Addressing a large crowd of first-generation students from the incoming Class of 2027, Harvard Law School Professor Glenn Cohen ’03 poignantly recalled some of the challenges he faced, and the lessons he learned, when he first arrived on campus in the fall of 2000.
“I’m the proud child of two people who didn’t finish high school,” Cohen recounted. “My dad went to grade seven. My mom went to grade 10. Both are amazing, wise, smart people. I often think what they would have been able to accomplish had they been given the privilege of formal education.”
Cohen spoke at the annual welcome event sponsored by First Class, an organization created and run by Harvard Law students to serve as a community for first-generation college students and students from low-income backgrounds. In remarks laced with references and quotes from thinkers as wide-ranging as the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, country music star Dolly Parton, and the playwright George Bernard Shaw, Cohen drew from his life experiences to prepare students on how to navigate law school and several of the challenges that might confront them as first-generation law students.
Cohen urged his listeners to acknowledge the pressures that often come with being the first in the family to attend an Ivy League school, and to stay true to themselves in the process. For instance, he noted, evolving priorities might even lead to moments of family friction. But he assured his audiences that, like many challenges people face in their lives, these too would be temporary.
Cohen posited a hypothetical. “You’re working really hard for a client in a student practice organization or prepping for a final exam, and your mom calls, and all she wants to do is spend hours and hours talking about something that’s really important to her, but you just don’t have time for her right now.”
How does he know? Because, Cohen said with a laugh, for him, the hypothetical was drawn from real-life experience. “Even though I’m 45 years old, my mom calls every day, and I talk to my mother every day.”
During their time at Harvard, Cohen said, many first-generation students will meet new peers from backgrounds and with life experiences that seem utterly inconceivable. But, he noted, it is important to remember that those same people “may have the same trouble understanding the amazing lives you’ve led.”
While students should be “open to learning about the lives of those around us,” Cohen advised his audience to also “take some time to teach those people about our own lives,” and to do so with “the right attitude — one of openness, one of charity, one of fellowship, one of forgiveness, a spirit of love.”
Cohen was introduced by Interim Dean John C.P. Goldberg, who took a few moments both to welcome the new students to Harvard Law and to urge them to explore their path in the law and the legal profession.
“You all bring to this school so many different life experiences and backgrounds, perspectives and ideals, and hopes and aspirations,” Goldberg said. “Each of you has a unique story, and each of you has something unique to contribute to Harvard Law School, to the communities where you live, and to the world.”
Like Cohen, Goldberg recounted his time as a law student and how his future direction as a world-renowned legal scholar would have come as a surprise to him. Although he’d arrived at law school intending to learn about and ultimately practice environmental law — “though I have to confess,” he said, “at the time, I did not have any idea what it meant to be an environmental lawyer” — he had, after years of exploration and experimentation, ultimately discovered his true passion was teaching, research, and writing about tort law.
“And so here I am, years later, a law professor, a torts teacher, and a tort scholar. And I am loving it,” Goldberg said. This, despite the fact, he joked, that “when I entered law school, I didn’t even know what a tort was.”
The moral of his story? “Don’t be shy. Immerse yourself actively in our outstanding classroom courses, our amazing clinics, our journals, our student orgs. Take the time to explore the full range of opportunities that you will be presented, everything from Big Law to solo practice, from public interest to private equity. Learn about subjects and career paths that up to now you’ve known nothing about. … Most importantly, don’t ever sell yourself short and don’t ever box yourselves in.”
“For each of you here, Harvard Law School is a place to explore, to experiment, to grow, and to succeed,” Goldberg said.
Opening the program, First Class co-president Roop Patel ’25 recalled the two questions a professor had asked her when she was questioning why she was at Harvard. “The first question that my professor asked me when I felt lost was: ‘Roop, why did you come to law school?’”
“I came to law school because I wanted armor,” she explained. “I wanted armor, both from and for my community. My story has always at least partially been about protecting myself. I am proud of who I am, but I have always recognized that I needed sharper tools to become the person I want to be.”
Being the first in her family to finish high school and go to college came with some unexpected complications. Instead of congratulating her on being accepted at Center College in Danville, Kentucky for undergrad, Patel’s family initially questioned “whether it was appropriate for a woman to be living on her own two hours away from home.” Although attending Harvard Law didn’t instantly transform her relatives’ perspectives, she’s proud she had blazed a path for her younger cousin to go to college three hours away. “I’ll take that as a win,” Patel said.
The professor’s second question, Patel recalled, was equally as searching. “’Roop, what do you want out of this?’”
“At the end of the day, what I really wanted out of law school was a space and resources to imagine the world that could be,” she explained. “I did not think it was possible to both learn the language of the law and be true to myself. And part of me still struggles. Yet, places like First Class remind me that there are cohorts of dreamers like me.”
Patel urged the latest class of first-generation students to enter Harvard Law School to ask themselves the same two questions her professor had asked her. “I encourage every one of you to write your answers down,” she said. “I encourage you to look back at your words whenever you’re feeling lost or confused. Harvard Law School is full of opportunities. You are all brilliant enough to convince any room full of people that a given opportunity is right for you. Just make sure you convince yourself first.”
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