First-Year Legal Research and Writing Program

The First-Year Legal Research and Writing Program (LRW) is a series of sequenced, interrelated exercises introducing students to the way lawyers analyze and frame legal positions in both litigative and transactional settings, conduct legal research, and present their work in writing and in oral argument. Instruction in legal research and writing is led by thirteen Climenko Fellows, the director of the program, and research librarians, as well as upper-class teaching assistants.

• Course Description
• Introduction to LRW
• Statement of Rules and Understandings

Climenko Fellowships

First-year law students are instructed in the Program by thirteen Climenko Fellows, promising legal scholars with high academic achievements and a strong interest in pursuing a career in law teaching.

Information for Prospective Climenko Fellows

2008-2010 Climenko Fellows

John Coyle
Lilian Faulhaber
Eloise Pasachoff
Rene Reyes
Brishen Rogers
Brian Sheppard

2007-2009 Climenko Fellows 

Michele D. Beardslee
Tara Grove
David Landau
Ken Levy
Matthew Lindsay
Amanda Pustilnik
C. Cora True-Frost

2006-2008 Climenko Fellows

Charles Barzun, Contact: cbarzun@virginia.edu
Sydney Foster, Contact: sydney.foster@aya.yale.edu
Angela Littwin, Contact: alittwin@law.utexas
Shannon Weeks McCormack, Contact: swmccormack@ucdavis.edu
David Schleicher, Contact: dschleic@gmu.edu
Sonja Starr, Contact: sstarr@law.maryland.edu
Sean Williams, Contact: s.williams@law.utexas.edu

Director & Staff

Elizabeth T. Bangs

Director, First-Year Legal Research and Writing and Academic Support Services

E-mail: ebangs

Ms. Bangs has been the director of the First-Year Legal Research and Writing Program since 2005. As director of academic support services, she also provides individual counseling to first-year students and supervises the peer tutoring program. Ms. Bangs also occasionally teaches a popular spring term seminar on disability rights. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Ms. Bangs previously clerked on the Ninth Circuit and in the Central District of California; was a trial attorney in the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice; and taught at Princeton University.

Karen Bell Thomas

Staff Assistant

E-mail: kthomas 

Karen earned an A.S. in Radio/TV Communications from Endicott College and a B.S. in Communications with a concentration in educational media from Boston University. Upon graduation she worked at the News Bureau at Harvard Business School producing brochures and fielding media inquiries. Subsequently Karen managed print production for medical and educational journals with a local service bureau. For the past decade, she has developed public relations programs and designed marketing materials for several large construction and engineering firms. Karen joined the FYLRW department in January ‘07 and is pleased to be working at Harvard again. She lives in Arlington with her husband and one son.

Contact:

LRW@law.harvard.edu