Robin Steinberg is an exceptionally admirable, inspirational, and accomplished woman, lawyer, and leader. For these reasons, she was chosen last month as one of 50 women lawyers to be honored as part of the law school’s International Women’s Day Exhibit at Harvard Law School, organized by the Women’s Law Association and the Law and International Development Society. On Monday night, the New York Post ran a story criticizing this choice in light of the fact that two Bronx Defenders’ staff attorneys had participated last month in a music video depicting violence toward police. A few hours later, the WLA and LIDS announced it was withdrawing Ms. Steinberg from the exhibit. Along with over 180 other students who have signed this letter, we are deeply disappointed with this decision.
As the visionary founder of the Bronx Defenders, Ms. Steinberg exemplifies the women this exhibit is meant to honor. Under her direction, the office has pioneered a new model of holistic defense that has transformed the way public defense is practiced everywhere. Ms. Steinberg now assists public defender offices across the country, ensuring that their work is sensitive to the myriad issues that indigent clients face.
Under Ms. Steinberg’s leadership, the Bronx Defenders has distinguished itself as an office that advances feminist ideals while working towards racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic justice. The holistic defense model assists clients with issues that have a disproportionate impact on women and racial and ethnic minorities, including housing, family law, and immigration law issues. In addition, the Bronx Defenders employs 259 people, 179 (or 68 percent) of whom are women. Women serve as Managing Directors of all four practice areas in the office. These statistics are not coincidental: Ms. Steinberg seeks out and supports women in an effort to serve as a counterbalance in a legal field that has been historically dominated by men.
The limited explanation that the Harvard Women’s Law Association and the Harvard Law and International Development Society have offered concerning this decision makes this situation even more disturbing. The organizations stated that: “[a]s lawyers who aspire to build a more effective criminal justice system, we believe that advocating violence against police in any form is reprehensible.” Robin Steinberg has spent her entire career helping to build a more effective and more just criminal justice. The attacks on her and on The Bronx Defenders are part of a divisive campaign by the New York police union and its allies aimed at dismantling an organization that routinely challenges police officers and police practices in court. We are deeply disappointed that the WLA and LIDS, groups that claim to support women and other marginalized populations, would cave to these exploitative attacks.
The decision to remove Robin Steinberg from the exhibit does not represent the feelings of the student body, and it was not made in a democratic or transparent way. In fact, the decision was made without meaningful dialogue or consultation with members of either organization or even the various students who contributed to the nominating process. This decision-making suggests that the leadership of the WLA and LIDS caved to the pressures exerted by a divisive, and often sexist, media campaign, as well as to pressures from our own administration, instead of staying true to the wishes of students who believed Ms. Steinberg worthy of recognition despite the recent events involving The Bronx Defenders.
The law school spoke when we nominated Ms. Steinberg for this honor because we–as law students, as feminists, as racial and ethnic minorities, as future indigent defenders–believe that she deserves our admiration. Ms. Steinberg has encouraged all of us to approach indigent defense from a critical perspective; she has challenged her office to think critically about sexism and racism in the criminal justice system, and her critiques are felt across the field and across the country. For decades, her work has improved the lives of countless women and individuals whose voices would otherwise be silenced. Those who stand up for the rights of the marginalized and indigent in this country will always hold uniquely and inherently precarious positions. We are standing with Ms. Steinberg because her work is both politically precarious and critical to marginalized populations, which is why it deserves the most vigorous championing. By defending those whom society would rather ignore, Ms. Steinberg and the Bronx Defenders ensure more robust legal protections for all of us.
The leaders of the WLA and LIDS do not speak for us. As such, we are extending our own invitation to Ms. Steinberg to speak at HLS. Our community has a lot to learn from her. We also expect these organizations to either meaningfully explain their decision or to apologize and include Robin Steinberg in the International Women’s Day Exhibit.
Signed,
Morgan Everhart, J.D. 2015
Rebecca Chapman, J.D. 2015
Oded Oren, J.D. 2015
Shakeer Rahman, J.D. 2015
Adrienne Mendle, J.D. 2015
Osama Shabaik , J.D. 2015
Melanie Berdecia, J.D. 2015
Victoria White, J.D. 2015
Kathleen Borschow , J.D. 2015
Cass Luskin, J.D. 2015
Sima Atri , J.D. 2015
Emily Baker-White, J.D. 2015
William Desmond, J.D. 2015
Dave Hanyok, J.D. 2015
Lily S. Axelrod, J.D. 2015
Erin Bloom, J.D. 2015
Evelyn Kachaje, J.D. 2015
Carter Hall, J.D. 2015
Aaron Blacksberg, J.D. 2015
Rachel Graham Kagan, J.D. 2015
Andres Rapoport, J.D. 2015
Greg Baltz, J.D. 2015
Fan Li , J.D. 2015
Jessica Vosgerchian, J.D. 2015
Conor Ahern, J.D. 2015
Julianne Hill, J.D. 2015
Patrick Looby, J.D. 2015
Sam Wheeler, J.D. 2015
Alice Buttrick, J.D. 2015
David A. Donatti, J.D. 2015
Charity Fort, J.D. 2015
Katie McCarthy, J.D. 2015
Jacob Reisberg, J.D. 2015
Samantha Rothberg, J.D. 2015
Nimra Azmi, J.D. 2015
Ariel Nelson, J.D. 2015
Sudipta Devanath, J.D. 2015
Samantha Caravello, J.D. 2015
Donna Harati, J.D. 2015
Chelsea Rogers, J.D. 2015
Jiha Ko, J.D. 2015
Lior Anafi, J.D. 2015
Aaron Webman, J.D. 2015
Akhila Kolisetty, J.D. 2015
Matthew Peterson, J.D. 2015
Kali Schellenberg, J.D. 2015
Chad Baker, J.D. 2015
Vikram Shah, J.D. 2015
Blake Strode, J.D. 2015
Neil Makhija, J.D. 2015
Jaimie McFarlin, J.D. 2015
Francesca Procaccini, J.D. 2015
Sam Barr, J.D. 2015
Divya Subrahmanyam, J.D. 2015
Caroline Sacerdote, J.D. 2015
Michael Barclay, J.D. 2015
Todd Pierce-Ryan, J.D. 2015
Alexandra Anthony, J.D. 2015
Lindsay McKenzie, J.D. 2015
Samantha Rothberg, J.D. 2015
Daniel Crossen, J.D. 2015
Kellie McDonald, J.D. 2015
Nora Mahlberg, J.D. 2015
Andrea Matthews, J.D. 2015
Neha Jaganathan, J.D. 2015
Elizabeth Tuttle, J.D. 2016
Salome Viljoen, J.D. 2016
Emma Scott, J.D. 2016
Isabel Broer, J.D. 2016
Kendra Albert, J.D. 2016
Joseph Michalakes, J.D. 2016
Sam Feldman, J.D. 2016
Noor Zafar, J.D. 2016
Jacob Newman, J.D. 2016
Mark Verstraete, J.D. 2016
Katie Renzler, J.D. 2016
Sarah Gersten, J.D. 2016
Courtney Lynch , J.D. 2016
Faye Maison, J.D. 2016
Jacob Loup, J.D. 2016
Maya Brodziak, J.D. 2016
Annaleigh Curtis, J.D. 2016
Michael Shammas, J.D. 2016
Hannah Rosenthal, J.D. 2016
Sophie Elsner, J.D. 2016
Antuan Johnson, J.D. 2016
Mihal Rose Ansik, J.D. 2016
A. Dami Animashaun, J.D. 2016
Ted Hamilton, J.D. 2016
Kelsey Skaggs, J.D. 2016
Logan Place, J.D. 2016
Tori Anderson, J.D. 2016
Jonathan Wall, J.D. 2016
Peyton Lee, J.D. 2016
Hannah Diamond, J.D. 2016
Sarah Cohen, J.D. 2016
Zachary Martin, J.D., 2016
Susie Park, J.D. 2016
Jenae Moxie, J.D. 2016
Lindsey Whyte, J.D. 2016
Keaton Allen-Gessesse, J.D. 2016
Rena Karefa-Johnson, J.D. 2016
Catherine Peyton Humphreville, J.D. 2016
Monica Mleczko, J.D. 2016
Ted Hamilton, J.D. 2015
Michele Hall, J.D. 2017
Ryan Dykhouse, J.D. 2017
William Ahee, J.D. 2017
Micaela Alvarez, J.D. 2017
Juliana Ratner, J.D. 2017
Danielle Young, J.D. 2017
Melissa Freeman, J.D. 2017
Sabrina Lee, J.D. 2017
Nan McGarry, J.D. 2017
Simratpal Kaur, J.D. 2017
Wesley Dietrich, J.D. 2017
Shivani Agarwal, J.D. 2017
Esther Labrado, J.D. 2017
Kendra Mells, J.D. 2017
Casey Kelly, J.D. 2017
Liza Weisberg, J.D. 2017
Olivia A. Warren, J.D. 2017
Nick Bonaminio, J.D. 2017
Aya Saed, J.D. 2017
Shayna Medley, J.D. 2017
Pamela Yaacoub, J.D. 2017
Erika Johnson, J.D. 2017
Xiaohan Cai, J.D. 2017
Derecka Purnell, J.D. 2017
Kelly Earle, J.D. 2017
Steven Xie, J.D. 2017
Sharon Nyakundi, J.D. 2017
Irene Mbah, J.D. 2017
Paul Gross, J.D. 2017
Lauren Kuhlik, J.D. 2017
Susana Cervantes, J.D. 2017
Rachel Granetz, J.D. 2017
Kelly Jo Popkin, J.D. 2017
Nicholas Ruge, J.D. 2017
Christina Joseph, J.D. 2017
Hannah Belitz, J.D. 2017
George Hageman, J.D. 2017
Peter Wills, Alum
Abbey Marr, Alum
Rachel Judge, Alum
Jeanne Segil, Alum
Samuel Weiss, Alum
Dan Cluchey, Alum
Amanda Korber, Alum
Lauren Almquist Lively, Alum
Jon Cioschi, Alum
Ceilidh Gao, Alum
Matthew Spurlock, Alum
Marissa Vahlsing, Alum
Lindsey Kaley, Alum
Elayna Thompson, Alum
Kimberly Newberry, Alum
Nina Catalano, Alum
Paige Austin, Alum
Mara Fleder, Alum
Utkarsh Saxena, Alum
Alana Greer, Alum
Jeffery Robinson, Alum
Josie Duffy, Alum
Ez Cukor, Alum
Lillian Langford, Alum
Evelyn Atkinson, Alum
Zack Hill, Alum
Josh Purtle, Alum
Ben Elga, Alum
Carl Lisberger, Alum
Jonathan Gingerich, Alum
Philippa Greer, LLM
Godiva Akullo, L.L.M.
Nick Grant, L.L.M.
Sboniso Cibane, L.L.M.
Mirembe Susan Nalunkuma, L.L.M.
Alex Auriema, Staff
Jacob Lipton, Staff
Note: This letter was originally published in the Harvard Crimson.
Many of the people who have signed this do not even know Robin Steinberg in person. The energy put towards this issue is quite a waste of time as it continually takes away from the needs of the community which it professes to care about. While Ms. Steinberg has had tremendous vision for this organization, there is no doubt that this person has a vast list of shortcomings that only people who have had direct experience would know. Despite her strengths and skill as a public defender, she hasn’t been the kindest person to her own staff members and frequently has not practiced true racial equity in her treatment of people who have worked at The Bronx Defenders over the years. She has contributed a lot to the birth and growth of this public defense firm, but just like the junior attorneys who have resigned, it is perhaps time for her to step down and hand over the leadership to a person with new energy, commitment, and a deeper sense of integrity that Robin Steinberg simply does not have.