Pro Bono Week 2019 Newsletter

NAT IO NA L C E L E B R AT IO N O F PRO BONO 2019

S TA N D TOGETHER S TA N D F O R JUSTICE H A R VA R D L A W S C H O O L CLINICAL AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS OCTOBER 21-25, 2019

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H T T P S : / / H L S . H A R VA R D . E D U / D E P T / C L I N I C A L n at i o n a l c e l e b r at i o n o f p r o b o n o 2 0 1 9

P R O B O N O AT H L S : L E A R N I N G T H E L AW | S E R V I N G T H E W O R L D The Pro Bono Program at Har vard Law School offers st udents a chance to gain practical legal experience while making a positive impact in local com munities and abroad. Oppor t unities to do pro bono work at HLS include a variet y of placements and f ields of interest. HLS's 11 St udent Practice Organizations, which are t y pically led by 2L and 3L st udents and a super vising attor ney, cover focus areas such as housing, im migration, and prison law.

Yearly spring break pro bono t rips allow st udents to do pro bono work th rough organized projects, with past t rips to Puer to Rico, New Orleans, and the Texas border. Finally, st udents are also encouraged to do pro bono work individually with law f ir ms, nonprof its, or gover n ment entities. Pro bono work is a vital par t of the st udent experience at HLS.

PRO BONO BY THE NUMBERS

651

390,095

AV E R AG E N U M B E R O F PRO BONO HOURS PER STUDENT IN THE J.D. CLASS OF 2019 DURING THEIR TIME AT H L S

PRO BONO HOURS COMPLETED

BY THE J.D. CLASS OF 2019

4,865,202 HOURS OF PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES WORK PROVIDED BY HLS STUDENTS SINCE 2005



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PRO BONO HONOR ROLL 2019 HLS STUDENTS HONORED FOR PRO BONO HOURS The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs offers its heartfelt congratulations to the Harvard Law students who received a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Certificate in recognition of their pro bono work.

The recognition is presented annually to law firms, solo practitioners, in-house corporate counsel offices, government attorney offices, non-profit organizations, law school faculty members, and law students who certify that they have contributed at least 50 hours of legal services without receiving pay or academic credit.

We are proud to have the following students represent Harvard Law School this year!

M A S S A C H U S E T T S S U P R E M E J U D I C I A L C O U RT P R O B O N O H O N O R R O L L S T U D E N T S

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D i anis beth M ichelle A c q u i e B rooke Adams H ale y Robin Adams A deyemi A Adewuyi A l i cia M Alvero Kos ki A l exandra Avvocato H adhy H Ayaz Jason E Bell Sasha R Benov Ta ra L Boghos ian L ibby Starbird Bova A m anda Dominique B r a d l e y A ndrew S Bridgewate r E mma Broches O l i ver L Brown K atherine H Bruck A nna S Carls s on Phi l i p Carus o Jose ph David Cherney Ta ma ra Lis a Chin Loy C onstance S Cho Jose ph L Choe K evin Hwading Chu K atherine E Cion Virgi n ia Cline D oug las Charles Cos si t t Co l b y Jason Colin C hri stopher R Comley R aisa M Cramer K enneth Ikenna Crouch Sheridan R Cunningha m Jere my X Dang Youzhihang Deng C hri stina M Drakefor d G raham R Duff K i ah Danielle Duggin s D allin S Earl A m anda Eps tein A l ev Erhan Juan Alberto Es pinoza M u n o z Pantea F aed Shi reen A F arahani E rin D F ormby E rin E Fowler

Sa m a n t h a Fr y Ha r l e e n Ka u r Ga m b h i r Bl a i r El i z a b e t h Ga n s o n Ra c h e l Ra m i r e z Ga n t s M i k a e l a W Gi l b e r t - L u r i e An d r e w B Go n z a l e s Ni k h i l Go y a l Be n j a m i n Th o m a s Gu n n i n g Vi v i a n a M Ha n l e y Be n j a m i n Ev a n Ha r r i s M a x we l l Ri c k s Ha wl ey Dr e w Th o m a s He c k man Aa r o n He n r i c k s Sa r a h El i z a b e t h Hi l l i er Em m a C Ho b b s J o y Lo r i n e Ho l d e n Ke v i n M i c h a e l Ho o g s t r at en Ri c h a r d Sa m u e l Ho r an St e p h a n i e An n Ho r wit z Al i c i a D Hu m p h r e y M a r v e l l o u s I h e u k wu m er e As m a S J a b e r Da r a A J a c k s o n - Ga r r et t Ha y l i e J a c o b s o n Ni k u J a f a r n i a Mahroh F Jahangiri Isabelle Jensen St e v e n Y J i a n g M a r c e l a Xi m e n a J o h n so n J e s s i c a L Ka t z e n Ta y l o r M Ke a t i n g M a r y Cl a i r e Ke l l y Zo e Ke m m e r l i n g Ay o u n g Ki m Al e x a n d r a Va i l Ko h n er t - Yo u n t J o n a t h a n E Ko r n J e n n i f e r A La m b e r t J e e i h n Le e J o h a n n a Eu n h y e i Le e M a s s i e l Le i v a Ca r o l i n e Li Sa m a n t h a Go g o l Li n t Av a Ro n g Li u La u r a Lo n d o n o Pa r d o

Ju st i n L u cas Kayla L Lucia Carla F Luna Armani Jamal Madison Ashley C Maiolatesi Maria Eugenia Manghi Andre R Manuel Edward Francis Manzi Nora Aimee Mcdonnell Louisa H Mcintyre Grace Corinne Mclaughlin Zekariah P Mcneal Joseph H Meeker Pratik M Mehta Daniel Milton Meyer Hillary A Mimnaugh Michael E Mitchell Julia Rae More Madeline Josephine More Aaron M Mukerjee Sricharitha Mullaguru Danayit L Musse Anna Lenore Nathanson Christine A Nelson Yi N i n g Krista Celeste Oehlke Steven Arthur Palmer Derrick L Parker Sarah E Parker Isabel G Patkowski A n d r e w Wo o d s P a t t e r s o n Renee Pauline T Perez Caley Marie Petrucci James B Pollack Mary Prothero Ruofei Qu Shaiba Rather Jeremy Ravinsky Liafaith Reed Alexa R Richardson Samantha E Rodriguez Delphine Rodrik Samuel E Rosen Donna Chayanne Saadati-Soto

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Samuel J Sagartz Madeleine C Salah Rachel Joanna Sandalow-Ash Michaeljit S Sandhu Erika S Sato Jessica JW Sawadogo Rio E Scharf Robert M Seaney Jose Javier Secaira Owen Lewis Senders David F Shea Charles L Shier Jung Min Shin Danielle E Simms J a c q u e s R S i n g e r- E m e r y Ross McNeill Slaughter E b o n y N S l a u g h t e r- J o h n s o n Dawei Sun Joy Sun Shuyu Sun Michael Svedman J o s e p h A l e j a n d r o A t a o l Ta h b a z E r i c a Ta i c z S a r a h E Ta n s e y L u k e R Ta y l o r M a r t i n a B Ti k u R e b e c c a Tw e e d i e S h e n g h a o Wa n g Yi r a n Wa n g Ly l a J e a n Wa s z - P i p e r C o d y We s t p h a l Hunter Parker White Ta h a Wi h e b a M a l i k a h I m a n i Wi l l i a m s I v y Z i x i n Ya n L i n d a Ya o K r i s t i n R Ye a k e l A l e x i s P Ye b o a h - K o d i e C a m i l l e E Yo u n g b l o o d Chuyou Charles Zhang Yu j i e Z h u Aaron C Zimmerman

TENANT ADVO CACY PROJECT BALANCING OPTIMISM AND REALISM IN AT T E N U AT E D W I N S

BY ALEV ERHAN J.D. '21

rolled her chair back, repeating “no, no, no” so vehemently I was reeling to somehow take back every word that had come out of my mouth.

Despite diminished odds that my client would successfully overcome eviction proceedings without signing this agreement, our role was to advocate for her goal—and her goal was to ensure that her daughter ’s father would still be able to visit the unit while maintaining her tenancy. I never met my client’s daughter but over the following months she became very present in my life, from the late night phone calls from my client I couldn’t bear to ignore to the sense of injustice I felt every time I thought about the case.

A l e v E rh an J. D. ' 2 1

During my first year of law school I was eager to get away from the HLS bubble and our classroom hypotheticals by meeting and helping people in Greater Boston. I was thrilled to be selected into the Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP), which provides representation and advice to tenants of affordable housing who are facing eviction or subsidy termination.

Just over a month into my first semester, upon mindlessly refreshing my inbox, I saw that I had been assigned to my first case and promptly forgot how to breathe. I was to advocate on behalf of a mother facing eviction from public housing for allegedly allowing her daughter ’s father to stay in her apartment more days than the arbitrary maximum allowed by her lease. My initial shock at the absurd disproportionality between the violation and subsequent penalty was soon diminished by the understanding that my client’s experience was apparently a fairly standard type of case for TAP, for which there is a fairly standard legal solution. I prepared to suggest to my client a “No Visit No Reside” or NVNR agreement in which tenants agree that a particular person no longer visits or (you guessed it) resides in the unit. Though seemingly straightforward, these agreements can be sinister in that they often involve one member of the family being kicked out of the residence, many times forcing parents to ask their own children to leave, in order to prevent the eviction of everyone on the lease.

The next day I met with my client for the first time, waiting until the end of our discussion to launch into my carefully scripted spiel about a possible NVNR. Within seconds her eyes had shot wide open and she

All our preparatory work with TAP was leading up to an ‘informal conference’ hosted by the housing authority to supposedly reach a settlement favorable to all parties. While the more ‘formal’ administrative hearings already lack many aspects of due process a person should be guaranteed in court, such purportedly informal meetings are often nothing more than a conference table in which attorneys can wield their gross power imbalance and the threat of eviction to present tenants, who rarely have legal representation, with coercive agreements.

At our conference, my client had two representatives from Harvard Law School (myself and my supervisor), a psychiatrist, and two social workers in the room advocating to keep this young girl’s father in her life. Our request was merely that he be able to visit the apartment on occasion. In response to our concerns, the housing authority attorney leaned back in his chair, put his knee up on the conference table, and scanned the room as he said that with so many supportive figures in this young girl’s life he felt confident that she would be just fine. I don’t believe the attorney could have made this statement if my client’s daughter was in the room and could not stop thinking about how many voiceless people like her are ignored by the eviction process.

Ultimately, TAP was successful in preserving housing for a woman and her child through a negotiated settlement. Our client was empowered to demand an agreement on her terms, refusing to accept the housing authority’s “take it or leave it” approach despite abundant intimidation. However, it would be a disservice to allow these wins to blind us from the absurdity that is a world in which tax dollars go towards preventing a child from hanging out with her dad in her own home. 

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M I S S I S S I P P I D E LTA P R O J E C T M Y T I M E W I T H T H E M I S S I S S I P P I D E LTA P R O J E C T

BY EMANUEL POWELL J.D. ’19

Back in 2015, I decided to become an attorney so I could play my part in what I saw as the continuing efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. Despite the end of Jim Crow’s form of legalized and explicit racial subordination, my home state still ranks last in “almost every leading health outcome” with a disproportionate burden on Mississippi’s black population and other communities of color, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. This situation is directly linked to our state’s unique history of discrimination, exclusion, and ongoing lack of investment to radically change the conditions in which people are born, work, grow, and age. I decided to go to law school to explore how I may support those fighting in Mississippi to make my state a home in which poverty, hunger and homelessness were not tolerated, where Dr. King’s “Beloved Community” could finally be realized.

Because of these goals, I asked everyone I could about Harvard Law’s Mississippi Delta Project. The Mississippi Delta Project (MDP) is a student practice organization dedicated to supporting Mississippibased organizations fighting for racial, economic, and other forms of social justice by providing research and guidance on policy issues. An HLS alum created the project after learning from community partners based in Mississippi that there was a need to support local farmers. I wanted to be part of an organization that not only put the needs of Mississippians first, but met those needs with legal and policy strategies as only an attorney could. The presence of MDP on campus made it easy to choose HLS when the time came to make the decision of where I would spend my three years of law school.

engagement and advocacy so that Mississippians can advocate for themselves against injustices in the criminal legal system.

This initiative has meant a lot to me because I lost my cousin Ronnie “Pie” Shorter in a police shooting during my 1L year. It gives me hope that our project may help Mississippians better advocate against injustices like what happened to Ronnie and continues to happen to so many others in Mississippi and around the country.

In my time with MDP, we’ve worked with Mississippibased organizations fighting to get access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for those who have served their sentence for felony convictions, improved access to reproductive health for youth, and help make the City of Jackson zero-waste. I could not have asked for a better place to start building my career as a lawyer in the ongoing Freedom Struggle.

I am excited to see MDP continue its great work and look forward to cheering on as an alum.

I joined MDP in my first semester, working on our Child and Youth Initiative. Our project focused on exploring ways to invest in advocacy for children in Mississippi. I helped create MDP’s Criminal Justice Initiative to address issues in the criminal legal system in my second year. We collaborated with the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi, which advocates for human rights and social justice through litigation, focusing on issues such as police misconduct, wrongful search and seizure, conditions of confinement, and juvenile justice.

Through interviews with leading jurists, attorneys, activists, and politicians, we developed a project with MacArthur focused on improving community 4

F r o m l e f t t o r i g h t , E m a n u e l Po w e l l J. D. ’ 1 9 , S a c a j a w e a “s a k i” Hall, a Environmental Justice Initiative Client at C ooperation Ja ck s on , and Me g an B ar ne s J. D. ’ 1 9 . Stu d e nt s i nte r v i e we d s a k i and other community activists, jurists, and lawyers to learn about criminal legal issues in Mississippi.

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H A R VA R D L A W E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P P R O J E C T TA C K L I N G L E G A L Q U E S T I O N S F O R S TA R T- U P C L I E N T S W I T H H L E P D E F I N E D M Y L AW S C H O O L EXPERIENCE B Y V J V E S N AV E R J . D . ’ 1 9 Working with the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project (HLEP) was one my most meaningful and fulfilling experiences during my time at HLS. I came to law school with the intention of gaining the skills necessary to help early stage companies navigate mission critical legal questions. HLEP gave me an opportunity to develop and hone those skills almost from day one. 1L year can be a bit of a grind. For students interested in corporate and transactional law, it can be especially draining since the required curriculum has limited relevance to your career interests. SPOs like HLEP offer a phenomenal opportunity to step outside of the classroom as a first-year while using your newly acquired legal knowledge to add value on real client projects with help from actual practicing attorneys at firms like Cooley, Goodwin, Fenwick, and Wilson Sonsini.

During my first semester of law school, I worked with a group of four other students as a team leader on my first HLEP project. Our client was an early stage non-profit organization working to build a legal-tech platform that enabled prisoners to easily file postconviction petitions with the court. Their product allowed prisoners to continue their legal process on their timeline and with limited resources. Our client had tons of interesting questions about how to build their product in a compliant fashion and we were thrilled to be able to help so early in our legal careers.

We also were incredibly lucky to be working with two seasoned attorneys from Cooley on this project. We were learning and developing new skills every step of the way. Our client was ultimately able to use our advice to shape the development of their product and to assist in fundraising efforts with outside donors. Seeing the immediate impact of our work on an actual client’s business model was truly inspirational. I was hooked.

After my rewarding experience as a team leader during the fall semester, I joined the HLEP board as the Director of Operations that following spring. This gave me the incredible opportunity to serve in a leadership position as a first-year student, while also providing exposure to the full range of interesting projects that were coming through our doors at HLEP. In my time as Director of Operations (and later as President), I was repeatedly blown away by the diversity of clients that our students were working with. We had clients ranging from a company working to launch a network of satellites into space (my first introduction to “space law”), to a team at Harvard College working to re-imagine how we interact with online news media, to

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a founder launching a children’s clothing line. We’ve had students join client teams as co-founders and client companies fall apart and disappear mid-project. There was truly never a dull moment.

I was drawn to HLEP because of the amazing exposure to interesting startups and hands-on legal work, but there is no doubt that I stayed because of the people. HLS is a huge place with seemingly unlimited opportunities to engage and learn. It’s completely amazing, but it can also be a little overwhelming.

Finding a group of students with similar interests was crucial to my well-being and made me instantly feel that I had a community to return to whenever I began entertaining creeping doubts about my path at school or in my career. I made many of my best law school friends through HLEP, and found that there was truly no better way to engage with other people interested in the world of innovative startups and the unique legal challenges they face.

I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of such an awesome organization while at HLS. I’m headed to BCG in Seattle after HLS to work as a management consultant. While this is a bit of a pivot outside of the world of start-up law, the client management skills, creative problem solving practice, and leadership experience I gained through my work with HLEP will be an invaluable resource as I embark on this next phase in my career. Thanks so much to Linda Cole and everyone within the Transactional Law Clinics and Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs for helping us build such an impactful organization at HLS. I can’t wait to continue working with HLEP as alum in the 5 years to come.

SPRING BREAK PRO BONO TRIPS

Br i an B e aton J. D. ' 2 1 , and D an i el O yolu J. D. '21, inter view a client

NEEDING PROOF OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN PUERTO RICO

BY DANIEL OYOLU J.D. '21

When I first learned that there would be a Spring Break Pro Bono trip taking students to Puerto Rico, I felt compelled to apply. I had followed the slow recovery of the island post Hurricane Maria and was excited to have an opportunity to do pro bono work in service to the island. My partner, Brian Beaton, and I worked with the municipal government of Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico.

We helped the municipality interview residents who were in need of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance, but did not have the titles to their home. We learned more about each client’s story and updated their files to ensure the transfer of title occurs properly. According to Reuters a 2007 study found that an estimated 55 percent of properties on the island are informal.

In Puerto Rico, many homes have been passed down for generations, built without permits of a title. Community members found undeveloped plots of land had not yet been developed and began constructing their own residences without formal permission. Many residents have lived in these communities for decades, but do not have a proper deed of title to the land. In the event of a natural disaster like Hurricane Maria, not having title to your land complicates and potentially eliminates the possibility of receiving resources from FEMA. The Municipality of Ponce has been working to grant land titles and transfer ownership to one of its informal communities. The residents had been organizing for decades to get land titles from the Municipality and it felt like finally they had reached the final stages of the process. Since the hurricane, the process has been expedited. If another natural disaster occurs, the residents will hopefully not face the same obstacles in receiving relief.

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The trip also functioned as a primer on Puerto Rican local government. We spent most of our time with Ponce’s legal department who managed the project of title transfers. Additionally, we had the opportunity to meet the mayor of the city, Mayita Melendéz, who welcomed us to Ponce and encouraged us to take in all of Ponce’s beautiful colonial architecture. We met members of the municipality’s legislature (the equivalent of a city council) and sat through a live session. All of the legislators graciously welcomed us and allowed us to listen and observe as they deliberated over different proposals to move Ponce forward economically. Despite the conversation getting contentious at times, it was clear that the legislators shared a sense of camaraderie. We also sat in on a couple of cases in a local court and met a judge.

Overall, our trip allowed us to see different layers to Ponce, from the ordinary citizen making ends meet, to the government officials deciding the direction of the city. Although the impact of Hurricane Maria could still be felt, the people of Ponce have resiliently weathered the storm. Their hope in the future of their city seemed as strong as ever. They welcomed me with open arms, and readily shared their life experiences, while curiously listening to my own.

We study law, not in a vacuum, but in a world where laws directly impact the lives of citizens no matter who they are. Our trip to Ponce allowed us to see an initiative in which city lawyers were working to respond to the needs and concerns of the citizens and prepare them for the future. I’m thankful to the City of Ponce, Licenciada Lorraine Bengoa Toro and her team of lawyers, as well as the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs for this incredible opportunity.

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SPRING BREAK PRO BONO TRIPS

Students traveled to G i l e s C o u n t y, Te n n e s see to assist with a class-action lawsuit against private probation

P R I VA T E P R O B A T I O N I N G I L E S C O U N T Y

BY JIMMY BIBLARZ J.D. '21

The informal slogan I heard from respondents was “Come to Pulaski for vacation, leave on probation.”

In Pulaski, Tennessee, private probation has wreaked havoc on the community. A federal-class action lawsuit which claims that two private probation services companies have extorted money from impoverished people to generate profit, is trying to change that.

I spent a week in Pulaski, Tennessee working with Civil Rights Corps, one of the three groups of lawyers bringing the suit. It was extraordinarily rewarding and educational on four levels: 1) issue exposure (private probation), 2) legal investigative and evidence gathering skill-building, 3) legal strategy skillbuilding, and 4) exposure to inspiring mentors and a unique organizational model.

(1) Before this trip, I knew little about private probation or how the practice affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the 14 states who utilize it. We dove right in to the issues, and were tasked with driving around Tennessee (over 200 miles on some days) looking for people who had been affected by the scheme. While the amounts people couldn’t pay were seemingly small (often just $45/month), for individuals on fixed incomes, these amounts were prohibitive.

(2) I was doing the type of legal work you don’t often get exposed to as a 1L – the actual work of putting a case together. skills in a very short amount of time – I thought through how to get people to engage with me across a wide social distance, and developed strategies for getting people to talk to me who were rightfully

mistrustful of any and all “authority.” I had to work to build trust; these people were rightfully suspicious of anyone knocking on their door. I saw firsthand just how nuanced individual stories are, and how critical individual facts are to the stories lawyers try to tell.

I will remember these conversations in future brief writing and less “on the ground” work.

(3) Not only was the week built on direct client interaction work, there was time for other legal skill building. I started to learn the rules of reciprocal civil discovery, and how they come into play in class action lawsuits.

(4) In particular, I feel lucky to count Alison Horn, an Investigative Supervisor, and Jonas Wang, an Attorney, as friends and mentors. I went out investigating with Alison on the first day, and I quickly saw what a skilled interviewer and evidence collector she is. I learned just how essential the facts are to a case. Jonas is an incredible attorney – he is able to see the forest and the trees at the same time, and to think two steps ahead of whatever we were doing. He is patient and thoughtful, a careful writer, and clearly deeply committed to individual clients.

Civil Rights Corps is an amazing organizational model, combining direct service with impact litigation. I was inspired by how unwilling the organization is to lose sight of the actual people affected by the issues they’re working on. This spring break experience gave me wide exposure to the issue and I am much more committed to abolishing the practice than I was at the start of the week. 

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P R O B O N O I N G R E AT E R B O S T O N H A R VA R D L AW S C H O O L ’ S ‘ O U T S T A N D I N G ’ H O U S I N G RIGHTS ADVOCACY WORK HONORED BY BOSTON B A R A S S O C I AT I O N

BY GRACE YUH

In September, two Harvard Law School clinics and their community partner organizations were recognized by the Boston Bar Association (BBA) for their collaborative efforts to fight housing displacement in greater Boston.

WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC), Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB), Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), and City Life/ Vida Urbana, received the BBA’s John G. Brooks Legal Services Award for a “creative, combined strategy of community organizing and legal defense to advocate with and for tenants and homeowners across the city.” The award, presented annually by the BBA, recognizes “professional legal services attorneys for their outstanding work on behalf of indigent clients in greater Boston.” This was the first time since its establishment that the award was received by a collective of four groups.

“These four organizations represent the very best in collaboration and commitment to finding solutions for Boston’s housing crisis,” said incoming BBA President Christine Netski, managing partner at Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen. “Their innovative partnership is an excellent model for others looking to bring lawyers and community organizers together to create positive change.”

The cost of housing in greater Boston has increased significantly over the past 10 years. As more and more properties are becoming increasingly expensive, middle- and low- income individuals and families have fewer options to secure housing.

Eloise Lawrence, a community lawyering Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law at HLAB, provided insight into how the evolution of the Boston housing crisis makes it a persistent legal issue, noting how widespread gentrification and foreclosure in the greater Boston area continues to displace community members.

“The real crisis in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis was when a lot of speculators and investors came into communities that had been devastated. They took advantage of the fact that the prices of the homes had decreased dramatically and they started buying them up, which set off yet another speculative frenzy,” she said.

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Maureen McDonagh, LSC Managing Attorney and Lecturer on Law at the Housing Law Clinic, also elaborated on why this issue is more relevant than ever to the legal community.

“Over the years we’ve seen cuts to legal services. That means there are even fewer attorneys representing folks in housing courts,” said McDonagh. “For unrepresented people, finding representation is virtually impossible.

To find an apartment that is affordable, safe, clean is near impossible. People who are being evicted are finding themselves more and more homeless and this includes families. That’s why I think the BBA has concentrated more on [this issue].”

Lawrence noted that the collaborative nature between the four organizations developed in part through the work of the late David Grossman, Clinical Professor, who worked at LSC before becoming the Faculty Director at HLAB. Grossman brought students from LSC and HLAB into the anti-foreclosure movement that GBLS and City Life/Vida Urbana were already participating in. Since then, the partnership between all four organizations has expanded and grown. A hallmark of the partnership between these four organizations, the Sword and Shield method relies on the concerted and joint effort of local and legal communities; and focuses on empowering and encouraging individuals to stand up for their rights.

“The Shield is legal defense and the Sword is public protest and public pressure,” explained Steve Meacham, Organizing Coordinator at City Life/Vida Urbana.

“There are procedures of the law that we can take advantage of and … legal proceedings allow the public pressure to then really work.”

City Life/Vida Urbana, whose primary mission is fighting against forced displacement, represents the “sword” through work such as organizing tenant associations and doing eviction blockades. HLS students and attorneys from LSC and GBLS complete the “shield” of the Sword and Shield method by providing legal services and advice. This can range from partial to full representation in court, with the City Life/Vida Urbana meetings in both Jamaica Plain and East Boston providing a space in which law students and attorneys can meet with individuals or client unions looking for legal aid.

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L i s a O w e n s ( C it y L i f e / Vi d a Ur b an a ) , Z o e Kron i n ( Gre ate r Boston Legal Services), Maureen McDonagh (Legal Ser vices Center of Har vard Law School), and Eloise Lawrence (Har vard Legal Aid Bureau) accept the 2019 John G. Brooks Legal Ser vices Aw a r d o n b e h a l f o f t h e i r organizations. Photo courtesy of the Boston Bar Association.

Additionally, GBLS, LSC, and HLAB participate in the “Lawyer for the Day” program, in conjunction with the BBA and Volunteer Lawyers Project.

their practice outside of the client-attorney relationship, they’re practicing community lawyering so they’re looking at cases that will help a movement.”

“We go to housing court to help people who are being evicted that day, who don’t have a lawyer. We pick up cases right there,” said McDonagh on the program, which has assisted more than 18,000 individuals since 1999.

McDonagh also emphasized the nature of the collaboration between the four organizations and their relationship with the greater Boston community.

“We are honored to be recognized for our efforts but the people who are the real heroes are the ordinary individuals standing up for their rights,” she said.

Outside of the direct services that the four organizations provide, they also convene for monthly Sword and Shield meetings that provide a space for lawyers and organizers to discuss and reflect on issues regarding partnership and individual work. Lawrence explained how these meetings are a good opportunity for organizers and lawyers to connect beyond shared clients.

“I think there’s huge synergy that happens when organizers and lawyers work together. I view it as part of my job to teach law students, especially those that have never worked with organizers before, to understand where the role of lawyer and organizer overlap and where they are distinct. I think that [to be] a good lawyer or an organizer, you need to be an empathetic human, you need to listen and learn. It sounds simple but it often gets overlooked in legal education,” she said.

Additionally, Meacham emphasized the strengths of community lawyering in a movement like the anti-foreclosure movement, where it is important to empower the collective of those in need of help.

“It’s been a privilege to work with all of them,” Meacham said. “In addition to being on the right side of cases about tenants, they are very skilled community lawyers, which is why they’re here taking short consultations. They understand that they’re representing collectively the movement … in terms of

GBLS Executive Director Jacquelynne J. Bowman says receiving the Brooks Legal Services Award is a wonderful recognition of what impactful, collaborative advocacy can really look like.

“Greater Boston Legal Services is greatly honored to have been chosen by the Boston Bar Association as a co-recipient of the 2019 John G. Brooks Legal Services Award”, she said. “This is a testament to the impactful advocacy efforts of our Housing Unit advocates and partners at the Harvard Legal Assistance Bureau, WilmerHale Legal Services Center, and City Life/Vida Urbana to help low-income families avoid or delay their displacement from increasingly unaffordable neighborhoods.”

Lawrence echoed this sentiment, noting the implications for how the legal community might best approach largescale socio-economic issues in the future.

“It’s a recognition … that effective advocacy happens when people work together, especially when lawyers and non-lawyers work together,” Lawrence said. “When you’re dealing with complex problems like lack of affordable housing and the displacement of people from their homes, lawyers are never going to do this alone.

The recognition from the legal community, which the BBA [represents], shows a more complex understanding of how problems are going to be addressed and that’s wonderful.” 

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H L S I M M I G R AT I O N P R O J E C T H I P PA R T I C I PAT E S I N C I T I Z E N S H I P D AY 2 0 1 9

BY GRACE YUH

As one of HLS's 11 Student Practice Organizations, HLS Immigration Project (HIP) offers an opportunity for students to engage in pro bono work and a chance for 1L students to gain some of their first practical legal experience. Their work as an SPO involves but is not limited to assisting asylum seekers and individuals in deportation proceedings, international refugee assistance, immigration services, policy initiatives, and community outreach.

As part of its mission, HIP participated in Citizenship Day on September 28th, 2019, held at the Reggie Lewis Track Center. Citizenship Day in Boston, which was co-sponsored by the Mayor ’s Office for Immigrant Advancement and Project Citizenship, was an event where trained volunteers worked with clients from a variety of countries to help complete their paperwork for the N-400 application for naturalization. According to Project Citizenship, nearly 440 people seeking help

with their applications attended Citizenship Day 2019, along with more than 400 volunteers from the greater Boston area there to provide services. The event aimed to create a space in which individuals could comfortably seek assistance, providing additional services such as child care.

By the end of day, 364 citizenship applications had been filled out, 63% of which included a request to waive the additional fees charged by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Project Citizenship estimates that applicants saved more than $165,000 in fees alone.

H L S s t u d e n t s w i t h M a y o r M a r t y Wa l s h a t C i t i z e n s h i p D a y 2 0 1 9 a t t h e R e g g i e L e w i s Tr a c k C e n t e r on September 28

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n at i o n a l c e l e b r at i o n o f p r o b o n o 2 0 1 9

QUOTES FROM PRO BONO WEEK 2019 SPEAKERS

" NO W I S T H E TI M E W E NEE D TO M A K E O U R V OICE S H EAR D . W E NEE D TO CALL ON O U R ELECTE D OFFI CIAL S , T H E Y NEE D TO H EAR FRO M U S , W E NEE D TO TELL CON G RE S S IT ' S TI M E TO PA S S T H E E Q U ALIT Y ACT , TO U P D ATE O U R NATION ' S CI V IL E Q U ALIT Y LA W S , CREATE ONE S ET OF R U LE S FOR E V ER Y ONE AN D P U T L G BT Q PEOPLE IN T H E S A M E PLA Y IN G FIEL D A S E V ER Y ONE EL S E ."

- R I A TA B A C C O M A R ACL U L G BT & H I V PRO J ECT

" IT W ILL BE U P TO PATIENT S , D OCTOR S , AN D AT TORNE Y S W OR K IN G TO G ET H ER TO K EEP T H E PRE S S U RE U P , AN D TO BRIN G TO LI G H T AN Y INAPPRO PRIATEL Y D ENIE D APPLICATION S , . . . A S P H Y S ICIAN S , W E H A V E AN OBLI G ATION TO P U S H BAC K ON POLI CIE S T H AT ARE D ETRI M ENTAL TO O U R PATIENT S ."

- DR. FIONA DANAHER M A S S AC H U S ETT S G ENERAL H O S PITAL

" T H E U NITE D S TATE S T H RI V E S OR FAIL S D E PEN D IN G ON T H E E Q U AL PROTECTION OF T H E LA W AN D H O W W E U P H OL D T H E V AL U E S AN D RI G H T S E S PO U S E D IN T H E CON S TIT U TION ."

- NADIA AZIZ LA W Y ER S ' CO M M ITTEE FOR CI V IL RI G H T S S TOP H ATE PRO J ECT



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