Past Speakers

James Moody (March 2010, Nov 2009):

James Moody gradutated from Dartmouth College in 2004 with an A.B. in Philosophy and English Literature. After leaving Dartmouth, James served as the head coach of the Cornell University Alpine Ski Team. In 2006 James moved to Juneau, Alaska where he worked with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and the Department of Transportation. James was also the alto sax player for the band Nucular Elvis. Currently, he is a 3L at NYU School of Law and a candidate for his J.D. in 2010. While at law school James participated in drafting a report on Private Military Security Contactors that presented in person before a United States Congressional Sub-Committee. During his first summer he worked at Human Rights First, continuing his work on PMSCs. Last summer, James interned at the Capital Appeals Project in New Orleans and, unsurprisingly, worked on capital appeals. This year James is interning at the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem through the Criminal and Community Defense clinic.

Lars Dabney (March 2010, Nov 2009):

Lars graduated with a B.A. in Political Science & East Asian Languages an Cultures from Columbia University in 2007. He worked for the Manhattan District Attorney's office as a paralegal after graduating, in a division prosecuting complex international white-collar crime cases. He started at NYU School of Law in fall 2008, where he is currently studying for his J.D. At law school he has led research teams for the UN High Commisioner for Refugees, worked as a research assistant to Prof. Philip Alston in his capacity as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, preparing for missions to Kenya and the D.R. Congo, and spent last summer as a legal intern with the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights, a government body in Nairobi. He is also a member of the Trial Advocacy Society, and contemplating spending the coming summer working in a prosecutor's office in New York.

Elizabeth Cho (March 2010):

Elizabeth Cho, a 2008 graduate of Harvard Law School, is currently a Skadden Fellow at the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative. She represents low-income families in special education cases of disabled children who have been exposed to violence. While she began her Skadden Fellowship in 2008, her dedication to philanthropy started early in her career. After graduating from Swarthmore College in 2001, she started working at the Julian Center in Indianapolis, IN. At the shelter she provided direct care to clients, assisted in the school and art therapy programs, and established a creative writing workshop that provides psychotherapy to domestic violence victims. Elizabeth then took a position researching, processing, and monitoring educational grants for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for two years, before moving on to work for the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children to advocate for the care and protection of refugees.

Jenny Lee (October 2009):

Jenny developed her commitment to public interest over the course of the seven summers that she spent working with children with autism at a community-based activity program. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2007 with a degree in philosophy, French, and political science. She then served in AmeriCorps for a year at a low-income elementary school in Portland before entering Harvard Law School in 2008. In summer 2009, she worked at Advocacy, Inc., a disability rights organization in Austin, TX, and this fall she will be working on domestic violence cases at Harvard's Legal Services Center. She hopes these experiences will lead to a career in civil rights or legal services. In law school, she is involved with the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Harvard Law Students for Reproductive Justice, the Harvard Mediation Program, the Graduate Green Living Program, and Child and Youth Advocates.

Alan Cheuk (October 2009):

Alan Cheuk majored in computing science and molecular biology and biochemistry at Simon Fraser University in Canada. He graduated in 2007, and worked at a software development company until he entered Harvard Law School's class of 2011. This past summer, he worked for the Justice and Peace Commission in Liberia, an organization dedicated to the promotion of rule of law and access to justice. He is currently the Co-President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) at Harvard.

Steven Levinson (August 17th-21st, 2009):

Justice Steven H. Levinson (born June 8, 1946) of Cincinnati, Ohio is an Associate Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Upon graduating from his hometown's Walnut Hills High School, Levinson attended Stanford University where he obtained his bachelor's degree in political science. He then went on to the University of Michigan where he obtained his doctorate of jurisprudence. In 1972, he joined the law firm Schutter, Levinson and O'Brien where he worked until 1976. From 1977 to 1989, Levinson worked at the law firm Damon, Key, Bocken, Leong and Kupchak where he became an associate and then a stockholder/director. It is from his private practice that Governor John Waihee appointed Levinson in 1989 to the Hawaii State Judiciary as a circuit court judge. Confident in his abilities, the governor elevated Levinson to the Hawaii State Supreme Court in 1992. As the author of the plurality opinion in Baehr v. Lewin, the Honorable Steven H. Levinson gained widespread attention in 1993 as the first judge to state that it is discriminatory under law to exclude same-sex couples from marrying. In recognition of his landmark opinion and his commitment to fairness beyond the bench, the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA) presented Justice Levinson the "Allies for Justice Award" at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Hawaii. He has two children and currently lives in Honolulu with his wife.

Ben Jacobs (May 2nd/3rd 2009):

Ben majored in psychology at Columbia and graduated in 2006. After working for one year as a paralegal for Storch Amini and Munves he joined the Class of 2010 at Harvard Law School. He spent last summer working for Brooklyn Legal Services, and will work in Hogan and Hartson's New York office this summer. He is the president of Harvard Law School's ACLU organization.

Aaron Halegua (May 2nd/3rd 2009):

Aaron Halegua will graduate from Harvard Law School in June 2009. He also holds a degree in International Relations from Brown University. After college, he lived in China for two years: first as a Fulbright scholar researching the mediation of civil disputes and then working on rule of law projects as a Research Associate with Yale Law School’s China Law Center. While in law school, Aaron spent his summers and clinical credits litigating on behalf of workers and representing indigent criminal defendants in New York, Boston and San Francisco. After graduating, Aaron will be a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where he will represent Chinese immigrant workers and educate them about their labor rights. In his free time, he enjoys cooking Chinese food for friends and playing squash.

Phil Lee (September 27th/28th 2008):

Phil Lee is currently the Assistant Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School. Phil is also an adjunct faculty member at New England School of Law. He is a former Assistant Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department and a former Associate at a white collar criminal defense boutique in New York City. As a law student, he held internships with the Criminal Justice Institute of Harvard Law School, the US Attorney's Office in Boston, and Harvard Defenders. Phil is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He holds a dual B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Duke University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Gloria Tan (November 22nd/23rd 2008):

Gloria Tan began her career in clinical legal education at Harvard Law School (HLS) as a clinical instructor at Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center before joining the Criminal Justice Institute (CJI) in the same capacity in 2003. While at CJI, Ms. Tan has co-coached the HLS team, which won the 2004 National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition.
Upon earning her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School in 1998, Ms. Tan joined the Boston Trial Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts public defender office, as a staff attorney. She represented indigent adult clients in the Suffolk County District and Superior Courts who were charged with serious felonies at arraignments, probation surrender hearings, motion to suppress hearings, and trials.
Ms. Tan transferred to the Youth Advocacy Project (YAP), the juvenile unit of CPCS, in 1999. While at YAP, Ms. Tan represented juvenile and youthful offender clients in all aspects of their cases, including post-dispositional advocacy.
In addition to her responsibilities as a clinical instructor at CJI, Ms. Tan is a volunteer and an active member of her professional community. She lectures and teaches Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education courses and has served as a panelist at juvenile law conferences. Ms. Tan serves as a member of the Re-entry Subcommittee of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts and volunteers as a citizenship tutor at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.

Priya Morganstern (March 7th/8th 2009):

Priya Morganstern is Director of the Hartford Program of the Pro Bono Partnership, Inc., which provides free business legal services to qualified nonprofit organizations. As Hartford Director, Priya provides direct legal services to nonprofits, matches nonprofits with volunteer attorneys, conducts educational seminars and trainings, and offers legal helpline services. Before joining the Partnership, Priya spent several years as Director of the Nonprofit Pro Bono Initiative, a community pro bono service program based at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Prior to directing NPBI, Priya was Counsel at Day, Berry & Howard LLP (now Day Pitney) in its Hartford office, where she was a member of the Firm's Health Law and Tax-Exempt Organizations practice groups and an active member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee.
Priya is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee, and serves on the Board of the Connecticut Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the national Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery. Priya received her Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and her law degree from Boston University School of Law, where she was a G. Joseph Tauro Scholar and a Paul J. Liacos Scholar.

Christine Back (March 7th/8th 2009):

Christine Back is currently a trial attorney at the New York District Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, arriving at the civil rights agency through its nationwide Honors program. During law school, Christine interned at the Innocence Project New Orleans, the Juvenile Law Center, the New York Attorney General's Office, the Kings County District Attorney's Office (in the Domestic Violence Unit), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and was the inaugural Roland Algrant Graduate Intern at Human Rights Watch, where she co-authored a report on juvenile sentencing in California. Prior to law school, Christine was a public school teacher through the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. Christine holds a dual degree in Political Science and Religion & the Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law.