and government agencies on addressing issues of human rights in the Latin American region.

As Executive Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jennifer Cannistra heads the policy development and regulations office and plays a role…

Adam Szubin (HLS ’99) is the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He has served…

“The future of America as a major world power and as a decent place to live hinges on a strong middle class,” says Lela Klein, speaking about the stakes of her job as in-house counsel for a union. “And the future of the middle class in America hinges in no small part on the future of the labor movement.”

When Dan Gordon entered Harvard Law School in 1996, he knew that he wanted to pursue education civil rights work. As a law student, Gordon was able to participate in a variety of activities to help him explore other possible career choices including the Criminal Justice Institute, Harvard Law Review, and Ames Moot Court.

A profile of alum Janson Wu (HLS, 2003) in The Progressive.

Thomas Garza had a variety of interests he was looking to pursue in law school including education law and LGBT related issues. He decided to work at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), a Boston based impact litigation organization because he thought it was doing the most interesting work for LGBT rights.

Wasserstein Fellows do great and courageous things. Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is (and has been) no exception. As a Wasserstein Fellow during the 2004-2005 year, she mentored law students thinking about pursuing careers in civil rights and civil liberties.

Gideon's Army, a documentary film that follows three young public defenders in the south, was recently shown at Harvard Law School and features a former Wasserstein Fellow, Jonathan Rapping, the Founder and Executive Director for Gideon’s Promise (formerly the Southern Public Defender Training Center) based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Gideon's Promise works to help train and support public defenders in the south.

Timap for Justice, a legal services organization based in Sierra Leone, provides legal services through their 19 offices in both rural and urban areas. Lynnette worked for 10 weeks in the summer of 2011 in a small office in Yele, a village in the central part of Sierra Leone. There were 7 total interns with Timap, but each was assigned to a different office. They did, however, communicate with each other and meet up to go on weekend outings.

In Mika Brezinzski's "Women of Value" Series, she profiles Danielle Gray, who is currently the Cabinet Secretary and Assistant to the President. Gray graduated from HLS in 2003 and has worked with President Obama for a number of years

Last summer, Catherine Cooper worked with the Immigration Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). The main focus of GBLS is providing direct services to local clients in a variety of areas, such as housing, employment and welfare. The immigration unit primarily represents low-income immigrants in asylum interviews and hearings before the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. Catherine loved working at GBLS and thought it was a great place to supplement her immigration work at HLS with a more intensive hands-on experience.

Previously a public policy major at Princeton, Jared was looking for opportunities to get involved in state government as a Harvard Law student. In 2008 he spent his summer interning in the Office of the Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, working on education policy. He returned there for his 1L summer, this time as a Legal Fellow in the Office of Legal Counsel. One of only three Fellows, Jared enjoyed the close contact with all five in-house counsels. While the State House reminded him of a largely formal working environment, it felt rather casual for Jared who became an integral part of the small legal office.

Two recent HLS alumnae, Devon Goodrich (HLS, 2011) and Leocadie (Lee) Welling (HLS, 2011) received rookie of the year honors from the New York City Law Department, as top rookies in their field.

Last year, as a 1L, Emily Freeman looked for organizations in New York where she could pursue her interest in special education law. When she…

Lara Berlin, originally from California, is in her third year of a four-year joint-degree program with Harvard Law School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. She spent last summer working with the Center for Civilians in Conflict located in Washington DC. The organization “works to make warring parties more responsible to civilians before, during, and after armed conflict.”