Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, hosts Giovana de Oliveira and Thy Luong speak with third-year law student Talish Babaian about how, in 2023, Citibank quietly denied credit and closed accounts for Armenian Americans in Glendale, California—and how that pattern fits into a long history of discrimination, corporate power, and legal systems that protect institutions over people.

Editors:

Special thanks to Nandini Kalani for audio editing assistance, Giovana de Oliveira and Nelson Reed for production assistance.

Guest Bio:

Talish Babaian is a third-year law student at Harvard Law School. She is also a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to attending law school, she worked in local politics in the city of Glendale, California, where she was born and raised.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about this episode in the shownotes on the episode homepage.

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, hosts Molly Enloe and Gauri Sood dig into the hidden realities of the H-2A visa program with guest Izza Drury. They explore how this legal framework—marketed as a pathway for temporary agricultural work—is, in practice, a system that traps migrant farmworkers in cycles of abuse, wage theft, and corporate exploitation, with little to no legal recourse.

Editors:

Special thanks to Shyun Moon for audio editing assistance, Giovana de Oliveira and Nelson Reed for production assistance, and to Mirei Saneyoshi for technical assistance and show notes.

Guest Bio:

Izza Drury is graduate of Harvard Law School, Class of 2024. Izza graduated from Brown University in 2017 and prior to law school worked to advance migrants’ rights in France, Greece, and the United States. Izza is from Vinalhaven, Maine.

Izza is currently a Public Service Venture Fellow working as a trainee at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. While at HLS, Izza served as a Project Leader for Advocates for Human Rights, was an Assistant Managing Editor at the Harvard Human Rights Journal and participated in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about this episode in the shownotes on the episode homepage.

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, hosts Shyun Moon and Sam Perri take a hard look at the rise of police body cameras with third-year law student Priya Pookkulam—and what they uncover is anything but accountability.

Priya traces the origins of body cameras as a so-called reform, revealing how companies like Axon have profited off public outrage while deepening police power. She explains how departments manipulate footage—blurring, muting, and editing key moments—to justify violent encounters. And she breaks down how the body cam industry isn’t fixing the problem of police brutality—it’s fueling the surveillance state.

Editors:

Special thanks to Nolan Mascarenhas for audio editing assistance, Nelson Reed for production assistance, and to Nandini Kalani for assistance with show notes and transcript.

Guest Bio:

Priya Pookkulam is a member of Harvard Law School’s Class of 2025. Before law school, she worked as a paralegal for an anti-human trafficking organization in New Delhi, India and an environmental law firm in New York, NY. She loves to hike and travel and hopes to visit all of the national parks in the U.S.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about this episode in the shownotes on the episode homepage.

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.
• Contact Us: Have questions, comments or feedback? Reach out to us at justice@law.harvard.edu.
• Listen to [F]law School on Your Favorite Platform:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Youtube Music
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  • Systemic Justice Project Youtube

If you enjoyed this episode of [F]law School, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Class dismissed!

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, guest Luke Hinrichs joins hosts Nolan Mascarenhas and Troy Brown to discuss his [F]law article, Economy of Exploitation, which sheds light on the issue of child labor. Hinrichs describes how child labor — an issue labeled a problem of the past — is highly relevant today, with legislation failing to protect exploited youth workers. As the episode notes, the issue goes beyond the continued exploitation of children; it's a window into the fallacies of identification and regulation of child labor. By debunking previous gaps in the legal structures and today’s lack of corporate accountability, this episode explores and highlights the existence of modern-day child labor.

Editors:

Special thanks to Giovana de Oliveira for production and editing and to Gauri Sood and Reya Singh for their assistance with this episode.

Guest Bio:

Luke Hinrichs is a third-year law student at Harvard Law School specializing in employment and antitrust law. He has worked in public antitrust enforcement and private antitrust litigation. As a student attorney with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Luke represents indigent plaintiffs in employment and wage law litigation.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about this episode in the shownotes on the episode homepage.

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.
• Contact Us: Have questions, comments or feedback? Reach out to us at justice@law.harvard.edu.
• Listen to [F]law School on Your Favorite Platform:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Youtube Music
  • Buzzsprout
  • Systemic Justice Project Youtube

If you enjoyed this episode of [F]law School, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Class dismissed!

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, hosts Gauri Sood and Haley Florsheim explore the chilling reality of publicly traded private prisons with third-year law student Jheri’ Richards. Together, they reveal how corporations like GeoGroup profit from mass incarceration, relying on government contracts and the stock market to drive their growth. Drawing haunting parallels between private prisons and historical slave auctions, Jheri’ exposes how GeoGroup commodifies human lives. From shell companies and lobbying to the widespread involvement of everyday investors, this episode uncovers how law enables diabolical systems.

Editors:

Very special thanks to Nolan Mascarenhas for production and editing assistance.

Guest Bio:

Jheri’ Richards is a student at Harvard Law School in the Class of 2025. She is also a graduate of Yale University. Before law school, Jheri’ worked at Google in advertising technology. She is interested in criminal justice reform, democracy work, and family law.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

[F]law Resources:

• Jheri’ Richards. Publicly Traded Private Prisons
• Adriel Williams, The Costs of Carceral Communications
• Tuhin Chakraborty, When Healthcare Doesn’t Care
• Ennely Medina, Bed Mandates and Corporate Profits
• Connie Cheng, From Walls to Shackles
• Austin Nielsen-Reagan, The Profitability of Inhumanity

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.

If you enjoyed this episode of [F]law School, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Class dismissed!

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, hosts Molly Enloe and Gauri Sood sit down with third-year law student Charlotte Laurence to expose how private equity is infiltrating our healthcare system and, more specifically, how profit-driven investors are playing shell games with nursing homes—trading care for cash flow, and leaving some of the most vulnerable residents in the wreckage. Charlotte unpacks the legal loopholes and financial sleight-of-hand that make it all possible, showing how the law isn’t just failing to stop the harm—it’s greasing the wheels.

Editors:

Very special thanks to Nandini Kalani for production and editing assistance.

Guest Bio:

Charlotte Laurence is a student at Harvard Law School in the Class of 2025. She is also a graduate of the University of California Berkeley and University of Cambridge. Before law school, Charlotte researched topics in History of Science and worked as a speech writer for the Shadow Minister of Women and Equalities in the British Parliament.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

[F]law Resources:

• Charlotte Laurence, I Couldn’t Care Less: Private (In)equity and Nursing Home Abuse
• Tuhin Chakraborty, When Healthcare Doesn’t Care
• Sean Healey, CON Laws and the Capture of Care
• Emma Leibowitz, First Make A Profit

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.
• Contact Us: Have questions, comments or feedback? Reach out to us at justice@law.harvard.edu.
• Listen to [F]law School on Your Favorite Platform:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Youtube Music
  • Buzzsprout
  • Systemic Justice Project Youtube

If you enjoyed this episode of [F]law School, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Class dismissed!

Summary:

In this episode of [F]law School, guest Samara Trilling joins hosts Reya Singh and Sam Perri to pull back the curtain on big law recruitment at Harvard Law School. Samara describes the commodification of law students access to whom is sold by the law school and purchased by Big Law firms. Meanwhile, many students feel unduly pressured to move toward career paths they never signed up for. From the white shoe law firms that pay Harvard thousands of dollars for access to the student pipeline to the recruitment timelines that have been moved up so early that students barely know what a tort is, this episode dissects how the system sets students up to serve corporate interests—not justice.

Editors:

Very special thanks to Madeleine Kapsalis and Giovana de Oliveira for production and editing assistance.

Guest Bio:

Samara Trilling is a 3L at Harvard Law School interested in strengthening anti-monopoly law, building worker power and regulating AI. In her seven years as a software engineer prior to law school, Samara built anti-eviction tools at Justfix, city master-planning software at Sidewalk Labs and tools addressing the digital divide and supporting democratic news reporting at Google. Samara has a degree in computer science from Columbia University with a specialization in AI and a concentration in history.

Music:

Our theme music is "I Been Waiting" by Crystal Squad, and you'll also hear segments of "Palms Down" by Blue Dot Sessions.

For more information and complete show notes, go to the episode's webpage: https://theflaw.org/?post_type=articles&p=4467&preview=true.

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.
• Contact Us: Have questions, comments or feedback? Reach out to us at justice@law.harvard.edu.
• Listen to [F]law School on Your Favorite Platform:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Youtube Music
  • Buzzsprout
  • Systemic Justice Project Youtube

Summary:

In this episode of [F]Law School, hosts Haley Florsheim and and Mirei Saneyoshi examine the systemic roots of the affordable housing crisis with guests Sofi Scotti, David Hernandez, and Steven Rome, each of whom have written about this critical issue for The [F]law magazine.

From Boston to Newark to Miami, they explore how corporate landlords and developers are driving housing inequality, pricing out vulnerable communities, and wielding political power to shape laws in their favor.

Drawing on personal and community stories as well as as scholarly and legal analyses, the conversation unpacks the stark difference between small landlords and corporate entities, the importance of tenant organizing and advocacy, and some of the ways law students can get involved in this vital work.

Tune in to learn why housing is a human right—and how we can fight to make that right a reality.

Guest Bios:

David Hernandez is a student at Harvard Law School in the Class of 2025. He is also a graduate of Harvard College. Before law school, David worked with the Robin Hood Foundation’s Early Childhood team

Sofi Scotti is a 2024 graduate of Harvard Law School. In her time at Harvard, she was the Co-Practice Area Head of Housing at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She is passionate about housing justice in her hometown of Miami and beyond.

Steven Rome is a member of the Harvard Law School Class of 2025. He studied history and political science at Yale University, graduating in 2020. Before law school, he was a sixth-grade teacher.

For more information and complete show notes, go to the episode's webpage: https://theflaw.org/?post_type=articles&p=4467&preview=true.

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

• Podcast Home: Our podcast episodes can be found at flawschool.org
• [F]law Website: Find more articles and content from The [F]law magazine at theflaw.org
• Systemic Justice Project: All [F]law content is a product of the Systemic Justice Project at systemicjustice.org
• Newsletter Sign-Up: Subscribe to receive curated content from The [F]law here.
• Contact Us: Have questions, comments or feedback? Reach out to us at justice@law.harvard.edu.
• Listen to [F]law School on Your Favorite Platform:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Youtube Music
  • Buzzsprout
  • Systemic Justice Project Youtube