Housing Law Clinic

Learning Opportunities

Students engage very actively in client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, pre-trial discovery (including the taking and defending of depositions), negotiation, and motion practice, as well as trying cases in court. Students also have the opportunity to engage in community lawyering and mobilization efforts with long term community partners and to work on legislative and other law reform initiatives. Students participate in a Boston Bar Association Attorney for the Day Program and offer “game day” advice to unrepresented litigants in Court on the day of the litigants hearing or trial. As eviction cases are first scheduled by rule on Thursday mornings, students find it helpful if they are available for clinic work on Thursdays (from around 8:30 to 1:00) as many opportunities arise through the Attorney for the Day Program to argue contested motions and negotiate live client cases.

Housing Justice for Survivors Project

Within the Housing Clinic, the Housing Justice for Survivors Project helps survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sexual harassment who need to move to safe housing or who are trying to keep their homes. We represent clients facing eviction, loss of housing subsidies, those in need of safety transfers, and people who need to terminate their tenancies for safety reasons. 

Contact Information

For information about the Housing Law Clinic please contact Maureen E. McDonagh, mcdonagh[at]law.harvard.edu, 617-384-0719.

In addition, as this Clinic is part of the Legal Services Center (LSC), you are encouraged to visit LSC’s Clinical Student FAQs page.  There you will find helpful information about all manner of topics relevant to students, including the travel subsidy LSC provides to students and the shuttle van LSC operates for students.

What Students Are Saying About Their Experiences in the Clinic

“As a clinical student, it was particularly exciting to attend the coalition’s planning meetings, and to hear the contributions of attorneys with backgrounds in family law, housing law, and appellate litigation, among other areas.”

“The amicus brief we wrote was an important way to remind the judges in this case of the unique power they wield, and to urge them to consider how their decision would create shockwaves of harm affecting the most vulnerable populations.”

Melissa Morgan ’24 Endeavors to Make “Rights Real” for Clients in the Housing Justice for Survivors Project

In this Jersey Journal column, Mussab Ali ’23 talks about his work in LSC’s Housing Clinic representing clients facing eviction.