Working to Educate Law Students for Practice & Professional Service while Meeting the Legal Needs of the Community The overarching mission of the Legal Services Center is to be a place of innovation and experimentation for the development of effective approaches to the education of law students and the delivery of legal services. Service & Social Mission: - To provide high quality legal services in areas most needed by our client communities - To be a positive and stable influence in our community - To offer community residents the opportunity to learn about some of the legal systems that impact their lives in order to more effectively use these systems to their advantage - To educate and inform the courts, agencies and local institutions about our clients’ lives and legal rights Academic Mission: - To provide comprehensive training and supervision to law students in substantive law, practice skills and legal judgment - To educate students about the impact of law and social policy on the lives of our clients - To educate students about the ways the court system and administrative bureaucracies work for our clients - To encourage students to become reflective practitioners by structuring an educational environment where students continuously reflect on their experiences and use such reflection to inform their methods of advocacy While training and educating Harvard Law Students, the Legal Services Center assists over 1000 clients per year across the following practice areas: Safety Net Project (formerly Disability Litigation & Benefits Advocacy Clinic) Estate Planning Project Family Law and Domestic Violence Unit Housing Law Unit Predatory Lending and Consumer Protection Unit Veterans Law Unit Federal Tax Unit