As the nation’s largest chapter of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), Harvard BLSA is proud of our rich heritage on the Harvard Law School campus and in the community at large. At Harvard BLSA, our goal is simple. We endeavor to improve the academic, personal and professional development of our members—all done with a keen awareness of giving back to our communities. Harvard BLSA is an organization founded on the premise of Building, Leading Serving and Advocating for our communities and ourselves. Years after our founding, we are still ecstatic about this noble mission.
In the fall, we will kick-off a year-long series of programming and initiatives centered on three Impact Areas:
Community Building- Honing in on romantic, political, social and professional relationships in the black community, this Impact Area focuses a portion of the organization’s efforts around the ways in which people of color interact. Programming under this Impact Area will be both sincere and light-hearted, with a goal of building stronger intra-organizational ties and encouraging substantive relationship-building in the greater Boston community.
Non-Traditional Lawyering, Social Entrepreneurship and the Public Interest- Increasingly, more and more people are coming to law school in search of a non-traditional legal career, and BLSA members are no different. This Impact Area will focus some of the organization’s efforts on exploring non-traditional lawyering, with a particular focus on lawyering in the public interest.
Institutional Disparities- From our system of voting, to the criminal justice system to institutions of education, widespread disparities abound when minority groups, particularly black people, are viewed alongside majority populations. This Impact Area allows BLSA to take a broad approach in exploring such institutional disparities—with an upward goal on finding creative solutions to address these problems.
To the incoming Class of 2013, welcome! We at Harvard BLSA cannot wait to meet you and bring you into the BLSA Family at HLS. To the Class of 2010, congratulations and thank you for the memories, lessons and friendships. Your BLSA Family is so excited for your futures!
For visitors and friends of BLSA, please check out the website for more information on our organization and our initiatives. Thank you for visiting!
Best,
Shaylyn Cochran
2010-2011 Harvard BLSA President
