News

After 22 historic years with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Susana Arteta announced that she would be retiring from her role as Administrative Director in May of 2024. HLAB sat down with Susana to hear some of her reflections from her tenure.   What was HLAB Read More/Lee Mas

Suzanna Bobadilla served as the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau’s President from February 2022 through February 2023, and is a student attorney in the Bureau’s Wage Practice. Just weeks before her graduation, HLAB sat down with her for a conversation about her time at HLAB and Read More/Lee Mas

On March 23, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau obtained a judgment enforcing a settlement agreement drafted by Vandana Apte, HLS ’23, for her client at the Bureau. The agreement secured payment of over $60,000 in child support arrears for HLAB’s client, as well as a Read More/Lee Mas

By Colleen Walsh for Harvard Law Today For Olivia Murray ’23, witnessing how the criminal legal system interacted with her family and friends in her home state of Florida inspired one of her current interests at Harvard Law School: helping keep families together. The experiences Read More/Lee Mas

This semester, HLAB’s Family practice has officially launched its Family Defense subpractice and will begin regularly accepting family defense cases as part of its casework, alongside traditional family cases involving divorce, custody, and parenting time matters. The Bureau currently has six active family defense cases Read More/Lee Mas

CAMBRIDGE, Feb. 21, 2023—Dana Talbot, owner of painting and construction company Dana Talbot Painting, has incurred numerous judgments in Massachusetts courts for violating Massachusetts wage laws by refusing to pay employees and ignoring legal action against him. The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (“HLAB”) has filed Read More/Lee Mas

Kimberly Everett ’22 (Executive Director) received a Dean’s Award for Community Leadership at the Class of 2022 Commencement. The award recognizes graduating students who have significantly contributed to the well-being of the HLS community through student organizations and clinics. Besides serving as the Executive Director Read More/Lee Mas

Courtney Brunson ’22 (President) was chosen to be the student speaker at the 2022 Harvard Black Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations, Courtney! Check out the program below.

Interested in joining HLAB as a transfer student? Our application cycle is currently open! Our application page has more information about how prospective transfer students can apply to the Bureau. Sara Tsai ’23 shared her experience as a member of the B with Harvard Law Read More/Lee Mas

3L Elizabeth “Liz” Buttersworth was honored for her zealous advocacy with the 2022 Gants Access to Justice Award, which “recognizes a student who is dedicated to advancing access to justice and racial equity and has demonstrated leadership in helping to eliminate systemic barriers to justice.” Read More/Lee Mas

At the annual 3L celebration honoring the contributions of the graduating class, HLAB President Suzanna Bobadilla presented Zoe Russell with the 2022 Betty Allebach Award, which is a prize voted on by the entire Bureau and given to the 3L who best exemplifies the HLAB Read More/Lee Mas

HLAB students Gwendolyn Gissendanner (VP Membership), Courtney Brunson (President), and Kiese Hansen were featured in the recent New York Times article discussing the impact of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Harvard Law Read More/Lee Mas

Mohammed Jagana ’22 was one of six HLS students who was selected as a Cravath International Fellow. During this past J-term, Mohammed traveled to the Netherlands to explore the country’s response to COVID-19, drawing upon his experience working as a student attorney in HLAB’s housing Read More/Lee Mas

On July 24, HLAB and the ACLU filed an amicus brief in Matorin v. Commonwealth on behalf of the ACLU and social scientists Matthew Desmond, William J. Berman, Justin Steil, and David Robinson. The brief demonstrates that eviction has a disparate impact on Black families, Read More/Lee Mas

In response to the national spotlight on anti-Black police violence, the president of Harvard hoped that the university would “find the strength and determination to act on [our] beliefs—to repair and perfect this imperfect world.” The Dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) encouraged us to Read More/Lee Mas

http://features.wgbhnews.org/high-rent-hard-times The New England Center for Investigative Reporting in collaboration with the Boston Globe, published a long-form exposé chronicling the horrors of Boston Housing Court, and the important work advocates are doing to fight back. Check out quotes from our very own Eloise Lawrence(audio starts Read More/Lee Mas

William Ahee ’17 and Lam Nguyen Ho ’08 are the 2017 Gary Bellow Award winners

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau takes foreclosure fight to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

With a path to law school shaped by hardship and doubt, Nguyên hopes to empower the powerless

Erika Johnson ’17 wins David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award

In a cramped church basement in East Boston, people gather together for a common purpose: to stay in their homes. East Boston is ground zero for no-fault evictions brought by investors seeking to increase rents and profit off of increased housing demand in the Greater Read More/Lee Mas

  Louis Fisher J.D. ’16, student attorney in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB), presented an oral argument in the case of Meikle v. Nurse on November 5, 2015. The case focused on whether a landlord’s violation of the state security deposit law provides a defense to a Read More/Lee Mas

Courtney Lynch, Student Attorney, Vice President of Membership Class of 2016 “I want to do what I can to encourage people in society to realize that marginalized people are people first.” What were you doing before law school? I worked at the Legal Aid Society Read More/Lee Mas

Stephanie Goldenhersh Clinical Instructor, Family Practice Started in 2007 “When I came to the Bureau, I was surprised that it felt like a legal services office, not like a student workgroup.” What were you doing before coming the Bureau? I worked in the family and children’s Read More/Lee Mas

  Jemel Derbali Alumnus, Co-founder of WISE Systems Class of 2013 “At the Bureau, the way I was thrown into new cases and had to respond on the fly helped prepare me for the twists and turns of a young company.” Where are you working Read More/Lee Mas

It seemed like a natural collaboration: Harvard College; Harvard Law School; a student-run homeless shelter; a student-run legal aid firm. Those parallels ignited the partnership between the Youth to Youth (Y2Y) and Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, which will go into full effect this fall. The Read More/Lee Mas

At 5pm on a Thursday, singing emerges from the seminar room. Students and clinical instructors sit around the table. Staff from other centers linger as they exit the building. No, HLAB hasn’t started a choir. Lisa Fitzgerald ’16 is treating the Bureau to a private Read More/Lee Mas

This summer HLAB and the greater Boston community lost a leading advocate, mentor and friend. HLAB Faculty Director David Grossman passed away on July 13, 2015, after a seven-year battle with cancer. Congressman Joe Kennedy III, HLAB alumnus ’09,spoke on the House floor in memory Read More/Lee Mas

Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA), headed by former Harvard Legal Aid Bureau President Lam Ho, HLS J.D. ’08, was awarded an Echoing Green Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to emerging leaders working to bring about positive social change. Of 3,629 applicants, 52 were selected to receive Fellowships. Read more.

Attorney General Martha Coakley cites the Suero case in urging the FHFA to use buyback reductions and principal reductions. See link to press release here. BOSTON – Saying in a letter today that the use of buyback programs and principal reductions are “key to helping Read More/Lee Mas

The Boston Globe covers the Suero case, in which Nicole Summers ’14 won a preliminary injunction earlier this school year. Link to the Globe article here. By Paul McMorrow Globe Columnist   May 13, 2014 Ramon Suero left the Dominican Republic for Boston over a Read More/Lee Mas

[photo: Clinical instructor Stephanie Goldenhersh and HLAB member Carolina Kupferman ’15] See the OCP blog post here. By: Carolina Kupferman ’15 My legs were shaking under me as I stood up in front of the judge to give my opening statement. My speech in front Read More/Lee Mas

See the blog post from HLS Clinical Programs here. On January 28, 2014 Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) student attorneys Nicholas Pastan ‘15 and Breana Ware ’14 found themselves conducting a trial in federal court and asking a Judge to decline to enforce a Petition Read More/Lee Mas

Head to The Harvard Law Record to read “Reflections from HLAB, Law Review, and BSA.”

The Bureau’s 100th Anniversary Celebration took place November 8-10, 2013. See coverage of the events and HLAB’s history at the following links: Read More/Lee Mas

In 2008, our client gave birth to her son. She was 19 years old.  That same year, our client was arrested for a crime for which she was later acquitted.  She was also in an abusive relationship with the father of her child, who was Read More/Lee Mas

Head to the Harvard Law School Office of Clinical Program’s blog to read “Two Trials and a Graduation,”a piece by HLAB’s Chas Hamilton ’13 on the experience of trying two – not one, but TWO – cases in front of juries in the midst of Read More/Lee Mas

For the student attorneys at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, the nation’s oldest legal services organization, a victory in court is always a reason to celebrate. But recently, HLAB student attorneys Jennifer Ramos ’13 and Shira Hoffman ’13 achieved a legal victory with a type Read More/Lee Mas