Esme Caramello

Esme Caramello

Faculty Director, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Clinical Professor of Law

617-495-4408

Areas of Interest

  • Housing Law and Policy: Low Income Housing
  • Law and Social Change
  • Race and the Law
  • Disability Law
  • Poverty Law
  • Clinical Legal Education
Esme Caramello & Annette Duke, The Misuse of MassCourts as a Free Tenant Screening Device, 59 Bos. B.J. 15 (2015).
Categories:
Property Law
,
Discrimination & Civil Rights
Sub-Categories:
Housing Law
,
Public Interest Law
,
Property Rights
,
Real Estate
Links: 
Type: Article
Abstract
The article addresses the implications of the MassCourts database as a tenant screening tool and the possible implications for tenants.
Esme Caramello & Rafael Mares, Tenants Facing Foreclosure, in Legal Tactics: Tenants' Rights in Massachusetts (Annette R. Duke ed., 7th ed. 2008).
Categories:
Property Law
,
Discrimination & Civil Rights
Sub-Categories:
Housing Law
,
Property Rights
,
Real Estate
Links: 
Type: Book
Esme Caramello & Stefanie Balandis, Report of the Massachusetts Justice for All Project Housing Working Group (Mass. Access to Justice Comm’n, Dec. 2017).
Categories:
Discrimination & Civil Rights
,
Legal Profession
Sub-Categories:
Housing Law
,
Poverty Law
,
Legal Services
Links: 
Type: Other
Comment on Trial Court Rule XIV, Paragraph 5(b) from Esme Caramello to The Honorable Paula M. Carey, Chief Justice of the Trial Court (Nov. 30, 2017)(on file with the Harv. Legal Aid Bureau).
Categories:
Discrimination & Civil Rights
,
Legal Profession
,
Government & Politics
,
Technology & Law
Sub-Categories:
Housing Law
,
Courts
,
Legal Services
,
Information Privacy & Security
Links: 
Type: Other
Esme Caramello & Nora Mahlberg, Combating Tenant Blacklisting Based on Housing Court Records: A Survey of Approaches, Clearinghouse Rev., Aug. 2017, at 1.
Categories:
Discrimination & Civil Rights
Sub-Categories:
Discrimination
,
Housing Law
,
Poverty Law
Links: 
Type: Article
Abstract
Having a housing court “record”—a publicly accessible history of having sued or been sued by a landlord—can be a serious impediment to finding housing. Advocates across the country have used various strategies to mitigate the harm of public access to housing court records, and recent developments can inspire and guide advocates in fixing this persistent problem. Strategies include regulating the availability, content, and use of housing court records.
Shannon Barnes, Esme Caramello, Jared Correia, Joel Feldman, Judge Robert Fields, Laura Gal, Ilene Seidman, Laura Unflat, Erika Rickard & Mary Lu Bilek, Final Report of the Access to Attorneys Committee of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission (May 19, 2017).
Categories:
Legal Profession
,
Discrimination & Civil Rights
Sub-Categories:
Poverty Law
,
Housing Law
,
Clinical Legal Education
,
Legal Education
,
Legal Services
Links: 
Type: Other
Esme Caramello, Rent, in Legal Tactics: Tenants' Rights in Massachusetts 45 (Annette R. Duke ed., 7th ed. 2008).
Categories:
Property Law
,
Discrimination & Civil Rights
Sub-Categories:
Housing Law
,
Property Rights
,
Real Estate
Links: 
Type: Book

Academic Appointment and Employment History

  • Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School Housing and Consumer Protection Clinic (2009 - Present)
    Boston, Massachusetts
  • Clinical Instructor, Housing Unit, WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (2006 - 2008)
    Boston, Massachusetts
  • Litigation Associate, Holland & Knight LLP (2004 - 2006)
    Boston, Massachusetts
  • Chesterfield Smith Community Service Fellow, Holland & Knight LLP (2001 - 2003)
    Boston, Massachusetts
  • Litigation Associate, Baker & McKenzie (1999 - 2000)
    San Francisco, California

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts, United States (2002)

Board Memberships

  • Member, Access to Attorneys Committee, Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission (2016 - Present)
  • Co-Chair, Justice for All Housing Working Group, Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission (2018 - Present)
  • Member, Grants Committee, Boston Bar Foundation (2005 - Present)
  • Member, City Manager's Advisory Committee (2017 - Present)
    Cambridge, Massachusetts

Clerkships

  • Charles P. Kocoras, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2000 - 2001

Education History

  • J.D. Harvard Law School, 1999
  • B.A. Social Anthropology Harvard-Radcliffe College, 1994

Current Courses

  • Harvard Legal Aid Bureau 2L, Fall-Spring 2020
  • Harvard Legal Aid Bureau 3L, Fall-Spring 2020
  • Housing Law and Policy, Spring 2021
  • Introduction to Advocacy: Civil Legal Aid Ethics, Theory, and Practice, Fall-Spring 2020
  • Lawyering for Justice in the United States, Winter 2021
  • Teaching Lawyering for Justice, Winter 2021

Course Catalog View

Clinic Work

The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is a student-run civil legal aid organization committed to providing free representation to low-income and marginalized communities in the Greater Boston area. Students and staff aim to provide these services in a way that responds to the systemic racial, social, and economic inequalities that are the causes and consequences of poverty. To that end, the Bureau trains its student attorneys to advocate vigorously for their clients, create enduring community partnerships, and become socially conscious leaders.

The Bureau's tight-knit community includes 50 second- and third-year law students who commit to spending at least 20 hours per week for two full academic years representing low-income clients in civil cases and policy and outreach projects, along with a staff of experienced lawyers and educators who guide the students' work.  Founded in 1913, the Bureau has always been run by its student members.  Students may apply for HLAB membership during the spring of their 1L year. 

617-495-4408