‘She raised us all as future legal aid lawyers’

Everyone agrees: Susana Arteta is the heart of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. As administrative director of “the Bureau” (HLAB) for the past 22 years, Arteta, who plans to retire in May, has served as a mentor, confidant, historian, and beloved colleague to all students and staff who have passed through the doors of HLAB’s yellow house.

“Susana has been such an important part of HLAB that it’s hard to imagine walking into the Bureau next year to find that she is not there,” says Erin Hegarty ’24. “Susana has brought so much to HLAB over my past two years in the clinic, and this represents just a small fraction of what she has contributed to our community, our office, and our clients’ lives over her 22 years with the Bureau.”

Arteta joined HLAB in 2002, and she recalls her early days at the Bureau clearly. “I was interviewed by Charles Ogletree,” the late faculty director of the clinical programs and professor of law. “I had heard of his work — I was floored!”

When she began her role, the Bureau was in a moment of transition, becoming a credit-bearing clinic after decades as a volunteer-based student practice organization. Alongside former HLAB managing attorney Rick Glassman, Arteta was charged with easing the transition.

“I call HLAB ‘the unicorn of American clinical legal education,’” reflects Glassman. “It is a wild, fanciful creature that might only exist in the imagination — a legal aid clinic run by law students for over 110 years — and yet there it is, in the real world, at Harvard Law School. I always felt that the first job of the HLAB managing attorney was to create no harm, to respect the culture and history, while guiding the organization forward with a gentle hand. In that endeavor, every day, Susana was my trusted, indispensable, co-equal partner.”

Arteta’s partnership has been treasured by dozens of colleagues in the years since. “Susana has offered exactly what our constantly evolving student-run legal aid organization has needed to survive and thrive,” says HLAB faculty director and clinical professor of law Esme Caramello ’99. “She is an experienced nonprofit leader and longtime Harvard employee who helps students navigate those complicated landscapes to realize their goals. She is dedicated with all her heart and soul to our joint mission of providing excellent service to our low-income neighbors and mentoring justice-minded Harvard Law students who share that goal. That dedication has always made her a loyal colleague, a wise strategist, and an invaluable companion on the journey that is HLAB.”

“Susana has made her mark, by her professionalism, warmth, capability, and dedication to the Bureau, its faculty, students, and above all, its clients,” adds Peter Murray ’67, former faculty director of HLAB.

HLAB provides pro bono representation to low-income and marginalized communities in the Greater Boston area, offering legal aid in the areas of housing law, wage law, and family law. Arteta provides essential and wide-ranging administrative support to clinical instructors and student attorneys working on the cases.

Arteta’s knowledge and support is critical, says former HLAB president Casselle Smith ’10: “It can be easy to miss the importance of what her role means to the provision of legal services. HLAB could not do without her. All the work that she does, all the support she offers students, has the outcome of serving folks in Boston so that they can keep their homes and safety.”

“I’m very privileged — it’s a tiny percentage of the world’s population that can do what they want to do and pursue work that is fulfilling to them. You owe it to the rest to strive for that, because you’re privileged to at least be able to try. And I did. That makes me feel good.”

Susana Arteta

Arteta spends much of her days working in close collaboration with HLAB’s student board of directors. She describes the Bureau as a lobster, shedding its skin and changing as a new class of students enters each year, but remaining the same animal beneath its new shape. Arteta says she has marveled at having witnessed so many of these “regenerations.”

“It’s wonderful to watch how the students assume their responsibility and become stewards of the Bureau, something that is longstanding,” she says. “We’ve lived beautiful moments and difficult moments. We’re colleagues, and we help each other.”  

Her current and former students view Arteta not only as a colleague, but as a model of values they hope to bring to their own careers — patience, sound judgment, and authenticity. Students from boards past reflect on the impact she’s made on their lives:

“While her passion for social justice and the provision of free legal services is unparalleled, I believe it is her commitment to supporting and promoting the tenets of a student-run clinic that will leave the greatest legacy,” says former HLAB president Tanika Vigil ’14. “Every year, HLAB sees a complete turnover in leadership, as members elect a new student-led board of directors. This model requires a tremendously patient and nimble attitude from the staff. Yet year after year, Susana has embraced the process, serving as a stalwart resource for students as they pursue new visions and philosophies and goals. The depth of Susana’s institutional knowledge, together with the trust and respect that she has for HLAB students, have created a resilient and vibrant culture at HLAB, through which all operations flow. Working closely with Susana as president of HLAB was one of the great privileges of my career, and she has left an indelible mark on a generation of students.”

“As HLAB secretary-treasurer, I had the privilege of working directly with, and learning from, Susana on a daily basis. Susana was a tremendous mentor — warm, dedicated, and always willing to share her vast experience and institutional knowledge. There were many things that made my time at the Bureau the best part of my HLS experience, and Susana ranks high up on that list,” reflects Jennifer Tarr ’11.

“She was an invaluable colleague, friend, and confidant to me during my time as HLAB President and I quite honestly don’t know what I would have done without her,” says Julian SpearChief-Morris ’18. “Her experience, patience, organizational knowledge, and steadfast belief in the Bureau’s mission and identity will be sorely missed.”

“Susana was an ever-present source of light in the Bureau over many generations of HLAB student attorneys,” adds Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez ’17, former president of HLAB and current lecturer on law at Harvard Law. “She raised us all as future legal aid lawyers and helped to instill in us a steadfast dedication to our clients and to the future. She gave us all hope at a time when we really needed it.”

“Susana was an ever-present source of light in the Bureau over many generations of HLAB student attorneys. She raised us all as future legal aid lawyers and helped to instill in us a steadfast dedication to our clients and to the future.”

Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez ’17, former president of HLAB and current lecturer on law at Harvard Law

Arteta’s singular presence has made HLAB a special place for hundreds of students; co-director of membership Kaitlyn Ham ’24 captures the feeling: “It is a joy to walk into the Bureau every day and know that Susana’s office door will be open and ready to welcome you in. She has a way of making people feel heard and seen.”

Melissa Minaya, HLAB’s current program administrator, will step into the administrative director role upon Arteta’s retirement. “It has been an honor to work alongside Susana since 2010,” Minaya reflects. “As my supervisor, she taught me the art of being part of a student-run legal aid clinic. She has given her all to this organization, and it is hard to imagine the Bureau without her here day-in and day-out; however, the legacy she leaves behind can never be erased. I will miss her dearly as a supervisor and colleague, but I am grateful for the friendship that remains and for the lessons and work ethic that she shared with me.”

The feeling is mutual, says Arteta. “I’m going to miss all of my colleagues. They work so hard at what is not an easy job. They’re so committed and passionate, and it creates a beautiful community.”

Arteta looks forward to spending more time with her family, assisting in their relocation from Costa Rica to Puerto Rico, where they lived in her youth, and travelling with friends in her retirement. Her first trip is already booked: she’ll be heading to Italy in May.

“I’ve been very lucky to always have had work that means something to me,” she says. “It makes me think about my father, who could not have a full education but loved learning. I’m very privileged — it’s a tiny percentage of the world’s population that can do what they want to do and pursue work that is fulfilling to them. You owe it to the rest to strive for that, because you’re privileged to at least be able to try. And I did. That makes me feel good.”

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