Dear Incoming Student:
Welcome to Harvard Law School, and thank you for your interest in the Harvard Environmental Law Review (“HELR”)! Here is a quick overview of what HELR has to offer and how you can get involved:
ABOUT THE HARVARD ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW
HELR is the number-one environmental law journal in the country, staffed completely by HLS students. We publish once per semester on a broad range of environmental issues, including climate change, land use, air, toxic substances control, water, energy, and environmental justice. HELR Staff manage all aspects of the publication process, from reviewing submissions to preparing articles for publication. In their work for HELR, students gain exposure to cutting-edge environmental scholarship, develop technical editing skills, and take on leadership roles. In addition, Staff enjoy unrivaled writing opportunities: Each HELR issue features student comments on recent important environmental cases and longer student notes on developments in environmental law. Staff may also publish shorter pieces on the HELR online journal and blog. Finally, HELR members connect with a rich environmental community that begins at HLS spans the global environmental legal profession. Staff enjoy happy hours, potlucks, discussion groups, and unparalleled access to Harvard’s preeminent environmental law faculty.
GETTING INVOLVED
There are many opportunities to get involved with HELR, both as an editor and an author. To begin, we hope you’ll join our staff as a subciter or line editor this Fall. Unlike other journals, HELR requires a maximum of 10 work-hours per semester for beginning subciters. In addition to a staff position, interested students can (1) join our Submissions Board and review incoming pieces or (2) author HELR blog posts.
Please join the ELR community at Environmental Law Program’s kick-off BBQ on Wednesday, September 10 from 5pm-7pm on the patio outside the Hark. Professor Freeman, Professor Lazarus, Professor Jacobs and Kate Konschnik will provide a short introduction to the academic, clinical and policy opportunities available to students, and the student heads of the Environmental Law Society and Environmental Law Review will discuss their plans for the year. Then enjoy dinner, dessert, and drinks as you get to know or reconnect with HLS’s fantastic environmental community!
We will also be hosting an information session for new students on September 24 from 12-1 pm in WCC B010. We hope you’ll join us then to learn more about the journal, hear about the various positions available to new members, and meet our executive board (over lunch, of course!). In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to of any of us with questions about HELR, environmental law at HLS, or law school in general.
We look forward to meeting you this fall!
Sincerely,
The Volume 39 HELR Board
Sam Caravello & Genevieve Parshalle
Editors-in-Chief
Anna Gunderson, Cecilia Segal, & Ellie Tarlow
Managing Editors
Carter Hall & Esther Silberstein
Executive Editors
Ted Hamilton
Online Editor