Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Eloise P. Lawrence is a Clinical Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. In her role as Faculty Director, Lawrence works with the HLAB Student Board to oversee the operation of the country’s oldest student run civil legal aid clinic, and she supervises the superb clinical teaching staff of the Bureau. In this capacity, she is also responsible for HLAB’s formal curriculum that accompanies the clinical teaching. The curriculum includes two seminars: Introduction to Advocacy: Civil Legal Aid Ethics, Theory and Practice and Advanced Clinical Practice. Outside of HLAB, she co-teaches Housing Law and Policy on a biennial basis. She also serves as supervisor and faculty adviser for the student practice organization Project No One Leaves.

Lawrence has spent her entire career representing low-income individuals and grassroots community groups. Over the last 15 years, Lawrence has taught and worked alongside HLS students to protect homeowners and tenants from displacement by eviction and foreclosure. Lawrence and her students use a movement lawyering method that they call the “sword and shield” model that involves close partnerships with community organizations. This model has been incredibly successful in protecting families and communities and has allowed vulnerable populations to build collective power. Lawrence works with other clinical teachers, legal aid lawyers and community organizers to spread the model to other cities across the country.

Prior to HLS, Lawrence worked on civil rights class actions, affirmative consumer protection cases and a variety of litigation on behalf of environmental justice groups. Specifically, she worked as an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services and the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston. She started her legal career as a Skadden Fellow in Chicago. She received a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2002 and a B.A. from Stanford University in 1995.

Patricio has been a Clinical Instructor at HLAB since 2011. Before that, he was an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. From 2004 to 2008, he worked in the Housing Unit of Neighborhood Legal Services in Lynn, Massachusetts, first as a Berkeley Law Fellow then as a Staff Attorney. Patricio graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 2003. After graduating, he completed a one-year clerkship with the Massachusetts Superior Court in Boston. Patricio graduated from Brown University in 1996 with a degree in history.

Pattie is a clinical instructor and Lecturer on Law who joined the Bureau in 2006. She supervises students in the Bureau’s housing practice, and has a particular interest in cases involving reasonable accommodation in housing and Section 8 voucher terminations.  In addition to supervising student attorneys, Pattie coordinates the Bureau’s participation in the Attorney for the Day Program in Boston Housing Court, where students provide assistance to unrepresented tenants facing eviction from their homes.  Pattie holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. Prior to coming to the Bureau, Pattie was a fellow and clinical instructor at the HLS Legal Services Center practicing in the areas of housing law and consumer bankruptcy, and was an associate at the Cambridge law firm of Pressman & Kruskal, where she worked on matters involving residential real estate, estate planning, and lead paint litigation.

Jacob is a Clinical Instructor where he supervises students on cases in both the Wage and Hour, and Family Law Practices. He started at HLAB as a Clinical Fellow in 2021 where he helped start the family defense practice. Previously, Jacob was Staff Attorney in the Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice, where he represented parents and caregivers fighting to keep their children home or reunify with their families taken by the government in the South Bronx. Before law school, he was a policy analyst working with youth involved in the justice system and alternatives to incarceration; and has spent his career working with youth and families. He was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts and a graduate of the public school system. Jacob is a graduate of Boston College (B.A. Political Science); University of Minnesota (Master of Public Policy); and the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law (J.D.).

Amy joined the Bureau as a Clinical Instructor in 2022. She began her legal services career in 2012 as a Staff Attorney at Merrimack Valley Legal Services, now Northeast Legal Aid, representing tenants and homeowners in foreclosure-related litigation. Before coming to the Bureau, she was the Supervising Attorney for Housing and Appeals at the Volunteer Lawyers Project. Amy holds a J.D. from American University and a B.A. from Columbia University. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time outdoors hiking or paddling with her husband, two sons, and dog.

Elizabeth is a Clinical Instructor who teaches and supervises student attorneys in the Bureau’s Family and Wage & Hour Practices. Elizabeth works with students to hone their unique professional voices, sharpen their complex litigation skills, and develop a robust framework for excellent social justice lawyering. Within the Family Practice, Elizabeth has worked with clinicians and students to create a family defense practice that represents parents in state family policing investigations and fair hearing appeals, partners with local and national advocacy organizations, and facilitates innovative community-based teach-ins and Know Your Rights presentations. She also supervises students in a wide variety of domestic relations and family-immigration cases. Within the Wage & Hour Practice, Elizabeth supervises students vindicating workers’ rights through sophisticated civil litigation in state and federal courts. Elizabeth was a Staff Attorney at The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice from 2016-2021, where she represented hundreds of parents and caregivers in cases alleging maltreatment, partnered on impact and policy initiatives, and published scholarship on family policing issues. Elizabeth also worked as a litigator at the boutique firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC, where she represented clients in complex civil and criminal matters. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was a Bureau student attorney and executive board member, and summa cum laude from Smith College. She was awarded a 2012 Fulbright Research Fellowship to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Elizabeth is admitted to practice law in New York and Massachusetts.

Alex (he/they) is a Clinical Instructor in the Bureau’s Housing Practice. They started their career as an AmeriCorps Equal Justice Fellow at the Northwest Justice Project in Seattle, WA, providing civil legal aid to homeless veterans. Alex has worked on housing policy advocacy in Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Most recently, he served as the Director of UConn School of Law’s Housing and Eviction Defense clinic. Alex has previously taught Mental Health Law at both UConn and New England Law | Boston. He is interested in the intersections of mental health, housing, and policy and worked for five years as a fair housing attorney in the south coast region of Massachusetts. Alex holds a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law and a B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, MA.

Tallulah joined the Bureau as a Clinical Instructor in 2025 and supervises students in the Wage and Hour Practice. Prior to joining HLAB, Tallulah was an Assistant Attorney General in the Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office where she enforced the Massachusetts Wage Act. Tallulah started her career in legal services at the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project (VLP). At VLP, Tallulah represented consumers in debt-collection defense and workers in affirmative wage theft claims. In her role at VLP, Tallulah also mentored and supervised volunteer attorneys who provided pro bono representation to VLP clients. Tallulah holds a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and a B.A. from Barnard College of Columbia University.

Chris Pierce is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and has been practicing at Harvard Law School for over 20 years. He has consulted and practiced within a variety of legal clinics including Defenders, CJI, Prison Legal Aid, Tenant Advocacy Program, and Harvard Immigration Clinic. He presently works three days per week at HLAB and consults with other clinical programs. Within HLAB, he works closely with the legal team to improve legal outcomes for clients. He frequently provides intervention plans, assessments, and clinical evaluations for clients.

Additionally, he acts as an advocate, case manager, and provider of short-term clinical care for HLAB clients. Within his social work role, he also provides training to law students and supports their learning and advocacy. He is available for a variety of consultations with Clinical Instructors and students. He also supervises social work interns at HLAB. Prior to his work at Harvard, he supervised an outpatient clinic in Taunton. He has practiced as a therapist in a variety of settings in the Boston area and presently has a private practice in Wakefield.