What to Do When You Want to Do It All: Criminal, Civil, Trial, and Appellate Work in Small Law

Feeling like you want to do a little bit of everything in public interest law but aren’t sure what that looks like? Join Wasserstein Fellow Liv Warren ’17, a (mostly) criminal defense attorney at a boutique trial firm in Durham, NC, for a conversation about building a career that truly lets you have it all. Liv will share what it’s like to juggle criminal, civil, trial, appellate, and post-conviction cases in state and federal court, take on high-stakes matters including death penalty and civil rights cases, and push for change through legislative advocacy—all without burning out. She’ll also talk about transitioning from non-profit to small-firm practice, using media and advocacy skills effectively, and finding ways to thrive personally while maintaining a law practice consistent with your values. This is a chance to get honest and practical advice about leaving the beaten paths in public interest and diving into local communities to build an expansive and exciting career.

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

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 event.

Liv Warren is a criminal defense attorney at Thomas, Ferguson & Beskind, a boutique trial firm in Durham, North Carolina. Liv has a broad practice that includes criminal and civil cases at every level of the state and federal courts. Liv primarily represents people accused of crimes in trial, appellate, and post-conviction proceedings, including in capital cases. She has a special interest in representing people through collateral proceedings in which they are not entitled to counsel, including expunctions, supervised release, probation, and parole revocations, registry removal petitions, and parole and executive clemency. Outside of the courtroom, Liv engages in legislative advocacy at the state and federal level. She has been working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass legislation extending basic civil rights protections to federal judiciary employees since testifying to Congress in 2020 about her experience being sexually harassed by Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Most recently, Liv successfully advocated at the North Carolina statehouse to extend the time limits for people convicted of crimes to file claims of innocence or wrongful incarceration. Liv graduated from Harvard Law School in 2017, where she was a member of the BSA and PLAP. Prior to entering private practice, Liv was a Staff Attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. In addition to clerking for Judge Reinhardt, she also clerked for then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.