Wondering if you can have a rewarding publ ic interest career as an appellate lawyer? Think you might enjoy appellate practice\, but are not actually sure what it entails? Join OPIA for a commu nity discussion with Wasserstein Fellow Christine Mon ta\, who has spent her career litigating civil rights and criminal just ice issues in appellate courts from three different perspectives–as a D.C. public defender\, a DOJ civil rights attorney\, and a strategic impact liti gator with the MacArthur Justice Center. Christine will discuss her path to appellate public interest practice and why she found it appealing (pun int ended!)\; demystify the day-to-day life of an appellate lawyer\; compare an d contrast the roles she’s held across various metrics (office culture\, co nnection to clients\, scope of work and impact\, autonomy vs. bureaucracy\, etc.)\; and share insights she’s learned along the way.
Lunch provid ed. Please RSVP. To RSVP\, please sign-in using your HarvardKey and complete the RSVP form below . Open only to the HLS community.
Christine Monta is a Supre me Court & Appellate Counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) in Washi ngton\, D.C. There she briefs and argues important civil rights and crimina l justice appeals in federal and state courts around the country\, on issue s including the felony murder rule\, extreme sentencing\, conditions of con finement\, excessive force\, qualified immunity\, and incarcerated persons’ access to courts. Christine also supervises and mentors junior attorneys a nd law student interns on briefing\, oral argument\, and career paths. Prio r to joining MJC\, Christine was a Senior Attorney in the Appellate Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division\, where she worked to enforce the nation’s civil rights laws in federal and state appellate co urts across two presidential administrations. Christine’s docket at Civil R ights covered a wide range of issues\, including voting rights\, sex discri mination\, disability discrimination\, juvenile justice\, police and correc tion officer misconduct\, servicemember rights\, and access to justice. Chr istine also served as an Investigative Counsel in the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General\, working to improve Department operations and hold high-level government officials accountable for misconduct and abu ses of power. Christine started her legal career as an appellate attorney a t the D.C. Public Defender Service\, where she briefed and argued dozens of appeals on behalf of accused and incarcerated persons. Christine clerked o n the Ninth Circuit following her graduation from Harvard Law School.
If you or an event participant requires disability-related accommodations\ , please contact HLS Accessibility Services at accessibility@law.harvard.edu two weeks in advance of the e vent.
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