HLS welcomes new students from across the county, around the world

This week Harvard Law School welcomes 737 new students as degree candidates in the J.D., LL.M. and S.J.D. programs.

The 555 J.D. students hail from across the country and around the world. Twenty-eight students represent 11 foreign countries, including Bulgaria, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Venezuela. The incoming J.D. candidates are graduates of 146 different undergraduate institutions. They will be grouped in first-year sections of 80 students, each led by a tenured faculty member. The 1L sections will also be the nexus of many non-academic activities during the first year.

Also arriving at HLS are 170 master of laws (LL.M.) candidates, who hail from 67 different countries and jurisdictions—from Algeria to Zimbabwe, and including Burkina Faso, Cuba, Mongolia, Liberia, and Sudan. Members of the LL.M. class include six judges, 20 Supreme Court clerks from 10 jurisdictions, a documentary filmmaker, a medical doctor, and a dentist. They are joined in the HLS Graduate Program by 12 new candidates for the doctor of judicial science (S.J.D.) degree.

The J.D. class includes 3 Rhodes scholars, 3 Truman scholars, 8 Fulbright scholars and a Marshall scholar. There are 3 Peace Corps alumni, 9 AmeriCorps alumni, 11 Teach for America associates, and 2 students with military experience. 57 members of the class are former congressional interns; 37 have political campaign experience. The diverse class of 2010 also includes a chocolate factory worker, a hip-hop performer, a mountain guide and the American Museum of Natural History’s “lizard explainer.”