HARVARD LAW SCHOOL invites
applications for a full-time clinical faculty member to join its WilmerHale Legal Services Center, a community-based legal services program
that is home to six in-house Harvard Law School clinics. The faculty
appointment may be a Clinical Professor of Law, Assistant Clinical Professor of
Law, Visiting Clinical Professor, or Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of
Law, depending on the extent and type of the candidate’s experience.
The
WilmerHale Legal Services Center
Founded in 1979 by the trailblazing
clinicians Gary Bellow and Jeanne Charn, the WilmerHale Legal Services Center (LSC) of Harvard Law School
is located at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury in the City of
Boston. LSC’s longstanding twin mission
is to pursue justice for community members of limited means while educating
Harvard Law Students for practice and professional service. Through six clinics—Consumer
Protection,
Family
Law/Domestic Violence, Low-Income Taxpayer, Housing, LGBTQ+
Advocacy,
and Veterans Law
and Disability Benefits—and numerous projects and pro bono initiatives, LSC advocates and
student attorneys provide essential legal services to community members from
nearby neighborhoods in Boston, to residents of Greater Boston and
Massachusetts, and in some instances, where cases present unique law reform
opportunities, to clients from across the country.
Across
its many practice areas, LSC works to improve the lives of individual clients,
to seek systemic change for the communities it serves, and to provide clinical law
students with a singular opportunity to develop fundamental lawyering skills
within an immersive and community-based, legal services practice setting. LSC’s
clinics use a variety of advocacy tools—including high-volume civil legal
services, cutting-edge litigation and policy advocacy, and innovative outreach
and community legal education strategies.
Central to LSC’s model of legal advocacy and clinical education is an
understanding that legal crises do not arise in isolation, that many clients
face multiple and intersecting legal and non-legal needs, and that a holistic
approach to lawyering best serves client and community interests. LSC actively partners with a diverse array of
community groups, prioritizes cooperation and inter-disciplinary work,
including through two medical-legal partnerships, and regularly adapts its
practice areas to meet the changing legal needs of client communities. To learn
more about LSC and its individual clinics, projects, and initiatives, please
visit here.
Role and
Responsibilities
Harvard Law School welcomes applicants who
have an interest in any one of LSC’s six clinical areas of practice. We also
welcome applicants who may have an interest in building new practice areas that
are connected to one or more of LSC’s existing clinics, projects, or
initiatives.
The clinical faculty member will
teach or co-teach a clinical seminar, supervise law students, maintain and
manage a docket, facilitate community outreach and engagement, and foster
organizational partnerships as needed. The clinical faculty member will also collaborate
as appropriate across LSC clinics and projects, serve as a member of LSC’s
leadership team, and contribute to LSC-wide initiatives. In addition, the
clinical faculty member will provide leadership and direction for the clinic and,
as applicable, supervise clinic team members.
Beyond LSC, the clinical faculty
member will have access to the many opportunities for engagement,
collaboration, and community through the wider clinical program and
intellectual life of Harvard Law School.
As a faculty member, the successful candidate will have opportunities to
participate in various faculty programs, initiatives, and (unless the
appointment is to a visiting position) governance. The clinical faculty member may also have
opportunities to teach additional courses as proposed and approved through
regular curricular planning and approval processes.
Qualifications
All applicants must have:
·
A minimum of
five years of practice experience in the area(s) of law relevant to one or more
of LSC’s clinics
·
A J.D.
from
an ABA-accredited law school.
·
Admission to the Massachusetts bar, OR
·
Eligibility to practice and supervise students
under Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04 while pursuing admission.
Qualified candidates will have:
Legal Qualifications
·
Expertise and
substantial public interest lawyering experience in the practice area or areas
upon which they propose to focus their clinical work and teaching at LSC. This includes a minimum of five years of
practice experience in the area(s) of law relevant to one or more of LSC’s clinics.
·
A commitment
to community-based legal advocacy. This commitment can take many forms but
requires a demonstrated record of public interest lawyering that is responsive,
adaptive, and creative.
Teaching Qualifications
·
A track record
of successful clinical teaching as demonstrated by student engagement, learning
and evaluation, or
·
Significant
experience teaching and mentoring law students or junior lawyers in
non-clinical education contexts.
·
A record of
contributing to scholarship, and/or legal training programming and materials,
and/or other types of writing in service of the profession.
Management
and Strategy Skills
·
Ability
to set vision and direction for clinical law practice and pedagogy
·
A
record of effective supervision of team members and support for individual
practitioner growth and development
·
Meaningful
experience in program or project leadership
·
Demonstrated practice
and commitment to building an inclusive working and learning environment.
Other
Skillsets and Values
·
Superior oral and written communication skills
·
Superior interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.
·
Collaboration
and teamwork ability
·
A
demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and racial justice
Apply via https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/11429
Please include a letter of
interest, a resume, and a list of three or more references. If applicable,
please feel free to submit teaching evaluations for the last three years and/or
up to three publications. The letter of interest should specify in which LSC clinic(s)
the applicant proposes to teach and work. The letter of interest should also
explain the extent to which the applicant proposes to contribute to an existing
practice area within an LSC clinic or to build a new practice area
that is connected to one or more of LSC’s practice areas.
The application period will remain
open until September 6, 2022. The Law School will consider candidates who seek
a July 2023 start date, as well as those who would prefer or are open to a
January 2023 start date. Only those
candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.
Harvard Law School is an equal
opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration
for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual
orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other
characteristic protected by law.
