A lifeline to the poor
Inside an unassuming yellow house on Everett Street in Cambridge, a warren of offices makes up a law firm run by Harvard Law School students who serve the poor. This year, it turns 100. The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau has helped countless people in the Boston area who have been unable to afford legal representation. The organization was founded by a group of students committed to “rendering legal aid and assistance, gratuitously, to all persons or associations who by reason of financial embarrassment or social position, or for any other reason, appear worthy thereof.” With only a couple of short interruptions since its founding, the bureau has served thousands of clients in areas such as family and housing law. The bureau, which is the nation’s oldest student-run legal services organization and one of the largest providers of legal services in the area, does much more than simply help resolve legal disputes, those involved...