The Last Weeks at Harvard

These were truly unbelievable last weeks -- weeks that are perhaps representative of the whole year at Harvard. My conclusion is that I do not, even in the slightest, regret going to Harvard. It is an exceptional school which assembles people of incredible talent and success “under one roof.” Thanks to the prestige of Harvard Law, the school offers a myriad of opportunities. It is often said that Harvard is for leaders and I have to only confirm that. Money and power seem to however be the principal commodities which the school both draws and produces. As a result, I must unfortunately say that we were not so much guided in the footsteps of history’s greats who attempt or attempted to change the world for the better employing the law but more so in the tracks of corporate lawyers. Jokes such as “Now is the time to enjoy your life because you are not going to for the next 10 years” became clichés met with uneasy laughter. Harvard Law (and Harvard as a whole) is many wonderful things but it is also simply a corporation which is dependent on rich and generous alumni. Hence, it is not altogether surprising that an overwhelming majority of its graduates go work for the best law firms in the world, starting with 6-figure salaries.

Fortunately, this does not mean that those of us who are interested in public international law and human rights do not find support there. Indeed, it is thanks to this support that I am going to spend the next 12 months as a fellow at a British NGO called Legal Action Worldwide (LAW). I shall be in London until Christmas and then move to Geneva for the rest nine months where I will be working on issues related to, inter alia, the UN. It is going to be an interesting year.

With these parting words, I would like to express my immense gratitude to the Kellner Family Foundation. I am very much grateful for their help which saw me graduate from schools in both the UK and the USA.

So thank you again and here are a few last photos from the States.