Clinicians Celebrated at International Women’s Day Exhibition

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Harvard Law and International Development Society and the Harvard Women’s Law Association are hosting the 2nd Annual Portrait Exhibit, entitled Women Inspiring Change. The exhibit features women in the field of law and policy and recognizes the work they have done to inspire and pave the way for others. The portraits will line the first and second floors of Wasserstein Hall from March 1st-14th.

Students, faculty and staff nominated each woman for being an inspiration to his or her career. Among the portraits of judges, activists, public servants, corporate lawyers and businesswomen from across the globe, two of our clinicians – Andrea Park, Staff Attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and Sabrineh Ardalan ’02, Assistant Director and Lecturer on Law at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program  – were featured for their excellent work and mentorship.

Here is a bit more about these inspiring clinicians via the Women Inspiring Change website.

Andrea Park, Staff Attorney, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Andrea Park is a staff attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She supervises all second-year and third-year law students in the Foreclosure Task Force. She works with several students in the Bureau, and juggles an intensive workload of over 50 cases — a fact that is in and of itself a testimony to her dedication, skill and passion for public interest law. Through her role as a supervisor at the Bureau, and being a skillful litigator and community lawyer, she has come to serve as a valued teacher, mentor and role model for many students.

In the words of the HLS community member who nominated Ms. Park, “She teaches students what it means to take a step back and listen to the members and organizers of a tenant and homeowners’ rights organizations as well as how to marry litigation with organizing to obtain extralegal victories when those in the courts seem impossible.” Additionally, “On a more personal note, at a time when the conversation of whether professional women can have it all is ongoing, Andrea has been frank and the most helpful of any attorney, staff member, or professor in all of HLS in discussing the benefits and pitfalls of public interest careers and having a family.”

Park earned her B.A. at Tufts University, M.A. at the University of Chicago, and J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Sabi Ardalan, Assistant Director and Lecturer on Law, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

Sabrineh Ardalan is the current Assistant Director of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She teaches the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, Immigration and Refugee Advocacy, and Trauma, Refugees and Asylum Law. Prior to her positions at Harvard Law School, she was an Equal Justice American Fellow at The Opportunity Agenda, an organization dedicated to social justice movements that advance solutions for expanding opportunity nationally. Ms. Ardalan also worked as a litigation associate at Dewey Ballantine LLP.

In the words of the HLS community member who nominated her, “She is a brilliant lawyer and a shining example of the kind of person I want to be. I am inspired by her commitment to helping her clients and her passion for training the next generation of lawyers to do the same.” 

Ms. Ardalan earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2002 and her B.A. in History and International Studies in Yale College. After obtaining her J.D., she clerked for the Honorable Michael A. Charages of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Honorable Raymond J. Dearie, Chief District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.