After the Buffalo Creek Mining Company’s negligence killed 125 people in rural West Virginia, the victims found themselves facing defense counsel from an all too familiar place: Harvard Law School. Although the Buffalo Creek victims settled, not all victims of corporate greed are so fortunate. Just as in criminal defense, civil plaintiffs with the greatest need have the least access to talented attorneys — even though their claims could be worth millions.
Of all of Harvard Law’s diversity initiatives, professional legal diversity has received the least attention. HLS students are presented two options: join a corporate defense firm or take a significant paycut to advocate for the public interest. Most choose the former.
This is no accident. Of the firms present at this year’s 1L Networking Masterclass, all but two were exclusively corporate defense or transactional firms. Of the firms present at the winter 1L job fair, all but one were. Following 1L, the early campus interview program shuttles Harvard lawyers further along the predictable corporate route. Predictably, most HLS graduates cruise into corporate work after their three years here.
The Harvard Plaintiffs’ Law Association hopes to give students another choice. We offer panels with partners from leading firms, discuss plaintiff-side political advocacy, and host career events like our upcoming plaintiffs job fair. Through these events and more, we help HLS students connect with and become plaintiffs’ attorneys who will represent victims and advocate for consumers. Our goal is to ensure that anyone injured by misconduct or negligence can obtain justice in America’s courtrooms — even when pitted up against the most powerful corporate interests. We would be honored for you to join us.
William Greenlaw and Abraham Barkhordar are both 1Ls and are the co-founders and co-presidents of the first-ever Harvard Plaintiffs’ Law Association.