A lawyer-doctor eases the pain for those committed to public service

When Dennis Langer ’83 heard about Harvard Law School’s new Public Service Initiative this year, he knew it was something he wanted to support.

Langer chose an untraditional career path compared with many of his law school peers—medical school, law school, and then jobs in the pharmaceutical and venture capital industries—and wanted to make sure HLS students today could choose their own paths, too, without being dissuaded by worries over debt or tuition bills.

Under the initiative, Harvard has committed to paying the full third-year tuition of any student who pledges to work in the public or nonprofit sector for five years after graduation. For the many students who want to go into public service, Langer hopes the program will make it easier and “give them a little extra confidence in their choice.”