Public Service

After President Obama ’91 nominated Elena Kagan ’86 to be the solicitor general of the United States on January 5, 2009, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary received many letters in support of the Dean from her colleagues at the law school, alumni, former students, and attorneys.

The 2008 presidential race got off to an unusually early and competitive start. Few political observers are better equipped to analyze how this unusual campaign year will play out than two Harvard Law School alumni: David Gergen ’67 and Robert M. Shrum ’68.

Rutherford B. Hayes, Harvard Law School class of 1845, was the first and only other HLS alum to be elected president of the United States.

Barack Obama ’91 has won the general election for the presidency of the United States. Michelle Obama ’88 will become the first HLS alumna to serve as First Lady.

It was as a law student that Obama first made history—and national headlines—when he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review…

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.

Bernard Koteen ’40 grew up during the Great Depression and went to law school during the New Deal. “There was great emphasis by the Roosevelt administration on serving the public, so it was natural for many of my classmates and me to have that concern and begin our legal careers in public service,” said Koteen in a 2003 Bulletin interview.

The law school’s investment in public service is paying dividends.

Christina Greenberg’s client was labeled disruptive and was sent home from elementary school every single day last spring. The 8-year-old—who is mentally disabled, has hydrocephalus, seizures and is in a wheelchair—then lost summer services because his school district failed to submit the necessary paperwork. His mother—struggling to care for her son and his disabled twin on $1,000 a month—was desperate when she reached Greenberg, a summer intern with Massachusetts Advocates for Children.

Harvard Law School welcomed 629 new students to Cambridge this week. They hail from Alaska to Zimbabwe, and from Fenway Park to Wimbledon.

Dean Elena Kagan ’86 has been awarded the 2008 John R. Kramer Outstanding Law Dean Award from Equal Justice Works for her extensive efforts to promote and support public service.

Lam Ho ’08 was 6 years old when he and his family emigrated from Vietnam to the hardscrabble city of Brockton, Mass., where his parents worked on assembly lines and the family ate in soup kitchens and wore hand-me-downs from relatives.

“Dare every day to manifest your authenticity.” So said Cory Booker, the 36th mayor of Newark, N.J., in an address to the graduating class of Harvard Law School.

There are now 16 clinics at HLS, enabling students to do fieldwork at home and abroad. Here are stories from three of them, taking students inside inner cities and inner sanctums.

Robert B. Zoellick ’81, president of the World Bank Group, was recently on the law school campus to receive the HLS Association Award in recognition of his leadership and dedication to public service.

Michael Brown ’88 recently spoke about how his time at Harvard Law School inspired him and his classmate Alan Khazei ’87 to found City Year, a successful national service program that was the inspiration for the formation of AmeriCorps.

Last January, Andrew Klaber ’09 was invited to Davos, Switzerland, to participate in the World Economic Forum with the world’s elite business, political and intellectual leaders.

On March 30, the Harvard Law School chapter of the Black Law Students Association (HBLSA) received the Chapter of the Year award from the National Black Law Students Association.

During a luncheon event at Harvard Law School's recent Public Interest Celebration, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm ’87 and First Gentleman Daniel Mulhern ’86 offered advice about forming a career in public service, running for elected office, and being involved in government.

In his keynote address Friday at Harvard Law School’s Public Interest Celebration, prominent death row attorney Bryan Stevenson ’85 praised alumni who use the power of a Harvard Law education to speak out against injustice.