Nader open letter in support of Our Bicentennial Crisis
The Harvard Crimson just covered a recent open letter in support of Our Bicentennial Crisis from Ralph Nader and six other alumni:
A group of seven Harvard Law School alumni wrote an open letter Monday asking Law School Dean John F. Manning ‘82 if he intends to publicly respond to a report published last fall that criticizes the school’s commitment to public interest.
The report, titled “Our Bicentennial Crisis: A Call to Action for Harvard Law School’s Public Interest Mission,” argues that the Law School is primarily geared towards corporate law and needs to shift its focus to public interest careers.
The report, primarily authored by third-year Law student Pete D. Davis ’12, is divided into four parts. It argues that the average American is largely excluded from legal power, and charges that the Law School has failed to address this problem. Davis also published the report in book form.
Monday’s open letter criticized Manning’s silence on the report. Alumni wrote that six months after the report’s release, Manning has still failed to deliver “a considered written response to its cogent points” or have “a general meeting with the students for a public discussion.”
Earlier, Nader came to campus to discuss the report. Here's the Crimson report on that visit:
Ralph Nader, a political activist and repeat third-party presidential candidate, called on Law School students to protest what he characterized as the school’s excessively “corporate” focus at a visit to the school Wednesday.
Nader, a Harvard Law graduate, drew a grim picture of the American legal system, saying that Harvard churns out “lucrative cogs in the corporate wheel.” He referenced student debt, hidden bank fees, and unintelligible contracts that consumers don’t read as examples of injustice in the legal system.
“The curriculum is built around corporate law, and corporate power, and corporate perpetration, and corporate defense,” Nader said.
In an interview last week—before Nader came to campus—Dean of the Law School John F. Manning ’82 discussed the Law School's efforts to promote public interest careers, saying that students in the class of 2017 spent an average of 586 hours working pro bono.
“Harvard Law School is very supportive of public interest,” Manning said. “From the very outset we have a very large, energetic office of public advising, we have a program on law and social change that really helps people identify and think about careers that try to affect social change.”
Pete D. Davis ’12, a third-year Law School student who authored a report also criticizing the Law School’s public interest resources, invited Nader to speak at the Law School. In the report, Davis wrote that ordinary Americans lack legal power and encouraged the Law School to “better live up to our mission”.