Student Perspectives

Douglas Griswold ’25 on Taking Action to Enforce Protections Already in the Law

For the past several years the Legal Services Center has noticed concerning practices by the companies contracting with medical facilities to provide medical records that appear to be in violation of Massachusetts’ patients’ rights laws.

Douglas Griswold ’25 on Taking Action to Enforce Protections Already in the Law Read More »

Beyond Safety Nets: Sam Holloway ’24 Reflects on Comprehensive Legal Advocacy Outside the Courtroom

By Harvard Law School Student Sam Holloway ’24 The Legal Services Center’s Safety Net Project helps clients with the “social safety net,” but it does a lot more than that, too. Among the Veteran’s Legal

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“The only place that I have learned these things is at LSC, and it is the thing that has reeled me back in for another semester”: LSC Students Reflect on the Value of an Advanced Clinical

LSC Students Reflect on the Value of an Advanced Clinical In November 2023, a little over two months into her advanced clinical semester with the Legal Services Center’s (LSC’s) Consumer Protection Clinic, Annika Reno ’24

“The only place that I have learned these things is at LSC, and it is the thing that has reeled me back in for another semester”: LSC Students Reflect on the Value of an Advanced Clinical Read More »

Knowledge Comes in Many Forms: Alex Zhang’24 “Learns about Life” from Client in Hospice

By Harvard Law School Student Alex Zhang ‘24 The last time I said goodbye to Ted*, he was upright in his hospital bed, swaddled in his blue hospital gown with a wide smile. As I

Knowledge Comes in Many Forms: Alex Zhang’24 “Learns about Life” from Client in Hospice Read More »

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

By Harvard Law School Student Melissa Morgan ’24 In Massachusetts, where survivors of gender-based violence have access to some important housing protections, such protections are little understood and little used. In 2013, the state legislature

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

Two Veterans—One an LSC Student and the Other a Client Battling Homelessness—Help Each Other in Surprising Ways

By Harvard Law School Student Nathan Lowry Many Legal Services Center (LSC) veteran clients served in America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In most cases, these veterans deployed years, and in some cases, decades ago.

Two Veterans—One an LSC Student and the Other a Client Battling Homelessness—Help Each Other in Surprising Ways Read More »

Following Court Challenge by Harvard Law School’s Legal Services Center, VA Expands Access to Benefits for LGBTQ+ Veterans’ Surviving Spouses

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it is ending enforcement of a marriage duration requirement that discriminates against survivors of LGBTQ+ veterans, including Lawrence Vilord, a client of the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School.  This decision will

Following Court Challenge by Harvard Law School’s Legal Services Center, VA Expands Access to Benefits for LGBTQ+ Veterans’ Surviving Spouses Read More »

LSC Student Jeff Jiang Featured in American Bar Association Video on Law Students and Pro Bono Work

The American Bar Association (ABA) recently released a video highlighting how law students can get involved in pro bono work, using the efforts of Jeff Jiang ’22 and other law students on a wide-ranging benefits

LSC Student Jeff Jiang Featured in American Bar Association Video on Law Students and Pro Bono Work Read More »

LSC Tax Clinic Achieves Meaningful Changes in Two Tax Court Procedures Affecting Low-Income and Pro Se Litigants

As the old saying goes: The pen is mightier than the sword. Yet it is not very common for a law review article to prompt real-world reform. Recently, however, attorneys and students in LSC’s Tax

LSC Tax Clinic Achieves Meaningful Changes in Two Tax Court Procedures Affecting Low-Income and Pro Se Litigants Read More »

A Haven for Taxpayers: Harvard Law’s Federal Tax Clinic Helps Low-income Taxpayers Shed Their Debts — and Stress

By Rachel Reed | Published by Harvard Law Today on April 18, 2022 Everyone knows the old saying about death and taxes, and it’s hardly a secret that filing income taxes — and communicating with

A Haven for Taxpayers: Harvard Law’s Federal Tax Clinic Helps Low-income Taxpayers Shed Their Debts — and Stress Read More »

Crooked Judges, Fraudulent Lawyers, and How the Social Security Administration Has Failed 3,500 People

By Jeffrey Jiang ’22 The story of Eric Conn is a years-long saga involving a scam artist who extracted over half a billion dollars from the U.S. government, an administrative law judge (ALJ) who covered

Crooked Judges, Fraudulent Lawyers, and How the Social Security Administration Has Failed 3,500 People Read More »

‘Doing Justice’ Together: An Interview with LSC Safety Net Project Director Julie McCormack

This interview appeared in the Brown Political Review. Julie McCormack is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, co-teaching “The Poverty Law Workshop – a toolkit for addressing inequity and homelessness” and “The Veterans

‘Doing Justice’ Together: An Interview with LSC Safety Net Project Director Julie McCormack Read More »

In a Potentially Precedent-Setting Case, Veterans Clinic Students Work to Help LGBTQ Widower Secure VA Benefits

Read additional coverage on NBC News: Gay Navy veteran’s widower fights for benefits in historic appeal By Brett Milano, Harvard Law Today, November 8, 2021 When U.S. Navy veteran Rhett Chalk passed away in June of

In a Potentially Precedent-Setting Case, Veterans Clinic Students Work to Help LGBTQ Widower Secure VA Benefits Read More »

Snapshots from a Week in the Veterans Law & Disability Benefits Clinic

By mid-semester, the 14 Harvard Law students enrolled in the Veterans Law & Disability Benefits Clinic at the Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain (LSC) are hard at work managing their busy dockets. From drafting

Snapshots from a Week in the Veterans Law & Disability Benefits Clinic Read More »

Expanding Collaboration with Boston Public Library Helps Individuals Seal Criminal Records, Apply for Benefits, and Obtain Legal Advice

In addition to its work with veterans, LSC’s Safety Net Project is building a unique collaboration with the Boston Public Library (BPL) to help individuals from all walks of life obtain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Expanding Collaboration with Boston Public Library Helps Individuals Seal Criminal Records, Apply for Benefits, and Obtain Legal Advice Read More »

LSC’s Safety Net Project Students Testify Before Mass Legislature on Importance of Nutrition Benefits

Kate Strickland and Rachel Schwarz, Harvard Law students in LSC’s Safety Net Project, submitted testimony last week on two bills under consideration by the Massachusetts Legislature that would provide support to college students who are

LSC’s Safety Net Project Students Testify Before Mass Legislature on Importance of Nutrition Benefits Read More »

LSC Creates New Poverty Law Workshop, Training Law Students on Safety Net Programs

Drawing on careers spent representing clients accessing safety net benefits, LSC Clinical Instructors and Lecturers-on-Law Julie McCormack and Betsy Gwin have created a new seminar at Harvard Law School, the Poverty Law Workshop. Responding to

LSC Creates New Poverty Law Workshop, Training Law Students on Safety Net Programs Read More »

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