Dear 1Ls:
Welcome to Harvard Law School! We are thrilled to be back and excited to start a new year for the HLS Chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
ACS is the nation’s leading progressive legal organization, bringing together law students, attorneys, scholars, judges, policymakers, activists, and other concerned individuals. We work hard to ensure that fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, robust democratic participation, and access to justice – concepts central to our Constitution – remain prominent in American law and life. ACS is a big-tent group and happily encompasses a diverse set of moderate to leftist ideological perspectives.
The student chapter at Harvard lives up to that promise by providing opportunities for interested progressive students to connect and engage with cutting-edge ideas, high-profile speakers, mentors, alumni, and other students who share their interests.
Last year, for example, we organized talks by such leading figures as Judge Stephen Reinhardt (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals), Walter Dellinger (former Solicitor General), Daniel Mach (Director, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief), Linda Greenhouse (NY Times and Yale Law School), and an array of prominent HLS faculty (including Carol Steiker, Noah Feldman, and Michael Klarman). This year, we have organized an equally exciting and star-studded line-up of academics, practitioners, and judges.
Many of our members also participate in our annual DC Trip, in which 20 students visit our Nation’s capital to meet high-level officials. Last year, the group met with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer; Attorney General Eric Holder; and Assistant Attorneys General Tony West (head of DOJ’s Civil Division) and Tom Perez (head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division). Other events include the opportunity to participate in our 1L mentorship programs, panels covering clerkships, final exams, summer job applications, law review competition tips, and course selection.
Finally, in addition to its many happy hours and social events, ACS also hosts one of the largest and most comprehensive exam and outline banks at HLS, making this substantial resource available to all members.
We have some great ideas this year to make these events even better, but we need and are always eager for input from new 1Ls. We therefore want you to join ACS! In addition to getting updates on both our event and mentorship programs, joining ACS National lets you access our ACS Harvard Exam Bank. At the end of the day, our ACS chapter is about connecting new ideas and passionate people; every year, we are joined by a new group of fresh faces who share our excitement for progressive developments and changes in law and policy, and we look forward to you joining our ACS family!
The simplest way to stay on top of ACS events is to sign up for our email list by emailing our Membership Chair, Katie Hermann, at khermann@jd13.law.harvard.edu.
Best wishes,
Leo Delgado, President of the HLS ACS Chapter, and the 2011-2012 ACS Executive Board
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