page_title: Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
section_title: Governance
hierarchical_section_title: Harvard Legal Aid Bureau / Governance
caption_attribution_description: English: The 2011 HLAB Board of Directors
context_page_description: The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is the oldest student-run legal services office in the United States, founded in 1913. Located at 23 Everett Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Bureau's mission is to provide an important community service while giving student attorneys the opportunity to develop professional skills as part of the clinical programs of Harvard Law School. The Bureau is one of three honors societies at the law school, along with the Harvard Law Review and the Board of Student Advisers. Students who are selected for more than one of these three organizations may only join one.
  The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is a student-run law firm serving clients in housing law, family law, government benefits, and wage and hour cases. The Bureau employs nine supervising attorneys and selects approximately twenty-five student members annually. Students practice under the supervision of admitted attorneys; however, students are the primary case handlers on all matters. As a result, students gain firsthand experience appearing in court, negotiating with opposing attorneys, and working directly with clients.
context_section_description: As a student run law-firm, the operations of the Bureau are overseen entirely by a Student Board of Directors elected by the general membership. The Board is responsible for developing and implementing Bureau policies, as well as overseeing day-to-day operations at the Bureau. Each Board member is elected for a term of one year by the general membership of the Bureau at the annual election meeting in January.
  The student-run nature of the Bureau leads to a great deal of flexibility within the program. Students are encouraged to play a role in shaping the Bureau as it expands to meet new challenges and practice in new areas. Most recently, the Bureau has responded to the foreclosure crisis by developing a canvassing organization, Project No One Leaves, which works with students and community activists to organize tenants facing foreclosure.  No One Leaves is now being used as a model for similar organizing efforts across the nation.
caption: The 2011 HLAB Board of Directors
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