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The philosophy and culture of the Legal Services Center are embedded in the words of one of our founders, Gary Bellow.
“We want to work with our students on how one learns to develop a quality, reflective, self-taught practice in a pressured real-world setting. Many harried lawyers have things to teach. And students have to learn to be taught by the experienced—without being overwhelmed by them. Part of clinical education has to involve teaching lawyers how to learn from each other. . . . I would like to see clinical centers created across the country—centers where law is practiced as it is critiqued and taught.”
—Gary Bellow, interview in CLEPR
Fourth Biennial Report3
“I think all lawyers have an obligation to make the legal system more accessible to those who cannot afford a lawyer. We also have the responsibility to communicate this to our students, along with the obvious message that the legal system does not serve all people equally. For these reasons, I’ve generally supported pro bono requirements by law schools. I do think, however, that students’ sense of commitment to indigent clients is best developed and nurtured by a serious educational program. The service to thousands of poor people that grows out of our clinical courses bears witness to this commitment and adds to the ability, and willingness, of our students to do pro bono work after graduation. The opportunity to explore, discuss, and question this experience adds to its depth and richness. My sense is that it helps pro bono commitments become, after graduation, not just good work, but part of what it means to be lawyers.”
—Gary Bellow, interview in the Harvard Law School Bulletin7
“I want our students to have a rich appreciation of practice as a human enterprise, as a way of solving problems, as a way of thinking about the world. That’s one level of purpose. At a second level, I want them to be able to work within that culture. This is a separate dimension. . . . [H]elping students to develop the skill needed to work within legal culture involves a set of thoughts and actions—starting with entry-level ideas, and entry-level behaviors— which are needed to do lawyering. Among these are self-understanding, a capacity to deal with one’s emotions, the ability to project oneself into the life of another, all of which are required of any good lawyer.”
—Gary Bellow, interview by Charles Nesson |
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