In their summer work, the Fellows “make a real contribution, but at the same time what they learn in the field changes the way they look at the law when they come back.” “Abe was an intellectual explorer who pursued new frontiers in international law he would have loved this,” she says. Among his other efforts, Chayes encouraged faculty members interested in researching and teaching international and comparative law, created new courses in the field, and was instrumental in launching an earlier fellowship, funded by the Ford Foundation, to foster students pursuing careers in international law.Īntonia Chayes, Abram Chayes’ wife, co-author, and a professor of practice of international politics and law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, has been an ardent supporter of the Fellowship and the students who participate in it, regularly welcoming them for dinners in her Cambridge home to share their aspirations and accomplishments. Chayes was a “gregarious, engaging human being” and a law teacher who “was deeply committed to nurturing students and took particular delight in creating opportunities for students with international interests to flourish,” Alford recalls.
Chayes was a leading authority on international law and throughout his career, as a lawyer, arbitrator, and legal advisor, he took on notable cases arising from military and paramilitary activities in Nicaragua, boundary disputes in Africa, and the genocide in Kosovo, among many others. The Chayes International Public Service Fellowships were created in honor of Professor Abram Chayes ’49, who taught at Harvard Law School for more than 40 years. Even after their summer work, the Fellows remain connected to each other and to the Chayes community, sharing camaraderie and practical insights through networking events and career conversations. The Chayes Fellowship can be a particularly valuable opportunity for students in their 1L summer, whether they are delving further into the interests that brought them to law school or taking their first look at international conventions or the legal system and processes of another country. The oversight and support that the program provides helps to ensure that these summer placements are substantive, engaging, and beneficial for both the students and the organizations they work with. While Fellows’ work occurs over a single summer, often its effect on a policy or a legal system is considerably more lasting. And another Fellow conducted research for litigation involving access to antiretroviral treatment for pre-trial detainees in Malawi, looking at precedents in other countries, international law, and domestic constitutional issues. Working in China with a multilateral investment bank, a third Chayes Fellow prepared a legal note for the bank’s general counsel about the allocation of powers between the institution’s president and its board of directors.
In Brazil, another Fellow participated in strategic planning sessions with environmental groups and labor unions involved in negotiations with a multinational mining company. For a few examples among many, one Chayes Fellow drafted a proposal to the Croatian government on the implementation of an article of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the first two decades, 435 Chayes Fellows, working in 80 countries and jurisdictions, have engaged in projects that explore an impressive range of subjects and encompass many different facets of legal work. Whether they’re from members of the first cohort, working abroad in the summer of 2001, or the most recent participants, navigating remote placements due to COVID-19, impressions like these from Chayes International Public Service Fellows have resonated over the past 20 years.Įvery summer since 2001, Chayes Fellows have worked with international organizations, governments, and NGOs around the world on issues of an international scope or relevant to countries in transition, “doing extraordinary work that often helps shape their careers,” notes William Alford ’77, Harvard Law’s co-vice dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies.