Sirrah Harris Dobbert joins OCP as Director of Externships

The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP) extends a warm welcome to Sirrah Harris Dobbert, who has joined the team as the Director of Externships.

Sirrah joins Harvard Law School after over ten years at the New York Legal Assistance Group, where she was Project Director and Supervising Attorney at the organization’s Mobile Help Legal Center. In that role, she managed all community-based outreach to ensure effective legal services could be accessed by community members across New York’s five boroughs. She also managed the oversight, training, and coordination of hundreds of pro bono volunteers, law students, and social workers each year to increase capacity of various access to justice programs.

Previously, Sirrah served as a Staff Attorney at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, an organization that provides integrated human services to those in need on the East Side of Manhattan. Sirrah is an alumna of the Fordham University School of Law and New York University.

In this Q&A, learn more about Sirrah’s experiences and her advice for current law students.

Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP): What interested you about taking on this new role? 

Sirrah Harris Dobbert (SHD): I have been very lucky in my career to get to work with a large number of students and young attorneys seeking advice and mentorship and was excited to work in an office with a mission of counseling students along their legal pathways through experiential learning opportunities. Additionally, I strongly believe in the importance of experiential learning for law students because of the impact that clinics and internships had on my own legal path. Being able to step in a role working with students who are energized to discover what kind of lawyers they want to be and to do the hard work of serving their legal communities is a unique privilege! 

OCP: What inspired you to pursue a career in the legal field? How have your professional experiences so far shaped you? 

SHD: I went to law school after working in the world of theater for a few years after college, and all I knew was that I wanted to do be in public service. I was inspired by my mother who built her career providing services for folks with substance use disorders. I didn’t go in with a focus, so throughout law school I took advantage of clinics, internships, and student service organizations which lead me to a career in civil legal services. 

My professional experiences have changed the way I look at problem solving and project building from the individual to structural. Direct service work is client-centered work, but it is also the work of learning the systems clients navigate through and the broader impacts that those systems have. It has taught me to be a listener, to be curious, and to be humble and willing to learn even in spaces where I am the decision-maker.  

OCP: What do you see as the significance of externships for law students? How can externships contribute to students’ professional development and future careers?

SHD: I believe that externships are the most valuable thing you can do in law school (not that I’m biased or anything). Stepping into legal practice as a student brings the law to life! It may solidify a student’s passion or move them onto a brand new legal path. My clinical experiences in law school not only gave me guideposts for the type of lawyer I wanted to be, but also introduced professional and personal relationships that have supported me throughout my career. 

OCP: What do you like to do for fun?

SHD: I love to run (slowly), read (slowly), and play with my kids (who are always moving quickly). 

OCP: How can students interested in learning more about externship opportunities at HLS reach you? 

SHD: Come by the office and say hello! Set up a zoom or in-person meeting or email me at sdobbert@law.harvard.edu!