The Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC) has an immediate opening for a Clinic Attorney in the Veterans Legal Clinic. The Clinic—through which Harvard Law students also receive hands-on training in lawyering skills—provides free legal representation to low-income veterans with disabilities who have been denied the benefits and supports they need and have earned through their service. The Clinic’s docket includes both individual representation cases and initiatives that seek to create systemic reform. The Clinic Attorney will carry his/her own docket of cases that focus on advocacy for veterans with mental health needs and other underserved veteran populations. The docket will include, but not be limited to, representation of veterans with less-than-honorable discharges, LGBTQ veterans, and survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST). The Attorney will: represent clients in a variety of case types, including discharge upgrade cases and veterans benefit appeals that require or include a character of service determination; screen cases for merit and law reform opportunities; refer veterans to other relevant resources in the community; lead community outreach efforts; serve as a liaison to partner organizations; present legal workshops to service providers and community members; and support the Clinic’s Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership, which links pro bono attorneys in the private bar to veterans who have less-than-honorable discharges. The position represents a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic public interest law office within Harvard Law School’s clinical program. Salary is commensurate with experience. The position is for an initial two-year appointment. The possibility of reappointment depends on the availability of funding and project requirements.
Minimum Requirements:
Candidates must have received a J.D. within the last three (3) years.
Current Massachusetts bar admission—or the ability to receive temporary admission pursuant to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04 followed by admission via waiver or via Massachusetts bar passage—required. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated commitment to the needs of the veteran community, experience representing veterans in access to benefit matters, and a passion for social justice advocacy.
To Apply: Applications must be submitted via Harvard’s Human Resources website. Applicants should apply for the position designated as Clinic Attorney, Harvard Law School (ID #41848BR).
About the Legal Services Center: Located at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury in the City of Boston, we are a community-based clinical law program of Harvard Law School. Through five clinical offerings—Family Law/Domestic Violence Clinic, Predatory Lending/Consumer Protection Clinic, Housing Clinic, Veterans Legal Clinic, and Federal Tax Clinic—and numerous pro bono initiatives we provide essential legal services to low income residents of Greater Boston and in some instances, where cases present important law reform opportunities, to clients outside our service area. Our longstanding mission is to educate law students for practice and professional service while simultaneously meeting the critical needs of the community. Since 1979, we have engaged in cutting edge litigation and legal strategies to improve the lives of individual clients, to seek systemic change for the communities we serve, and to provide law students with a singular opportunity to develop fundamental lawyering skills within a public interest law setting. To these ends, we actively partner with a diverse array of organizations, including healthcare and social service providers and advocacy groups, and continually adapt our practice areas to meet the changing legal needs of our client communities. We encourage diversity, value unique voices, and pursue with passion our twin goals of teaching law students and advocating for clients.