Webcasts and Handouts

Below you will find webcasts and handouts from 2008-2009 OPIA events.  To view the video, click on the title of the event.  This page is constantly updated so check back for new events.

September	October	November	January
Other OPIA Videos and Resources	February	March	April

 

SEPTEMBER

OPIA Public Interest Orientation

September 17, 2008, Austin North

This event kicked off our welcome to students interested in practicing public interest law. Bryan Stevenson, Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and winner of the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Award" spoke along with Dean Elena Kagan and Professor David Barron.

Diversity issues in the Workplace (Fall Panel)

September 17, 2008, Pound 202

Learn how attorneys with varied social and ethnic backgrounds approach interviewing and working in private and public interest legal organizations. 

Panelists included:

• Gail Johnson, Senior Trial Counsel, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)
• Charles E. Walker, Jr. General Counsel and Chief of Enforcement, MA State Division of Professional Licensure
• Hemmie Chang ‘84, Partner, Ropes & Gray
• Kevin C. Jones ‘05, Associate, Cleary Gottlieb

Panel moderated by Yih-hsien Shen, Assistant Director for J.D. Advising in OCS

Practice Perspectives: Public International 

September 24, 2008, John Chipman Gray

A panel of lawyers discussed their career paths in public international law.  The panelists offered insight into their organizations and the field as a whole.  To read the bios of the panelists, visit our Practice Perspectives page.

Panelists:

• Michael Camilleri ‘04, Staff Attorney for the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
• Larry Johnson ‘70, Former Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, United Nations
• Thomas Kellogg ‘03, Program Officer & Advisor to the President, Open Society Institute
• Vicki Moore ‘84, Assistant General Counsel, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Moderated by Mindy Roseman, Academic Director of the Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School

OCTOBER

Practice Perspectives: Government

October 2, 2008 Pound 102

Panelists from different levels of government explained their experiences in government work, career paths and opportunities in the public sector.  Click here for their bios.    

Panelists for the event: 

• Gerald Alexander, Assistant General Counsel, Office of Litigation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Former Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice
• Alvin Bragg, ‘99, Chief of Litigation and Investigations, Office of the General Counsel, New York City Council; Former Assistant Attorney General in the Public Integrity Unit of the Office of the New York State Attorney General
• David Strickland, ‘93, Democratic Senior Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
• Karen Timberlake ‘95, Deputy Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Moderated by Alex Whiting, Assistant Clinical Professor, Government Lawyer Clinic, Harvard Law School

Practice Perspectives: Criminal Prosecution/Defense 

October 29, 2008, Pound 102

The panelists discussed their work as private litigators, public defenders, district attorneys, and federal prosecutors.  To view the bios of the panelists, visit our Practice Perspectives page.  

Panelists included:

• Allison Burroughs, Partner, Nutter McClennen & Fish, Boston, MA
• Miriam Conrad '87, Federal Public Defender, District of Massachusetts
• James Hingeley, Public Defender, Albemarle County and Charlottesville, VA
• Elliott Jacobson ’80, Office of the United States Attorney, S.D.N.Y.
• Mark Lee, Assistant District Attorney, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, MA

Moderated by Ronald S. Sullivan ‘94, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Criminal Justice Institute

NOVEMBER

Public Sector Job Search Strategy Workshop

November 4, 2008, Austin Ames Courtroom

Interested in finding out how to get ahead and plan your job search?  Hear OPIA's Associate Director Lisa Williams guide students through the public interest job search process and outline the resources available to students through OPIA and other HLS offices. To see the PowerPoint presentation, click here. 

 Practice Perspectives: Small/Medium Firms

November 5, 2008, Austin North

Panelists discussed their work in small/medium firms (both public and private) and the unique challenges they face in their field.  To view the bios of the panelists, visit the Practice Perspectives page.  

Panelists:

• Jared H. Beck ‘04, Co-Managing Partner, Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers, Miami, FL
• Robert A. Bertsche ‘89, Partner, Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye, LLP, Boston, MA
• James Fishman, Founder and Partner, Fishman & Neil, LLP, New York, NY
• Elizabeth S. Saylor ‘01, Associate, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff and Abady, LLP, New York, NY
• Mark S. Scott, Partner, Riemer & Braunstein, LLP, Boston, MA

Moderated by Lisa D. Williams, Associate Director for OPIA.

Resume/Cover Letter Workshop

November 6, 2008

OPIA's Program Coordinator Kirsten Bermingham and OCS's Assistant Director for JD Advising Elaine Ventola discuss the ins and outs of preparing your resume and cover letter for your job search.  This session is geared toward 1L students.  

To view the PowerPoint presentation, click here.

Conservative/Libertarian Panel

November 11, 2008, Pound 200

Panelists with conservative legal backgrounds from legal organizations and government posts discussed their organizations and careers.  Click here to read their bios.  

Panelists: 

• Duston Barton ’07, Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Tax Division
• Rachel Paulose, Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice,Office of Legal Policy 
• Jeff Rowes ‘02, Staff Attorney, The Institute for Justice
• Angela Wu ‘05, International Law Director, The Becket Fund

Moderated by: Ginny Greiman, Attorney Advisor, OPIA

Advice from 3Ls about 1L summer

November 19, 2008, Pound 100

Third-year law students offered insights into their experiences as 1L interns at various organizations.  Click on the link above to hear about their experiences and advice.  

Practice Perspectives: Non-profit/Advocacy

November 20, 2008, Pound 107

Panelists from the legal nonprofit/advocacy field discussed their work and career paths.  Click on this link to view their bios. 

Panelists:

• Nisha Agarwal '06, Former Skadden Fellow & Current Staff Attorney at New York Lawyers for Public Interest (NYLPI), NY
• James A. Ferg-Cadima, Legislative Attorney, ACLU of Illinois, Chicago, IL
• Levon Henry, Executive Director, DNA Legal Services, Window Rock, Navajo Nation, NM
• Sierra Weaver '01, Staff Attorney, Defenders of Wildlife, Washington D.C.

Moderated by Roger Bertling, Clinical Instructor in the Predatory Lending/Consumer Protection Clinic and Lecturer on Law

Public Sector Interview Workshop

November 25, 2008, Pound 335

Learn (from the Assistant Dean of Public Service Alexa Shabecoff) what some of the essential tools are for preparing for an interview in the public sector.  Click on the link above for the video.  Click on this link for the PowerPoint presentation.  

JANUARY

1L Job Search Strategy

This event provided a refresher for students looking for a 1L job.. Alexa Shabecoff reviewed some effective strategies and approaches to finding a 1L summer position. 

FEBRUARY

Practice Perspectives: In-House Counsel

February 11, 2009, Pound 107

Sponsored by OCS and OPIA, this practice perspectives panel discussed their careers and work as in-house counsel lawyers from the private and public sector.  Panelists bios may be found on our practice perspectives page. 

Panelists:

• Jeffrey Blair - Associate Counsel at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
• Brent L. Henry - Vice President and General Counsel - Partners HealthCare, Boston, MA
• Scott M. Kirwin '01 - Senior Legal Counsel - Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
• Penny S. Lennox - Corporate Counsel - Avid Technologies, Inc., Tewksbury, MA

Moderated by Yih-hsien Shen, Assistant Director for J.D. Advising, Office of Career Services

Practice Perspectives: Alternative/Nontraditional Careers

February 25, 2009, Pound 201 

Sponsored by OCS and OPIA, this panel covered careers outside the practice of law. Panelists ranged from founding their own marketing firm to working at a non-profit dedicated to affordable housing.

Panelists:

• Tom Davis - Manager of Strategic Operations - Preservation Of Affordable Housing (POAH), Boston, MA
• Peter Emerson '92 - CEO & Chief Privacy, Risk & Compliance Officer - Recombinant Data Corporation, Waltham, MA
• Marlo Fogelman - Principal - Marlo Marketing, Boston, MA

Moderated by Elaine Mcardle,  Director of Communications - Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs, Harvard Law School

MARCH

Practice Perspectives: Plaintiff Litigation

March 9, 2009, Pound 107

Sponsored by OCS and OPIA, this practice perspectives panel covered the interesting and not always well understood practice of plaintiffs litigation.

Panelists: 

• Marianne C. LeBlanc - Principal - Sugarman - Boston, MA
• Shannon Liss-Riordan '96 - Partner - Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan, P.C. - Boston, MA 

Moderated by Professor Steve Churchill, Lecturer on Law and Clinical Instructor - Employment Civil Rights Clinic - Harvard Law School

Practice Perspectives: Social Entrepreneurs**

March 12, 2009, Pound 107 

Interested in creating an innovative social impact organization from the ground up? Want to hear from individuals that did?  This panel covered the work of social entrepreneurs--individuals that take big ideas and try to make them into a reality by creating organizations that work to fight social problems such as poverty, housing and education.
Panelists: 

• Aaron Bartley '01 - Founder and Executive Director of People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) - Buffalo, NY
• Sasha Chanoff - Founder and Executive Director of Mapendo - Cambridge, MA
• Suzanne McKechnie Klahr - CEO and Founder of Business United in Investing, Lending and Development (BUILD) - Palo Alto, CA
• Martha Piper - Partner - New Profit, Inc. - Cambridge, MA
• Brooke Richie '04 - Founder and Executive Director of the Resilience Advocacy Project (RAP) - New York, NY
• Oliver Sabot - Director of the Malaria Control Team - Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) - Boston, MA

Moderated by Jessica Budnitz '01, Lecturer on Law & Managing Director for the Child Advocacy Program, Harvard Law School  

**Please note: There was mention of the estimated amount of money from the recently passed stimulus package.  The amount was not $650 billion as mentioned by one of the panelists but $5 billion for "education innovation" of which $650 million will be designated to "scale up what works." To read more about funding, please read this Washington Post article that discusses funding for educational innovation.

Practice Perspectives: Career Transitions - Moving from public to private and private to public firms

March 19, 2009, Pound 107 

Students heard from panelists that spent time at both public and private firms.  The attorneys explained how and why they made the change and what you can anticipate when making the transition.

Panelists:

• Katina Ancar ’99 - Counsel, The Regents of the University of California, Office of the General Counsel; formerly Senior Litigation Associate, Farella, Braun & Martel, LLP
• James Gignac ’04 - Midwest Director of National Coal Campaign, Sierra Club; formerly Associate, Mayer Brown, LLP
• Carrie Gombos ’04 - Go Zero Operations Manager, The Conservation Fund; formerly Litigation Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP & Litigation Associate at Sidley Austin LLP
• Robert McCreanor ’02 - Director of Legal Services, Immigrant Tenant Advocacy Project, Catholic Migration Office; formerly Litigation Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP

Moderated by Carolyn Stafford Stein ’85, Attorney Advisor, Office of Public Interest Advising, Harvard Law School

 

The United Nations Convention of Persons with Disabilities: A paradigm shift

March 30, 2009, Hauser 105
Wasserstein Fellow Tanya Smith, Human Rights Officer at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave a talk on the issue of persons with disabilities and how the UN is changing its perspective on persons with disabilities.  To listen to her talk, click on the link above.  To follow along with the presentation, please click here for the PowerPoint. 

APRIL

To EIP or not to EIP?

April 1, 2009, Pound Hall, Ropes Gray
A panel of 3Ls, OPIA staff and HLS faculty discussed the pros and cons of participating in the Early Interview Program (formerly On-Campus Interviewing or OCI). Special guests included Professors Ben Sachs and Alex Whiting.

HLS Public Interest Auction 

April 2, 2009, Austin East and North
Bright Lights Bid City! You can now watch the video, posted above, of the 2009 HLS Auction.  Professors Elizabeth Warren and Jonathan Zittrain were the co-auctioneers for the night.  Please watch it for some memorable moments.  The proceeds went to support Student Public Interest Funding. 

LGBT Issues in the Workplace panel (Spring Panel)

April 8, 2009, Pound 202
A panel of attorneys in public and private firms cover some of the major topics affecting LGBT lawyers.
Panelists:

• David Castleman, Associate, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, NY
• Beth Elliott ’03, Staff Attorney, Massachusetts Finance Housing Agency, Boston, MA
• Susi Kandel, Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP New York, NY
• Will Van Lonkhuyzen, Attorney, Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP Boston, MA

Moderated by Sarah Boonin ’04, Senior Clinical Fellow /Attorney in the Family and Children's Law Unit at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center

 

Diversity Issues in the Workplace panel (Spring Panel)

April 16, 2009, Pound 332

A panel of attorneys in both public and private firms discuss some of the issues attorneys may face in the recruiting and interviewing process as well as the office.

Panelists: 

• Raquel Aragon, Law Clerk/Associate, Fried Frank, New York, NY
• Angel Kelley-Brown, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Boston, MA
• David Loftis, Managing Attorney, The Innocence Project, New York, NY
• Richard Ting ’05, Associate, Reed Smith, Pittsburgh, PA
• Moderator: Lisa Williams, Associate Director, OPIA

How to Make the Most of Your 1L Summer Job

April 22, 2009, Pound 335
OPIA's Program Coordinator Kirsten Bermingham spoke to 1Ls on how to make the most of a 1L summer job.  Please click on the title to access the PowerPoint presentation.  Please click here for the outline. 

OPIA Video Archives

Videos from past OPIA events. Click on the headers below to access the videos.

Patrick Fitzgerald receiving the Cox-Richardson-Coleman Award for distinguished public service

Patrick Fitzgerald '85, the current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, accepted the Cox-Richardson-Coleman Award for his outstanding work in public service in April of 2007. Click on the link above to watch his speech. Dean Kagan presented the award along with the Director of the Heyman Fellowship Program Joan Ruttenberg.

A Celebration of Public Interest 

Accomplished alumni, faculty members and HLS staff gathered at HLS in March 2008 to honor and encourage public interest legal work. The videos below contain speeches and panel discussions covering a wide variety of topics.

Take a look at photos from the Celebration of Public Interest!

From HLS Activism to Political Positions: Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm '87 and First Gentleman Daniel Mulhern '86

Dean Kagan moderates a conversation with Governor Granholm and Mr. Mulhern.

Panel on Climate Change

A panel of lawyers and academics discuss law and the environment.
Panelists:

• • Roger Ballentine '88, Lecturer on Law, HLS
  • Dale Bryk '93, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Douglas Foy '73, Founding Partner, Serafix

  Moderated by Howard Learner, President and Executive Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center

  Panel on Predatory Lending

  A panel discussion on the currently heated issue of predatory lending.
  Panelists:
  • Eric Halperin '98, Director, Center for Responsible Lending, Washington D.C. Office
  • Stuart Rossman '78, Litigation Director, National Consumer Law Center
  • Henry Sommer '74, Supervising Attorney, Pro Bono Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project
  • Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, HLS

  Panel moderated by Roger Bertling, Predatory Lending and Consumer Protection Clinic, and Lecturer on Law, HLS

  Nurturing the Next Generation: How to Promote Public Service in an Era of Rising Student Debt

  Panelists:
  • David Barron '94, Professor of Law, HLS
  • Amy Copperman '98, Staff Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
  • Susan Butler Plum, Director of the Skadden Fellowship Foundation
  • John Sarbanes '88, Congressman, Third District of Maryland.
  • D. Loren Washburn '02, Assistant Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Utah; Heyman Fellow

  Moderated by Kenneth Lafler, Director of Student Financial Services, HLS

  Career Development for the International Lawyer

  Panelists:
  • Raymond Atuguba '04, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Legal Resources Centre-Ghana
  • James Goldston '87, Senior Trial Attorney, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, The Hague
  • Sarah Prosser '02, Attorney Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State
  • Fatemah Ziai '90, Chief of Integrated Training Service, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations

  Moderated by Henry Steiner '55, Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, Emeritus, HLS