Student Spotlights

Steven Kerns ’20 was a high school dropout, a self-described ‘rebel without a cause’ from Long Beach, Calif., when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager looking for adventure, with vague notions of changing the world.

Ever since she was little girl growing up in Washington, D.C., Isabel Marin ’20 has wanted to be a lawyer. But between graduating from Yale in 2012 and entering law school this year, Marin had an important goal: to serve as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Over a year ago, a group of students in Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Policy Program (CJPP) began working to propel forensic science reform in Massachusetts. On Oct. 2, the students' work culminated in a Wrongful Conviction Day event at the Massachusetts State House.

The Harvard Law Review has announced the launch of the Harvard Law Review Blog, a new platform created to encourage timely discussion of current legal issues, and to connect readers to today’s leading legal scholars and practitioners, providing regular expert analysis of recent legislation, the latest legal theories, and pending cases across the country.

The Harvard Law School community gathered on Sept. 15 and 16 for a bicentennial festival celebrating HLS in the Arts featuring talks, art, films and performances by HLS faculty, students, staff and alumni.

Adrian Perkins ’18, student body president and a former U.S. military captain and company commander, reflects on his longtime interest in tech law.

On Aug. 28, a student delegation from the Harvard Association of Law and Business (HALB) embarked on a week-long trip through Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Beijing, China, on the first-ever HALB China Trek, organized to expose students to the unique lessons from the rapid development of China's global economy.

At HLS in the Arts this past weekend, Paola Eisner ’19 exhibited a large still life that she painted before she went to college, and pages from a children’s book that she began working on before she started law school. Like these, many of the interests and projects that she pursues today have deeper roots.

Last week, HLS welcomed a new class of J.D., LL.M. and S.J.D. students to campus. Orientation included an ice cream social, section photos and a visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan ’86.

A typical Harvard Law School student has limited free time. It might be filled with journal work, or student practice organizations, or intramural sports. For a year, Crispin Smith ’18, Nick Gersh ’18, and Ahsan Sayed ’18 spent their free moments exploring the successes and challenges facing religious and ethnic minorities in Iraqi Kurdistan on behalf of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

In June, Harvard Law School’s World Trade Organization (WTO) moot court team won the 15th Annual European Law Students Association (ELSA) Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, marking the first win for an HLS team, and making them the first team from North America in the history of the competition to take top honors.

In a victory for Harvard Law School’s Crimmigration Clinic, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that state authorities cannot detain someone for a U.S. immigration violation based solely on a Detainer.

In May 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court extended the American with Disabilities Act to mentally and physically disabled prisoners seeking parole, ruling that the state must help them get support systems in place in the community—thanks to years of work by students with Harvard's Prison Legal Assistance Project.

This year, as they prepared to graduate, several members of the Class of 2017 took time to reflect on their interests and share experiences they will take from their time at Harvard Law.

On Thursday, May 25, the Harvard Law School Class of 2017 braved the rain to pick up their diplomas and officially become HLS graduates. Here's a look at their day of celebration with family, friends and a steady supply of rain ponchos.

Harvard Law School’s 2017 Class Day ceremony featured speeches by Sally Yates, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and Harvard Law School Professor Mark Wu, winner of the 2017 Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence.

A number of Harvard Law students from the Class of 2017 received special awards during Class Day. They were recognized for their outstanding leadership, citizenship, compassion and dedication to their studies and the profession.

Members of the Harvard Law School Class of 2017 gathered this week for two days of Commencement festivities which featured an address by former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, a send-off from Dean Martha Minow, and accolades bestowed on students, staff and faculty including Mark Wu, who was honored by the Class of 2017 with the Sacks-Freund award for Teaching Excellence.

Mana Azarmi ’17 is the winner of the Outstanding Clinical Student Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), presented annually to one student from each law school for his/her outstanding clinical coursework and contributions to the clinical community.

The subject of Konstantin Tretyakov’s doctoral thesis, the “right to die” and how it is handled in different countries, would be a fascinating one under any circumstances. But as a Russian student who has also studied Chinese law, Tretyakov brings a unique perspective to the topic.

Gloria Scott LL.M. ’17, who is from Liberia, served as chief justice of her country’s Supreme Court from 1997 to 2003. She has also been a practicing lawyer, a senator, and most recently, the chair of Liberia’s Constitutional Review Committee. But for the past year she has been eager to be a student again.