HLS Student Government

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About the Student Government

Our mission is to improve student life and to facilitate communication between students, faculty, and administrators. The Student Government comprises 42 student representatives: two 1L representatives selected from each of the seven 1L sections; nine 2L representatives; nine 3L representatives; four LL.M. representatives; two S.J.D. representatives; and the President, Vice President, Student Advocate, Treasurer, and Internal Affairs Coordinator. Elections are held in the fall and spring of each year. Click here to meet your current representatives.

A Message to 1Ls

Dear Class of 2011,

On behalf of the Student Government, I want to extend one of the many welcomes you will receive to Harvard Law School! I think you will find that the HLS depicted in Scott Turow's 1L is ancient fiction at this point -- the law school really is a great place to spend three years. And HLS Student Government helps make it better.

HLS's Student Government has two goals: to improve student life and to facilitate communication between students and the faculty and administration. The best way to keep track of what the Student Government is up to is to talk to your representatives (more on that later) and monitor our blog, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/studentgov/.

Why is the Student Government important to you? There are two reasons. First, the Student Government will have an impact on your experience at HLS. Second, you have the opportunity to have an impact on the Student Government as well. Let me talk a bit about each of those two reasons.

The Student Government will have an impact on your experience at HLS. We run several popular programs, including a weekly happy hour on Thursday at the Hark Pub and Faculty-Student lunches, which give you a chance to sit down in a small group for a (free) lunch with HLS faculty members. In addition, the Student Government will also be your primary conduit to the faculty and administration. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about life at law school, we will help you get answers or changes. We work on issues large and small, from the scheduling of final exams (which we successfully lobbied to move last year) to a broken vending machine (which we've identified many times). We also appoint the student representatives to Faculty-Student committees such as the Ad Board, the library committee, and the IT committee.

You can also have an impact on Student Government by becoming a member yourself! Each 1L section will elect representatives to sit on the Student Government (the 2Ls and 3Ls have already elected their reps). Those representatives will work on Student Government projects, both the ones we run every year and new ones that get started as they are needed or wanted. Joining Student Government is a great way not only to help your fellow students but to become connected to the inner workings of the law school. I hope that you will all consider joining.

I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming year, and I hope you have a wonderful time at HLS.

Best wishes,

David Kessler
President

HLS - What Do You Think?

We are always looking for student input. Got ideas? Got questions? E-mail us! We look forward to hearing from you!

Student Government Blog 

Click here to access our blog. We are proud to announce that the HLS Student Government is BLOGGING! Question or concern? Leave us a message and we'll address it. It will be serving as a great spot to find out what is going on with the student government in real time. Be sure to bookmark the site!

Unofficial Course Evaluation Guides

Unofficial course evaluation guides for Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 classes are available HERE. This is a new initiative, so your feedback is crucial. Please let us know if you find the guides useful, and please share any ideas you have for improving them. E-mail us at studentgov@law.harvard.edu.