Public Service

Margaret Kettles ’18 is the winner of the Outstanding Clinical Student Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association. An exemplary clinical student and advocate for public interest, Kettles served as the executive director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Harvard has announced the creation of a new, interdisciplinary project called the Behavioral Insights Health Project—a partnership between faculty members at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and other schools at Harvard that will explore how behavioral science and behavioral economics can help improve health outcomes for patients, and decisions made by doctors.

Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School received the American Philosophical Society’s 2018 Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities in recognition of his paper “Reflections on the ‘Natural Born Citizen’ Clause as Illuminated by the Cruz Candidacy.”

Harvard Law School Professor and former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon received the Evangelium Vitae Medal from the University of Notre Dame's Center for Ethics and Culture.

Around the world, Harvard Law School alumni, students, faculty, and staff are using their skills and talents to transform communities. On April 20, hundreds of them gathered at HLS to take a closer look at the school’s local and global contributions of service during HLS in the Community, the final installment in the series of events in celebration of the school’s bicentennial.

In March, Harvard Law School Professor Intisar Rabb, director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program at HLS, was awarded the Trailblazer Award by the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA), an award that recognizes “leaders who have enriched the legal profession and created career pathways for black lawyers."

Antonio Oposa Jr. LL.M. ’97 reflects on his legacy and efforts to bring environmental sustainability to his home country, the Philippines.

“What counts as ‘income’ for taxes?” “Will paying taxes affect the public assistance I receive?” “Will I lose my veterans disability benefits if I make too much money?” These are some of the questions street vendors of Spare Change News grapple with—questions students of Harvard Law’s Community Enterprise Project aim to answer.

Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III ’09, who got his start in civil legal aid as a student attorney at HLAB representing tenants in evictions, reflects on how his time as HLAB influenced his advocacy in the legislature, and why it is of utmost importance to safeguard access to counsel for those who cannot afford it.

Last week, the Animal Law & Policy Program (ALPP) at Harvard Law School partnered with the HLS Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) to organize the third annual “Student Animal Law Trip to Washington D.C.”

Now in its second year, the Harvard Law School Public Interest Scavenger Hunt continued its focus on HLS history and trivia, but also highlighted alumni who have done important public interest work.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) will be the speaker for the Class Day ceremonies at Harvard Law School on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. Flake was chosen by representatives of this year’s graduating class.

Sarah Grant ’19 is one of 12 law students and early-career attorneys chosen for the 2018 Law Program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics to participate in a two-week program in Germany and Poland this summer, which uses the conduct of lawyers and judges in Nazi-occupied Europe as a way to reflect on ethics in the legal profession today.

On April 20, Harvard Law School will host the third and final major event in its year-long program celebrating 200 years of HLS. HLS in the Community will convene alumni, faculty, students, and staff to explore the extraordinary reach and impact of Harvard lawyers.

From Feb. 9 to April 14, the Harvard Law School student-run organization Harvard TaxHelp is leading the University’s branch of the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at the Cambridge library.

After Hurricane Maria roared over Puerto Rico in 2017, Puerto Rican native Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19 felt “completely overwhelmed.” Within days, however, she raised $40,000 for relief efforts, collected truckloads of emergency goods, and helped plan the school’s response to the disaster.

A group of 29 Harvard Law School students (led by Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19) traveled to Puerto Rico over spring break to lend a hand to local residents who are still struggling to obtain disaster relief aid.

Each year, teams of Harvard Law School students are given the opportunity to spend their Spring Break experiencing legal services work with clinics and legal organizations in the Boston area, or working on projects around the country and abroad.

During Spring Break, Harvard Law School staff and faculty volunteered as part of HLS in the Community Week of Service. Together they contributed over 175 volunteer hours at three local service organizations—Community Servings, Cradles to Crayons, and Daily Table.

A group of current and retired NFL players shared personal reasons for their activism and outreach in a conversation Friday at Harvard Law School, part of “Changing the Conversation to Change Criminal Justice,” a symposium sponsored by the School’s Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising, the Fair Punishment Project, and the Players Coalition.

In February, five students from Harvard Law School were selected to join their peers from 10 other leading U.S. law schools in Washington, D.C. to explore the future of public and private international law at the sixth annual Salzburg Cutler Fellows Program.