Public Service

The Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) is undertaking a new advocacy campaign to enforce the health care rights guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for people living with HIV and other chronic conditions.

It took Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez several years and nearly 10,000 miles, on a journey that included several cities around the world, to find his calling in his hometown.

The American Bar Association has announced that Martha Minow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law, will serve on the advisory council for its newly formed Center for Innovation in Chicago.

Addressing the incoming class at Harvard Law School, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland ’77 recalled how, as a federal prosecutor, he helped convict the Oklahoma City bombers and the Unabomber, and also shared some not-so-famous details about his life: his addiction to his iPad, his passion for volunteerism, and his adoration of J.K. Rowling.

Accepting the Daniel P.S. Paul Constitutional Law chair, Tomiko Brown-Nagin delivered a lecture titled, "On Being First: Judge Constance Baker Motley and Social Activism in the American Century," which focused on 20th century social reform through the life of the civil rights advocate who became the first female African American federal judge in 1966.

Chayes Fellow Michael Jung ’18 recently wrote about his experience working with UNICEF in Bangkok, Thailand, researching and gaining an overview of the current and future landscape of juvenile justice in the region.

A number of new fellows, faculty associates, and affiliates will join the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University for the 2016-2017 academic year.

In a recent post on the HLS International Legal Studies Program blog, Malik Ladhani, a rising 2L at HLS with an interest in refugee protection and asylum advocacy, recounted his summer working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Amman, Jordan, assisting in UNHCR’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Democratic vice-presidential pick Tim Kaine, former governor of Virginia and currently that state's junior U.S. senator, is a 1983 graduate of Harvard Law School.

The David Grossman Memorial Lecture, entitled “Eviction, Displacement, and the Fight to Keep Communities Together,” was held at HLS on April 5. Grossman ’88, who died last July, was a lawyer and teacher dedicated to serving the poor, and he was Director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau for close to a decade.

The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), a non-profit organization with a vision of improving advanced illness care for all Americans, and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School co-hosted the inaugural event for their new collaboration: The Project on Advanced Care and Health Policy.

Charles Ogletree '78, the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, recently announced that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He said he will work to raise awareness of the disease and its disproportionate effect on African Americans.

More than 125,000 veterans who have served since 9/11 are denied access to basic services like health care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a report by the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School.

In a Q&A with the Harvard Gazette, Professor Ron Sullivan discusses the shooting deaths last week of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota at the hands of police, and the subsequent killing of five Dallas officers by a retaliating sniper, events that shocked the nation and left many feeling like the country is unraveling.

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow was honored by the Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law with the Equal Justice Award. She and John Levi ’72 LL.M. ’73 were recognized for their significant contributions to the movement for equal justice for low-income individuals.

Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program has received a generous grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to support the program’s work to advance reform of unfair policies that allow for imposing fees and fines in the criminal justice system.

Brett Dakin '03, a 2001 Chayes International Public Service Fellow and currently the general counsel at the Child Mind Institute in New York, returned to HLS this spring to talk with recent Chayes Fellows about his fellowship experience and his career path since graduating from HLS.

Derek Manners '16 is the winner of the Outstanding Clinical Student Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). The award is presented annually to one student from each law school for his/her outstanding clinical coursework and contributions to the clinical community.

Joseph Michalakes '16 is the winner of the Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award, chosen for exemplifying a pro bono public spirit and demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to improving and delivering high quality volunteer legal services in low-income communities.

This year, as they prepared to graduate, five members of the Class of 2016 took time to reflect on their interests and share experiences they will take from their time at Harvard Law.

Catherine Howard '16 is the winner of the inaugural David A. Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award, named in honor of the late professor and public interest lawyer who was dedicated to providing high-quality legal services to low-income communities.