Event Tag: 1L

–

A fun and casual event for the HLS public interest community! Join OPIA for the third annual Justice Jam. Grab some appetizers while listening to passionate public interest attorneys and soon-to-be attorneys tell a story about why they fight for justice. Each storyteller will share—in just five minutes! —what inspires them to do public interest work. It will be part poetry slam about justice, part public interest pep talk, and, if YOU come, a whole lot of fun. Join us!

Food and beverage provided. RSVP below!

–

Wondering how students land public interest employment immediately after graduation? Does the path seem confusing compared to private sector recruitment? Join OPIA as we demystify post-graduate pathways to public service, including a high-level overview of entry-level hiring, fellowships, and government honors programs. We will discuss hiring vehicles and key steps and strategies to ready you for post-graduate public interest job success. Lunch provided. Please RSVP below.

–

Calling all 1Ls! Don’t miss this annual event showcasing the wide range of public interest summer employment opportunities for first-year students. 2Ls and 3Ls will share their experiences from summer internships, answer questions, and offer insights on the application process. Feel free to come and go throughout the evening during this large tabling event. Snacks will be served.

–

Join Wasserstein Fellow Michelle Lapointe for a discussion of the current wide-ranging attacks on immigrant communities and how the administration has weaponized statutes, regulations, and informal policy guidance to create the most hostile environment for noncitizens in decades. Resisting those efforts–which is also an exercise in defending democracy–requires coordination among litigators, organizers, policy advocates, and communications experts. It also demands a long-term reimagining of the role of immigration and immigrants in our society, towards a vision of inclusion. Michelle will discuss her work over two decades of advocacy for immigrant communities across multiple presidential administrations, primarily in the Deep South, drawing on the courage and resilience of her clients–from those who harvest and process our food, to parents separated from their children and detained by ICE, to young people striving for higher education in states that have thrown every hurdle in their way.

Lunch provided. Please RSVP below! Open only to the HLS community.

–

Wondering if Big Law is right for you? Debating whether to participate in the Early Interview Program? Are you worried that choosing not top pursue a large law firm, could limit your options”? Join us for a candid panel discussion with current public-interest-minded students as they reflect on their own decisions and considerations.

Lunch will be provided.

–

Wasserstein Fellow CJ Sandley, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, will discuss the traditional direct service and impact litigation frameworks applied at many nonprofit legal organizations and why rejecting those frameworks can lead to more holistic, client- and movement-centered advocacy and more meaningful and sustainable systemic change. CJ will share case examples involving Alabama prisons, El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ supermax facility, and ICE detention centers.

Lunch provided. RSVP below. Open to the HLS community.

–

Curious about working in state or local government? Want to learn more about policy work? Hear from a panel of alumni of the Rappaport Summer Fellowship in Law & Public Policy to gain insight into the program and how you can be a part of it.

The Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship challenges graduate students from across Greater Boston to immerse themselves in the region’s public sector through a dynamic summer internship experience. Students accepted into the program are placed in a paid, 10-week internship in key state and local agencies around Greater Boston. Fellows also participate in a weekly seminar series throughout the summer featuring discussions with leading practitioners and scholars from across the region and excursions to key sites like Fenway Park and Boston City Hall. Through the Fellowship, host agencies benefit from the skills, talent, and dedication of students who are passionate about public service. And students gain real-world experience while learning about how public policy is created and implemented. Learn more about the program!

Lunch provided. Please RSVP.

–

Can we truly become experts in international human rights law if we limit ourselves to studying and working in the Global North? Are international human rights truly international if, as practitioners, we never open ourselves up to perspectives from the Global South? Join Wasserstein Fellow Elisa Vari for a discussion on the importance of studying and working outside of the US, Europe, and other Global Minority countries to strengthen our understanding of international human rights law and the meaning of these norms in practice. Elisa will discuss her experience moving to the Levant to practice international refugee law and later to East Africa, and the impact this has had on her work and worldview. She will discuss the value of learning from Global Majority colleagues and ensuring those views are included and amplified in the practice of IHRL globally, as well as the importance of avoiding harmful stereotyping and white saviorism as US-trained lawyers.

Lunch provided. Please RSVP below. Open to the HLS community.