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The Housing Clinic works on a variety of issues affecting low-income tenants and the low-income housing market in the city of Boston. Through direct and intensive advocacy on behalf of individual tenants and tenant groups, the Clinic seeks to thwart gentrification by preventing displacement of low-income families from the Boston neighborhoods served by the office; ameliorate indoor environmental hazards – including lead paint, mold, and insect and rodent infestation – and otherwise improve the physical condition of housing in Boston’s low-income communities; combat discrimination in the rental market and ensure housing access and accessibility; and improve the functioning of the various institutions (courts, agencies, etc.) that affect the lives of low-income tenants.
Efforts advancing these goals take a variety of forms, from individual case representation to focused case representation to law reform work to community mobilization campaigns to pro se clinics and other initiatives. The bulk of this trial intensive Clinic’s work, however, consists of litigation in the Boston Housing Court, defending evictions and prosecuting affirmative cases to improve housing conditions. Students have numerous opportunities throughout the semester to engage in client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, pre-trial discovery (including taking and defending depositions), negotiation, and motion practice, as well as to try cases. Students with placements in the Housing Clinic also have the opportunity, working with organizers, to engage in mobilization efforts and “community lawyering” and, on occasion, to work on legislative initiatives and other law reform work as well as impact litigation.
For academic year 2008-2009, students wishing to work in this clinic must enroll in the Housing Law Clinical Workshop A (fall) or B (spring). We also encourage interested students to concurrently enroll in any of the following courses: Legal Profession: Delivery of Legal Services (A or B); Legal Profession: The Lawyering Process (A2 or B1); Legal Needs of Moderate Income Clients (fall).
The Housing Clinic is part of the Center’s Housing/Litigation Practice Group. For more information on the Clinic, contact Clinical Instructors Rafael Mares, rhmares@law.harvard.edu, (617) 390-2564, Maureen McDonagh, mcdonagh@law.harvard.edu, (617) 390-2542, or Esme Caramello, ecaramello@law.harvard.edu, (617) 390-2568. |
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