2008 Woodie Awards
A Commentary on Clinical Education at HLS
Luz E. Herrera
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Opinion
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This week students will honor two individuals with the Gary Bellow Public Interest Award. Two years ago, I was the alumni recipient of the award, and ultimately, it is that recognition that led to my clinical fellowship at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center this year. The award, the seventh anniversary of Professor Gary Bellow's death, and threats of budget cuts to the Legal Services Center (which Bellow founded) have all provided reasons for me to reflect on the current state of clinical education at HLS.
I realize that most students and many of the faculty at HLS today do not understand the importance and impact that Gary Bellow (and therefore Harvard) had on the development of clinical education. This is my attempt to describe the great tradition this institution should strive to foster and build upon.
Gary Bellow was a man of great vision, intelligence, commitment and courage. He understood how to leverage his privilege to help those who did not have a voice. Gary Bellow worked as a public defender, was instrumental in developing federal subsidized legal services programs in the 1960s and advocated for civil rights alongside farm workers, Black Panthers and the urban poor. Gary spoke with janitors, law school deans, scholars and students as equals. He was passionate about providing legal services because he believed in justice. He believed that public service needed to play a central role in legal education and insisted that students learned to be good lawyers by engaging in all aspects of client representation. He believed that students learned best by practicing.
In 1979, Professor Bellow created the boldest model of clinical legal education in the country when he, alongside Jeanne Charn, founded a legal services center - now the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain - where Harvard law students could practice law. Since its inception, the Center's mission has been to provide quality legal services to the local community by hiring attorneys to train and mentor law students. Those students are given a large amount of responsibility to manage multiple cases, negotiate contracts, represent clients in hearings, go to trial, lobby legislators, conduct community legal education workshops and advise clients in a safe and supervised environment where they are mentored.
I realize that most students and many of the faculty at HLS today do not understand the importance and impact that Gary Bellow (and therefore Harvard) had on the development of clinical education. This is my attempt to describe the great tradition this institution should strive to foster and build upon.
Gary Bellow was a man of great vision, intelligence, commitment and courage. He understood how to leverage his privilege to help those who did not have a voice. Gary Bellow worked as a public defender, was instrumental in developing federal subsidized legal services programs in the 1960s and advocated for civil rights alongside farm workers, Black Panthers and the urban poor. Gary spoke with janitors, law school deans, scholars and students as equals. He was passionate about providing legal services because he believed in justice. He believed that public service needed to play a central role in legal education and insisted that students learned to be good lawyers by engaging in all aspects of client representation. He believed that students learned best by practicing.
In 1979, Professor Bellow created the boldest model of clinical legal education in the country when he, alongside Jeanne Charn, founded a legal services center - now the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain - where Harvard law students could practice law. Since its inception, the Center's mission has been to provide quality legal services to the local community by hiring attorneys to train and mentor law students. Those students are given a large amount of responsibility to manage multiple cases, negotiate contracts, represent clients in hearings, go to trial, lobby legislators, conduct community legal education workshops and advise clients in a safe and supervised environment where they are mentored.
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