Congratulations to Eloise, Julia, and Toby on their promotions

The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs extends heartfelt congratulations to Eloise Lawrence (Harvard Legal Aid Bureau), Julia Devanthéry (Housing Law Clinic), and Toby Merrill (Project on Student Predatory Lending) on their recent promotions to the position of Clinical Instructor.

Eloise Lawrence, Clinical Instructor,
Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Eloise Lawrence has served as a staff attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau for over three years representing tenants and homeowners in post-foreclosure evictions and working closely with community organizers as part of Project No One Leaves. Previously, she was a staff attorney in the Consumer Rights Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services where she brought affirmative suits on behalf of mortgagors against loan originators, servicers and foreclosing entities. Prior to the foreclosure crisis, she was an attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, and started her legal career as a Skadden Fellow in Chicago representing public housing residents in civil rights class actions. Eloise received a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2002 and a B.A. from Stanford University in 1995.

Julia Devanthéry, Clinical Instructor,
Housing Law Clinic (LSC)

Julia Devanthéry joined the Legal Services Center as Staff Attorney for the Mattapan Initiative in 2013. She now co-teaches and supervises students enrolled in the Housing Law Clinic. She also maintains a caseload of post-foreclosure, private housing, and subsidized housing eviction cases, and practices primarily in the Boston Housing Court. Previously, Julia was the Manager of Legal Advocacy at HomeStart, Inc. where she represented low-income tenants on the verge of homelessness. Prior to working at HomeStart, she was clinical law fellow at Northeastern University School of Law’s Domestic Violence Institute.

Toby Merrill, Clinical Instructor and
Lecturer on Law, Project on Predatory
Student Lending (LSC)

Toby Merrill founded and directs the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which represents low-income student loan borrowers in predatory lending cases against for-profit and occupational schools and related entities. Toby twice represented legal aid providers and their clients in the US Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking sessions, by which the Department promulgates new student loan regulations, and is a member of the advisory council on Private Occupational Schools to the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure. Toby joined the Legal Services Center’s Predatory Lending Practice in 2012 as a Skadden Fellow, after clerking for the Honorable Janet C. Hall of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Our office wishes them success in their next endeavors!