In order to better serve an important segment of the HLS community – students concentrating on careers in the public interest – the Program on the Legal Profession has partnered with the Office of Public Interest Advising (OPIA) to sponsor a unique opportunity for HLS students working in public interest summer internships.

The Summer Theory Institute (“STI”) is a summer workshop for HLS students with public interest internships in New York City.  Founded in 2008 by HLS alumnae Nisha Agarwal ’06 and Jocelyn Simonson ’06, STI will continue with its second summer workshop in 2009.  In the summer of 2009, twelve STI Fellows will meet with the facilitators one evening a week to discuss works of social and critical theory as they relate to the fellows’ public interest work.  At each session, the group will engage with a different set of short theoretical readings, each focused loosely around a theme that relates to the students’ public interest work (e.g., economic justice, women’s rights).  Although the readings will be tailored to the interests of the group, some examples of the types of thinkers we might engage with include Pierre Bourdieu, F.A. Hayek, bell hooks, and Kwame Anthony Appiah.

The Summer Theory Institute involves a serious commitment on the part of the Fellows.  They will be asked to attend all ten evening sessions, prepare for each group meeting ahead of time, participate in the discussions, and lead one week’s discussion.  In return, STI will provide them with a stipend of $500 to supplement their summer public interest funding.  In addition, if any of the Fellows are interested in reflecting more formally on the relationship between theory and their summer public interest experiences, STI will help connect them to professors who would be willing to supervise larger writing projects for law school credit when they return to HLS.

The mission of STI is to infuse excitement, innovation and sustainability into the STI Fellows’ first experiences practicing public interest law full-time.  Working together to think through the role that social theory can play in legal practice and activism allows the Fellows to engage more meaningfully with their organizations’ methods of pursuing justice on a day-to-day basis.  By creating the space to discuss larger theoretical concepts outside of the work environment, STI enhances the Fellows’ senses of the potential for intellectual rigor and personal fulfillment in public interest work. STI aims to create a community of future leaders who will bring their enthusiasm for pursuing social change through the law back to the HLS community at the end of the summer.

Read a report on the Institute’s inaugural offering in Summer 2008. Additional information and application information for the Summer of 2009 is available on the PLP website.

Please join us for the next event in our PLP Speaker Series.

Tuesday, December 2
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Pound 202

Job Satisfaction and Mental Health: Trajectories of Female and Male Lawyers
Dr. Gabriele Plickert, PLP Research Fellow

Lunch will be provided, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Suela Caushi by November 25.

We will be teaming up with ASIL to host this exciting 1-day conference in November.

Friday, November 21, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Harvard Law School

Globalization of the Legal Profession
A joint regional event between the Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession and the American Society of International Law

This one-day conference examines the globalization of the legal profession from multiple perspectives. Does international commerce or finance provide common ground for practitioners, for example, or is there broader commonality among counsel in other fields, such as human rights lawyers? Are common legal practices developing through efforts by certain states to develop the “rule of law” in other countries? What are the proper contours of a genuine debate over matters such as ensuring minimum standards of qualification, guarding domestic province from outside intervention, protecting clients and the public, the role of lawyers as aspect of national identity, and the like? What can we do – as international scholars, educators, and practitioners – to adapt to the rapidly-changing economic, social and political environment and prepare the next generation of lawyers – domestic and international –to meet the challenges that globalization will continue to present? Learn More

Please join us for the next event in our PLP Speaker Series.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Pound 100

Future Revenues in Law Firms
Dr. Peter Sherer, Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary

Lunch will be provided, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Suela Caushi by November 7.

by Young-Kyu Kim

On the beautiful afternoon of September 15, 2008, the Program on the Legal Profession kicked off the new PLP Speaker Series with a talk by Professor Phillippe Sands of University College London. There were more than 130 students, faculty members, and special guests in attendance. Based on his recent publication “Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values,” Professor Sands contrasted the history of the United States’ leading roles and engagement in international constitutional order with its documented approval of harsh interrogation techniques, which not only violates the American values on human rights but also potentially promotes divergence from the Geneva Conventions world-wide. In addition, Professor Sands further examined the role of lawyers in constructing narratives for arguably (or at least seemingly) immoral practices and discussed the negative implications of institutionalizing torture practices.

Professor Sands’ remarks were followed by a commentary by Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School. Professor Dershowitz challenged Professor Sands by arguing that less torture had occurred in the Iraq War than any previous war. He also introduced a hypothetical ticking-bomb situation, where torture might be the only way to remove a threat. Professor Dershowitz further argued that increasing visibility and limitability should be a key priority and that creating clear legal standards (e.g. allowing torture only in exceptional cases such as national security emergencies) could effectively decrease the use of torture. Professor Dershowitz’s commentary ignited a fierce debate between him and members of the audience, the majority of whom seemed to favor Professor Sands’ core argument that torture should never be institutionalized.

Professor Sands said “the moment you opened the door beyond the limit, it is impossible to close.” Given the importance of the U.S. in the global political sphere, even a partial and exceptional approval of torture in the U.S. may cause a serious reversal of the global human rights movement.

During the discussion, I thought of Jack Bauer, a fictional counter-terrorist agent and hero of the television series 24. Though Bauer is a staunch patriot and a highly effective agent, he has resorted to torturing a suspected terrorist in a “ticking-bomb” situation. I have never seen the character as unethical because his action was motivated by the many lives at stake. Naturally, I asked myself, “Will the institutionalization of interrogation techniques help Jack Bauer?” My conclusion is ‘no’ because many terrorists will be able to effectively prepare for tougher interrogation techniques. If torture becomes acceptable in the U.S., then the inevitable global diffusion of interrogation practices will make vulnerable Jack Bauer and all of his colleagues.

All in all, I really enjoyed the discussion and I believe that the other attendees found it engaging. Information about Professor Sands’ book is available at Amazon.com.

A video of the event itself is available on the Program on the Legal Profession’s website.

Please join us for the next event in our PLP Speaker Series.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Pound 100

Lawyers in the Dock:
Learning from Attorneys’ Disciplinary Proceedings
Professor Richard Abel, UCLA School of Law

Lunch will be provided, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Suela Caushi by October 31.