Former HLS Dean Gives Advice

Joyce Putnam Curll ’65 remembers admitting one student to Harvard Law School with an “unusual name”? and a “wonderful story.”

It was future President-elect Barack Obama, and he was an easy admissions decision, the former Law School Dean of Admissions said yesterday during a discussion at the Harvard Coop about her new book “The Best Law Schools Admissions Secrets: The Essential Guide from Harvard’s Former Admissions Deans.”

“One of the great things about a career in law school admissions is that I’ve had a window on the part of the world that’s getting ready to become leaders,” Curll said, “people who have been extraordinary human beings whose lives I played just a minor role in.”

Curll said she wanted the book, her first, to “level the playing field,” and give guidance to individuals without access to pre-law advising.

Another of Curll’s Law School admits, David S. Friedman ’93, the first assistant to the Massachusetts attorney general, said her book stands out from the plethora of admission-advice guides.

“Joyce knows about the subtle differences that tip the scales,” he said. “To have an insider’s perspective from someone who has been on the other side would be helpful for close-call cases.”

But Curll said that the book was written with the knowledge and support of the Law School admissions office, Law School spokesman Robert L. J. London ’79 wrote in an e-mail yesterday that Curll’s book “doesn’t have anything to do with admissions at Harvard Law School today. The Law School does not endorse particular books on admission to law school.”

While Curll said the book has a how-to aspect, she said in writing the book she was trying to address the questions of if, when, and where to go to law school.

“I am definitely not trying to promote the idea that everyone should go to law school,” she said. “I can say law school applications are going to go up but not for the right reasons. It’s a more secure profession—there’s a long history of economic circumstances being inversely proportional to the demand for a legal education. When the economy goes down, applications go up.”

In addition to the “if,” “where,” and “when” of law school, Curll stressed the importance of asking why an applicant wants a law degree.

And though Curll warned that the Law School admissions office is sometimes “skeptical” of public service goals, when a young Barack Obama said he wanted to use his legal training to help Chicago’s unemployed, Harvard couldn’t say no.