Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau ("HLAB") is the oldest student-run legal services office in the United States, founded in 1913.[1] The bureau is one of three honors societies at the law school, along with the Harvard Law Review and the Board of Student Advisers.

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
HeadquartersCambridge, Massachusetts
No. of offices1
No. of lawyers9
Major practice areashousing law, family law, government benefits, and employment law
Date founded1913
Websitehttp://www.harvardlegalaid.org/
The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau's offices at 23 Everett Street

Notable members include Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, activist and First Lady Michelle Obama, Attorney General Loretta Lynch,[2] Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger and law professors Erwin Chemerinsky and Laurence Tribe.[3]

Overview
HLAB Members discuss policy at the annual spring retreat.

The bureau is composed of approximately fifty second- and third-year student attorneys at Harvard Law School who provide free legal services to a diverse population of low-income clients in the Greater Boston area. It is Boston's second largest legal services provider.

Members of the bureau practice under Rule 3:03[4] of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which allows them to appear in court as counsel of record for low-income clients. The bureau currently employs nine practicing attorneys who train and supervise members.

Bureau members practice in the following general practice areas: housing law, family law, government benefits, and employment law. Students usually focus primarily on housing or family law. Within these practices, students work on matters such as eviction defense, domestic violence, child custody and support, divorce, social security benefits, wage and hour violations, and employment discrimination cases.

Alumni

Prominent alumni of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau include:

References
  1. "About Us". 14 November 2013.
  2. "Obama taps Loretta Lynch to replace AG Eric Holder | Chicago Sun-Times". chicago.suntimes.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-22.
  3. "Alumni".
  4. Rules of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
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