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Justice Reform with the Center for Court Innovation

Nina Catalano, 3L, spent the summer of 2011 at the Center for Court Innovation (CCI), an organization that conducts research and development for the court system. The principle location is in midtown New York, although it does have smaller offices in Albany and London. CCI closely resembles the work of the Vera Institute, and the two of them often collaborate.

Election Reform in Sierra Leone

Jason Gelbort, a 2L and dual degree student with Fletcher, spent his summer working with lawyers in Sierra Leone. He found the placement through the U.S. NGO International Professional Partnership for Sierra Leone, who then arranged a placement in the Sierra Leonean government for him with the Law Reform Commission (LRC).

Exploring Democracy and Human Rights with the ACLU

Matthew Spurlock, ’12, spent his 2L summer working at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Democracy in New York City. The Center for Democracy is a branch of the ACLU that works to “strengthen democratic values, promote human rights and ensure government accountability.” It includes the National Security Project, the Human Rights Program and the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. The work that summer interns received was largely confined to a few specific, minute issues within the department to which they were assigned. Matthew described the work as 20% case briefs, and 80% legal research and writing.

Documenting Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan

Nicolette Boehland, ’13, came to law school with an interest in human rights and experience working in conflict zones. During her 1L year, she pursued this interest by working with the Human Rights Clinic as a research assistant and taking public international law during her spring term. It all came together when she landed her 1L summer internship with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Spending a Summer at the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division

Last summer Rachel Heron, 3L, interned with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division Appellate Section in Washington, D.C. The internship lived up to all her expectations and she would highly recommend the experience to anyone who is interested in appellate work and enjoys legal research and writing. Her supervisor assigned only substantive work, the attorneys she worked with offered constructive feedback, and she had the opportunity to write full appellate briefs on a range of environmental issues.

Perspectives From a Legal Services Intern

2L Hunter Landerholm spent the summer after his 1L year doing legal services work at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. While there, he worked for the housing and consumer unit and his work included evictions, Section 8 hearings, foreclosures, rent control work, habitability issues and Fair Housing Act cases, and his office was more than happy to let him pursue work in areas he was interested in.

Articles on HLS Alums and Skadden Fellows

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.

Law firms hiring...Seriously

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.