Keeping Tabs is a Q&A series that follows alumni on their careers after graduation, the lasting impacts of their clinical and pro bono experiences at Harvard Law School, and their experiences in a variety of sectors of law.
“There is never a dull moment,” says Lena Silver ’13 of her work as Director of Policy and Administrative Advocacy at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA).
Silver, a graduate of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and recipient of the 2013 Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Award, has worked at NLSLA since 2015. In her current role, Lena oversees NLSLA’s public benefits and workers’ rights teams and supports policy and administrative advocacy initiatives across the organization.
In 2021, Lena filed Hunger Action Los Angeles, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al., on behalf of a harmed client and several community organizations, to enforce the right of food stamp applicants to receive timely emergency assistance. Following the lawsuit, the County improved its processing rate for emergency applications from 50% to 98%. That same year, Lena launched the Benefits Access for Immigrants (BAILA) Los Angeles Network, a collaboration among benefits enrollers, outreach workers, and legal aid providers. The network aims to increase immigrant access to public benefits by addressing barriers such as public charge fears and misinformation.
Before joining NLSLA, Lena completed a fellowship at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago and clerked for a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
We caught up with Lena to hear more about her work in poverty law, lessons learned through community lawyering, and takeaways from her pro bono work at HLS.
Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP): Please tell us about your role at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. What does your day-to-day work look like?
Lena Silver: I am the Director of Policy and Administrative Advocacy at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA), where I have worked since 2015. In this role, I oversee NLSLA’s public benefits and workers’ rights teams and support policy and administrative advocacy initiatives across the organization. My time is divided between mentorship and supervision, engaging in administrative advocacy with state and local agencies, supporting organization-wide trainings and initiatives, working on a case representing tenant survivors of the January wildfires, and running our Benefits Access for Immigrants Los Angeles (BAILA) Network project.
OCP: What are some of the biggest challenges you often see your clients facing? How does NLSLA work to address these challenges?
Silver: I have the privilege of working in a direct-client services legal aid organization. We practice in a multitude of areas of poverty law, which can be defined as the legal statutes, regulations, and cases that affect low-income people in their daily lives. Poverty lawyers challenge and resist economic, racial, and other forms of inequality through direct client representation, collective representation and systemic advocacy in courts and administrative forums. We also empower clients and communities with tools to engage in the legal process and protect themselves from harmful legal outcomes.
One of the greatest challenges our clients face is finding help when civil legal issues arise. Research shows that low-income people do not receive legal help for 92% of their serious legal problems, even though representation—particularly in cases like eviction—has a major positive impact.
NLSLA works hard to stretch our resources to help as many people as possible. This includes operating a high-volume hotline that provides legal information, referrals, and access to advocates; running countywide court-based self-help centers where all litigants can get assistance with civil filings such as restraining orders and evictions; holding clinics with pro bono attorneys to serve more people in housing, consumer, public benefit and education matters; and carefully analyzing individual cases to identify systemic issues that can be addressed through impact litigation or policy advocacy.
OCP: In 2021, you launched the Benefits Access for Immigrants (BAILA) Los Angeles Network, a collaboration among benefits enrollers, outreach workers, and legal aid providers aiming to increase immigrants’ access to public benefits. What have been your biggest lessons learned through this work?
Silver: There is never a dull moment for advocates working at the intersection of public benefits and immigrant access! Under the law, many immigrants can lawfully use public benefits in times of hardship to stabilize their families’ health and security without jeopardizing their future immigration status. I launched this project because I saw that if I was dedicating myself to improving access to the safety net, one of the most impactful ways to do so was by addressing the barriers immigrants face—such as fear stemming from the “public charge” rule, language barriers, complex eligibility rules, and stigma. Studies show that one in four immigrants who are eligible for benefits avoid them because of these overlapping barriers.
Some lessons I have learned are that it takes the entire community to bridge divides in access and knowledge. We spend significant time creating and updating trainings for providers and the community. I’ve also learned how crucial it is to engage every part of the public benefits ecosystem to make change—from state agencies and local welfare departments to health clinics, community-based organizations, and outreach workers providing in-language support to their communities.
OCP: In your career so far, how have you seen the law function as a tool for advancing justice, particularly for low-income communities?
Silver: While preparing for my Wasserstein Fellowship lunchtime talk, I came across a quote from Reginald Heber Smith, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Director of the Boston Legal Aid Society. In his 1919 book Justice and the Poor, he challenged the legal profession to ensure access to justice regardless of ability to pay. “Without equal access to the law,” he wrote, “the system not only robs the poor of their only protection, but it places in the hands of their oppressors the most powerful and ruthless weapon ever invented.”
From the first legal aid organizations at the turn of the 20th century to today, civil legal services and impact organizations have worked tirelessly to shift the paradigm—from a legal system that once perpetuated inequity to one that can challenge and dismantle it.
Every case—whether representing a client in a SNAP (food stamp) hearing, eviction, restraining order, bankruptcy, expungement, or immigration matter—helps ensure judges and administrators uphold our clients’ rights, establish good precedent, and expose systemic failures that require reform. While many thoughtful legislators and advocates promulgate laws and regulations to protect the economic and social interests of low-income people, when those laws are ignored or poorly administered—for example, delays in processing emergency food aid—a lawsuit can serve as the essential legal backstop.
OCP: At Harvard Law School, you were a student attorney in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. What lessons or memories stick out to you when you reflect on your clinic experiences? How did HLAB influence or prepare you for your career?
Silver: My experience at HLAB was, hands down, the most impactful part of my time at HLS. The camaraderie, teamwork, leadership, and learning environment it fostered mirror the authentic legal aid practice I’ve carried into my career.
Some memories that stand out include staying up late cite-checking and proofreading a brief for a Massachusetts Supreme Court case connected to HLAB’s foreclosure work (shoutout to Sam Levine); leading onboarding and training for a new class of students as training director; and taking the T to Boston Housing Court every Thursday for the “attorney of the day” program, where we often resolved eviction cases on the spot.
I was deeply mentored by Dave Grossman (may his memory be a blessing), Patricio Rossi, and other dedicated staff. HLAB instilled in me a foundational belief that has guided my career: it is through individual client connections that insights, opportunities, and—most importantly—the motivation to fight poverty systemically are born.
OCP: You received the Class of 2013’s Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award in recognition of your commitment to delivering high quality volunteer legal services to local communities and completing the highest number of pro bono hours in your class year. What drove your commitment to pro bono work, and how have you carried those values into your career and work today?
Silver: I entered HLS committed to a career in public interest and used my time in school to explore as many possibilities as I could. That motivation ultimately led me to earn the most pro bono hours! By joining a two-year clinic, I was able to integrate pro bono work directly into my legal education. I also split one summer to explore multiple areas of law—civil rights practice at the ACLU of Northern California and poverty law impact work at the Western Center on Law and Poverty—which added even more hours. To prepare for my Public Service Venture Fund application, I spent a winter term at my future placement, the Shriver Center on Law and Poverty.
I certainly wasn’t aiming to earn the most pro bono hours, but that turned out to be the natural result of maximizing every opportunity for experiential learning. I encourage all students to make the most of their time at HLS—it offers unmatched opportunities to meet leaders in public interest, work with outstanding organizations and firms, and learn from the best clinical instructors in the country.
OCP: What advice do you have for students hoping to dedicate their future legal careers to community-based public interest work?
Silver: There is no single “right” or “best” way to build a legal career devoted to public interest. Find a place to practice where you’ll have community; choose an area of law that keeps your inner fire burning; select a mode of practice that complements your temperament and your goals for life outside the office; and keep challenging yourself to try new things. Stay focused on what truly matters—the privilege of working every day to bring more justice to your clients, who are each a world unto themselves, and to the community where you’ve chosen to put down roots.
Filed in: Alumni Profiles