HLS Democrats Welcome Message

President Obama (‘91), Wendy Davis (‘93), and Frank Underwood (year not yet revealed) are a few of the uncountable Harvard Law School alumni who have gone off to public service through elected office and Democratic politics. Yet while we have OPIA to extol the virtues of public service generally, few organizations at the law school focus on development of leadership skills for elections or politics. That’s where the HLS Dems come in. We are building a community of students who care about effecting progressive social change, and who want to learn how to expand their capabilities beyond those necessary to practice the law. We want to be able to conceive of, advocate for, write and execute the laws.

A major focus for the HLS Democrats this year is going to be leadership development and skills training. We will be bringing to campus some of the country’s leading experts on a wide variety of campaign topics to help Harvard Law School students understand what’s really involved in Democratic politics and in running for office. We’ll hold sessions on building your brand, planning a campaign, speechwriting, fundraising and campaign finance, as well as many other practical and important topics. As part of the skills trainings, students will also have the opportunity to develop mock campaign plans that will show them everything that would be involved in running a campaign from deciding whether and when to throw their hats in the ring to the speech on victory night (or what’s next if you lose).

We are also using our legal skills to get directly involved with current campaigns; we will be taking an election-week trip to a battleground senate state to do election protection work. We will be fighting dirty tricks and voter intimidation and making sure everyone’s right to vote it respected. In addition to their important democratic value, election trips are also a great way to enhance the HLS Dems community and make great friends and we are still looking for students to come with us!

We are also taking the opportunity to step back and think hard about what we want the Democratic party to focus on moving forward. What should our policy be on how to advance social mobility? on education reform? on surveillance or drones? We will be focusing on issues where many Democrats are now divided. We will be hosting a series of weekly ‘think and drink’ sessions where we can hash out policy positions over beer and wine. We will also host debates with more conservative students at the law school. We will have small coffees with policy experts in different areas to listen to their input as we devise our own positions and strategy for implementing them.

We’re building our alumni network to connect HLS graduates working in the government and policy areas that we’re interested in, as well as those in the HLS community like Eric Lesser (candidate for MA State Senate) who are running for office. These connections will be valuable for everything from finding a meaningful opportunity to advance progressive causes in a summer position to finding people to support your campaign, whether you run as a 3L like Eric or twenty years from now.

If you’re interested in Democratic issues, politics or election protection, HLS Dems is a great interesting and fun community to get involved with! You can spend as little or as much time on Dems as you want – you’re welcome to join us for a single think and drink or skills training, or to join our board (1Ls welcome in substantive positions) and start planning events yourself! Many students who have gone on our campaign trips find them to be the highlight of their year. We hope to see you at some of our events soon! To get involved, email our membership director Jeff at Jhuberman@jd16.law.harvard.edu.