During winter break, while most stu-dents were trying to forget about examsand the impending start of J-Term, sev-eral students’ work appeared in a brieffiled with the First Circuit appealing thedamages award in a file-sharing case.

Prof. Charles Nesson ’63 and a team ofHarvard Law students represent JoelTenenbaum in a lawsuit filed against himby the Recording Industry ofAmerica forcopyright infringement for illegally shar-ing music files. After losing at the triallevel, Tenenbaum was on the hook for$675,000 in damages, or $22,500 eachfor the 30 songs he was accused of shar-ing over Kazaa. District Court Judge

Nancy Gertner reduced the damages to$67,500, but Tenenbaum and his teambelieve the award is still too high.

Copyright law provides for statutorydamages between $750 and $30,000 perinfringed work and up to $150,000 perwork for “willful” infringement. Nessonand five students (Jason Harrow ‘11,Phillip Hill ‘13, Andrew Breidenbach‘11, Eric Fletcher ‘11, and Nathan Love-joy ‘13) assembled this brief to raisethree arguments about the damages onappeal: extraordinary damages assessedagainst people not making money fromthe infringement is “absurdly extreme,”said Nesson; Congress never intended forthis regime to be applied to normal peo-ple as opposed to commercial infringers;

and, most importantly to Nesson, thejury’s role in assessing these damages isflawed.

“When Congress created these statu-tory damages, they explicitly imaginedthat it would be judges who had the wis-dom to assess them,” said Nesson. Whenthe Supreme Court ruled that juries hadto be involved, though, it “brought a con-stitutional requirement that the jury notbe left completely at sea.”

Instead, Tenenbaum’s jury was in-structed that infringement occurred andgiven a form to fill out with one range ofdamages for innocent infringement andanother for willful infringement. Therewas no context given, said Nesson, that

A change in the Harvard LawSchool academic calendar for 2011-12will bring rising 2Ls back to campusby early August, while many 3Ls willbask in the glow of a 19-week summervacation.

The 2011 Early Interview Program,designed to facilitate law firm hiringof Harvard 2Ls for the summer of2012, will be held from Aug. 15-19,one week earlier than in 2010. Flyoutweek — a weeklong respite from classin September in which students sched-uled callback interviews with out-of-town law firms — has beeneliminated. Instead, upper-levelcourses will begin Sept. 12, and stu-dents will be expected to completetheir callback interviews before thestart of classes.

The reasons for changing the hiringschedule and academic calendar weretwofold, said Assistant Dean for Ca-reer Services Mark Weber. With thechange, students will get a “leg up” onthe job market without an interviewweek that disrupts their class andlearning schedules, he said.

“We said, if we could move the in-terviews up a week and students couldget their callback interviews done be-fore classes, they’d get the best ofboth worlds,” Weber said.

Weber noted that Harvard Law stu-dents have been successful in securingemployment no matter when EIP andflyout week were scheduled.

“We just think this will be even bet-ter for our students,” he said. Weber

On the afternoon of Jan. 11, Dean ofStudents Ellen Cosgrove emailed Har-vard Law students to tell them thatclasses would be canceled due to theforecasted blizzard on Wednesday,Jan. 12. Facebook, chat statuses, andapartments erupted with excitementover the rare treat at Harvard LawSchool: a snow day.

Faculty who have been at the LawSchool for some time say this may beonly the third closing for inclementweather in more than 30 years. Ac-cording to Cosgrove, five years agoCambridge saw over two feet of snow,but Winter Quarter exams were stillheld as scheduled. Just last year, Cos-grove emailed students to let themknow that "each year a few hopefulstudents inquire about snow days —the answer is that Harvard remainsopen in snow — always has — sorry

about that."This year, though, presented several

new problems, according to Cosgrove.With the storm predicted to startovernight, commuters would havemore trouble in the morning comparedto previous storms that started atnoon, which could be addressed withsmall adjustments to keep the day'sschedule on track.

"It was a relatively unique combina-tion of intensity and timing," Cos-grove told the Record via e-mail. "Ialso think that the state and local gov-ernments have put increasing pressureon businesses and schools to close inorder to keep people off the roads,which allows the emergency crews todo their jobs. This is a real change inculture in the last few years."

The heavy snow and newfound free-dom led many students to CambridgeCommon and surrounding parks and

hills for snowball fights and sledding.Several students also built an igloo onthe lawn of Hastings Hall dormitory.Unfortunately, the combination of analready compressed January term andthe unexpected closure presented a rel-atively unique scheduling problem. Be-cause of the ABA's regulationsgoverning class time, professors had toreschedule their missed classes. Thatmake-up time for some students bledinto the upcoming holiday or the daypreviously reserved for students tostudy for exams.

"It will depend on the class," Cos-grove told the Record. "We need tomake up work in a condensed timeframe. Some faculty might schedule amake-up over the holiday, others mightschedule on the reading day. Neitheroption is ideal but it is also hard toschedule exams on the weekend andconflict with religious observance."

Harvard Law RecordJanuary 31, 2011 Vol. CXXXI, No. 4www.hlrecord.org — twitter @hlrecord

The Independent Newspaper at Harvard Law School

News

• HLAB Elects 2011 Board• WLAPlans Equality Conference

Culture

• “Tacky Prom” is Back• Indie Band to Play Boston

INSIDEThe HL Record

Snow Day Brings Celebration, Scheduling Woes

HISTORY IN THE MAKING: BLIZZARD

CLOSES HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

BY JOEY SEILER

DAVID BRODY/HL RECORD STAFF

EIP ScheduleModified;Fall Upper-Level ClassesPushed Back

EIP, cont’d on pg. 2Nesson, Students File Appeal in File-Sharing CaseBY JOEY SEILER

BY JENNY PAUL

NESSON, cont’d on pg. 2

Members of the Harvard Legal AidBureau elected a new board of direc-tors in January to manage Bureau serv-ices and shepherd a development planto expand its legal service offerings inthe coming months.

Ten second-year law students willserve on the Bureau’s board of direc-tors for 2011. The Bureau’s 50 second-and third-year “student advocates,”who represent clients from Boston andsurrounding areas, elected the newboard.

The election process is “pretty infor-mal,” newly elected President DavidWilliams said.

“A few weeks before elections start,people talk about ideas they have, butthere’s definitely no official campaign-ing,” Williams said. “It’s very colle-gial. We’re all kind of one big happyfamily.”

Williams said board members takeon the day-to-day management of theBureau. Members of the Board managecase assignments, case files, recruit-ment of new student advocates, and fi-nancial issues, he said.

“Basically, we’re almost like ourown private law firm,” he said. “Run-ning an organization like this takes alot of manpower….We don’t have ahuge support staff like a big firm’sgoing to have. A lot of it is really peo-ple who are dedicated to the organiza-tion and would be good at doing theseparticular tasks.”

Much of the Bureau’s work is cen-tered in housing and family law, so stu-dents choose to concentrate in one ofthose areas. They then receive cases in-cluding post-foreclosure and evictioncases and divorce, custody, and re-

straining order disputes, Williams said.Each student works on about four to fivecases at a time and is supervised by aclinical instructor. Clinical Prof. DavidGrossman ’88 serves as managing attor-ney for the Bureau.

Because students choose the cases theBureau takes on, each student advocateis personally invested in the Bureau,Williams said.

“There’s a level of investment anddedication that you just don’t get withyour traditional clinical program,” he

said. “There’s also a large communitysense, too, which all of us enjoy and geta lot out of.”

The Bureau is also developing an em-ployment discrimination pilot programthis semester to supplement its currentemployment law practice, Williams said.Currently, the Bureau represents clientsin wage and hour cases, where clientsseek to recover unpaid or underpaidwages from employers. The Bureau alsorepresents clients in unemployment in-surance hearings at the Massachusetts

Department of Unemployment Assis-tance. If the pilot program is successful,the board may decide to roll out a morecomprehensive employment law pro-gram in the fall of 2011, Williams said.

"Creating a comprehensive employ-ment law practice will not only give Bu-reau members more diverse practiceopportunities, but it also fills a large needin the community. "In these tough eco-nomic times when jobs are scarce, pro-tecting workers' rights is more importantthan ever."

Page 2 Harvard Law Record January 31, 2011

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Elects 2011 Board

also said the callback interview sched-ule will be more flexible for studentsand employers, who can choose toschedule the second-round interviewsin either August or early September.

Weber said he spoke with studentleaders, administrators, and facultybefore finalizing the change, and theyvoiced support for the new schedule.Law firm recruiters have also beensupportive of the change, Weber said,though he noted that firms wouldrather have all law schools scheduleinterview programs later in the year,closer to when the firms will actuallybe utilizing the summer classes theyhire.

“I think in a perfect world, law firmswould prefer that all of the hiring wasdone outside of August, but we’re notin a perfect world, and, quite candidly,they understood why we made the

change,” he said. “The consistentmessage I’ve heard from employers is,‘We’ll make the necessary adjust-ments, because we want to hire fromHarvard.’”

Hiring data from the 2010 EIP pro-gram and information on the 2011program will be available later in thespring semester, Weber said. He cau-tioned that first-year students do nothave to worry about planning for theirEIP experience yet.

“We haven’t spent a lot of timeother than letting students know the[EIP] dates, because it shouldn’t be apriority of theirs right now,” Webersaid. “They should be getting re-ac-climated to school, focusing on theirstudies, learning about all the differ-ent things they can do with a law de-gree, and then we can start focusingon the summer.”

Nesson Files Appealwould encourage jurors to consider dif-ferent types of infringement, like com-mercial acts, or legislative intent.

“I think the jury is very much affectedby the top number they’re given on thescale,” said Nesson. “It’s a very oddthing because the jury is instructed theycan return a judgment that the judgeherself found would be unconstitu-tional,” referring to Judge Gertner’s re-duction of the damages by a factor often.

That system may be changing. Twoyears ago, said Nesson, it was almostimpossible to drum up sympathy forTenenbaum. Now that the focus of thecase is on damages, more people findthe law unreasonable, he said. With asimilar case proceeding in Minnesotaagainst Jammie Rasset-Thomas, repre-sented pro bono by Kiwi Camara ’04,there may soon be a split in circuits re-garding statutory damages. That, saysNesson, could be all that’s needed.

In Nov. 2010, the Supreme Court de-nied certiorari for Harper v. MaverickRecording Company, a similar caseagainst a 16-year-old file sharer. Shewas unable to raise an innocent in-fringer defense, as 17 U. S. C. §402(d)essentially precludes innocence whennotice is given on “the publishedphonorecord.” As Justice Alito said atthe time, arguing to grant certiorari, that

law may be a bit dated.“He recognizes in his opinion that the

way the law is being applied, a law cre-ated for the analog world, doesn’t makesense in the digital world,” said Nesson.“I think that’s a real straw in the wind.”

Alito recognized the lack of a circuitsplit and left, in his dissent, the dooropen for another opportunity. By thetime a Supreme Court appeal rollsaround, though, new students may needto play a role in Tenenbaum’s case.

Harrow, who Nesson describes as thehead of the team, has worked on thecase since his second year. As part ofthe winning Ames Moot Court teamthis past year, Harrow had alreadylogged quite a few hours in mock trialsand writing briefs. Nesson hopes to in-clude him in the oral argument beforethe First Circuit as well, which offers adifferent perspective.

“It's hard to admit this after all thetime my teammates and I put into mootcourt, but Ames is not real. Our ‘client’in the Finals, Kermit McBride, neverreally went to jail. But Joel is a real per-son, and right now he has a judgmentagainst him that says that he has to pay$67,500 to some of the biggest compa-nies on the planet for sharing 30 songs,”said Harrow. “That means that everyword we say to the court has to furtherthe goal of reversing that — not ofmaking us look good, like in Ames.”

DAVID BRODY/HL RECORD STAFF

The 2011 HLAB Board of Directors poses in front of Bureau headquarters. Front (l-r): Training DirectorTyeesha Dixon ‘12; Research/Tech Director Anush Emelianova ‘12; Outreach Director Sam Levine ‘12;Vice President of Practice Standards Marcia Hook ‘12; Communications Director Sam Ferriss ‘12. Rear(l-r): President David Williams ‘12; Membership Director Rebecca Livengood ‘12; Executive DirectorEmily Hostage ‘12; Secretary/Treasurer Adrianna Rodriguez ‘12; Intake Director Michael Lumley ‘12.

EIP, cont’d from pg. 1

OCS: New ScheduleWill Eliminate

Flyout Week ClassDisruption

BY JENNY PAUL

NESSON, cont’d from pg. 1

January 31, 2011 Page 3

Thought that frumpy bridesmaiddress your cousin forced you to buy forher special day a few years back wouldnever see the light of day again nowthat you were at Harvard Law School?

Think again.Pull that dress out of the back of your

closet and strut (or stumble) downMass. Ave. on your way to HL Cen-tral’s seventh annual Tacky Prom onFriday, Feb. 11.

The event will be held in Ropes Grayfrom 9 p.m. – 1 a.m., and is cospon-sored by Student Government. Friendsof Harvard Law students are also wel-come, though everyone must be at least21 to attend the Prom, which will fea-ture snacks and an open bar with beerand wine. There is no charge to attendthe event.

More than 500 students attendedTacky Prom last year, said DianaBerisha ‘12, HL Central’s 2L/3L eventscoordinator. It’s the biggest event HLCentral organizes during the year, shesaid.

“Tacky Prom is a great event becauseit is one of the few social events at HLSthat really brings out almost everyone

at the law school, gets them to dress up,and have a good time,” Berisha said.“Most 2Ls and 3Ls would probably sayit was one of the highlights of theirtime at Harvard.”

First-years, don’t be shy — studentsgo all out to assemble their tackiest get-ups.

“There’s a lot of people who dopretty impressive old-bridesmaid-dresstacky, puffy sleeves — Napoleon Dy-namite style,” Berisha said. “That and‘80s tacky are the most prevalent.There’s a whole mix of different kindsof outfits.”

This year’s Tacky theme draws fromKe$ha’s “Your Love is my Drug.”

“We chose the Ke$ha theme just be-cause we wanted something fun andcurrent that fits with the Valentine'sDay love theme, but in a tacky way,”Berisha said.

There may be plenty of desert hipsterjunkie couture with neon tribal paint,but, really, anything goes. According toBerisha, there is no “perfect” TackyProm outfit.

“I think for the most part, it’s what-ever your own definition of tacky is,”she said.

BY JENNY PAUL

HLCentral, Student Government Host Dance, Open Bar

GET SET TO TAKE TACKY BACK ATSEVENTH ANNUAL “TACKY PROM”

HLS students strut their tackiest ensembles at Tacky Prom 2009.-Photos courtesy of HL Central

Got rid of your “Jane Fonda Step Aerobics” leotard20 years ago? Here are some local stores where youcan purchase other people’s fashion missteps.

Urban Renewals122 Brighton AveAllston, MA 02134

Goodwill230 Elm StreetSomerville, MA 02144

The Garment District200 BroadwayCambridge, MA 02139

Great Eastern TradingCompany49 River StreetCambridge, MA 02139

Page 4 Harvard Law Record January 31, 2011

STUDENTS WORK AND PLAY IN DISTANTLANDS DURING J-TERM

I was in a 20-person class called "Doctrine and Practice of the Inter-American Courtof Human Rights." As the Court is located in San Jose, Costa Rica, the course wastaught there. This gave us the opportunity to tour the Court and meet with one of thelawyers for the Court (the equivalent of a clerk) who explained to us how the Courtfunctioned. The course was co-taught by Prof. James Cavallaro and Prof. StephanieBrewer, who have both litigated cases before the Court and were able to provide in-sight into how they strategized both the legal and advocacy aspects of cases. We alsohad the opportunity to meet with Judge Sonia Picado, a former judge of the Court andthe first woman to serve on the Court. She told us about her experience serving onthe Court, including the discrimination she experienced as a woman, and answeredquestions about her opinion on the development of jurisprudence at the Court.

-Katie Fischl ‘12

I conducted research for a paper on legislation before the Brazil-ian National Congress that would effectuate a major overhaul ofthe notoriously inefficient Brazilian tax system. I had the oppor-tunity to speak with the main architects of the proposal, includingthe Attorney General Luís Inácio Adams. The project providedme the unique chance to observe a legal regime in a state of fun-damental flux, as the government works to accommodate rapidmodernization and economic development.

-Jason Gross ‘12

Jason Gross ‘12 and Brazilian Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams pose after meeting in the Attorney General’soffice in the capital city of Brasilia.

Twenty Harvard Law students spent J-Term in San Jose, Costa Rica for a course taught by Profs. James Caval-laro and Stephanie Brewer.

January 31, 2011 Harvard Law Record Page 5

STUDENTS TRADE SNOW FOR SUN, FUN,EXPLORATION (AND SCHOOL, TOO)

I spent four weeks in Brazil during January term this year — three weeks inRio de Janeiro and one in Sao Paulo. The purpose of my trip was to do researchand conduct interviews that would assist me in writing a paper about the Brazil-ian Bar Association's regulations for foreign firms practicing in Brazil. TheBrazilian economy has taken off in the last several years, and with a boomingeconomy comes a boom in investors seeking to find an entry into the growingmarket. Naturally, where investment increases, so does legal work, and in thepast two years, thirteen major international firms have opened offices in Brazil.

Brazil, like most countries, has rules that govern who can and who cannot es-tablish a legal practice within the country and in what kind of work such prac-tice can engage. With the vast influx of international firms, there exists sometension in what the Brazilian BarAssociation rules are and how they will be in-terpreted and implied — not to mention the political pressures playing a role inthe background. I was able to interview several partners at law firms in Brazil,both at local firms and at international firms with an office in the country. Outof these interviews, I was able to gain insight into the perspective of each groupand their individual expectations about the future of the countries expandinglegal market.

I've always found traveling to be a worthwhile endeavor, and Brazil was noexception. Experiencing a new culture and its people was a great experiencethat proved for a great time. I'm currently enrolled in David Wilkins's course onGlobal Lawyers and Emerging Economies where I continue to study Brazil andplan to go back in, hopefully, the not too distant future.

-Parker Zangoei ‘12

I travelled to Brazil to work on an independent paper on financial regulation.The paper examines Brazilian financial regulation and macroeconomic policyduring the recent financial crisis and contrasts Brazil’s relatively successful per-formance with the more turbulent experience of other big commodity exporterssuch as Russia. I spent the first two weeks of my trip at a Brazilian law school,Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), in Rio de Janeiro, where he discussed and de-veloped his paper with professors at that school. I also travelled to São Paulo tointerview various market participants including risk managers at financial in-stitutions, economists at private sector banks and portfolio managers and tradersat investment management firms.

-Gaurav Toshniwal ‘12

Gaurav Toshniwal ‘12, Jason Gross ‘12, and Parker Zangoei ‘12 in front of the Escadaria Selaron, a landmark in the bohemian neighbor-hood of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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A 3L’s Advice: To Succeed at HLS,March to the Beat of Your OwnDrum

Page 6 January 31, 2011OPINION

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Joey Seiler

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Want towrite for theHarvard LawRecord?News,book reviews,interviews,points of view—all are welcome.Contactharvardlawrecord@gmail.com to getinvolved!

I got off the waitlist for HarvardLaw School on July 4th weekend. Iremember the day vividly: my room-mate at Penn Law had just forwardedme the lease to sign for our apartmentin Philadelphia. For seven months, Ihad been laying plans to live in theCity of Brotherly Love, taking classesat Wharton or maybe pursuing aJ.D./M.B.A. Looking back on it now,I am fairly certain I was one of the laststudents to be admitted into HarvardLaw’s class of 2011.

The countless letters I sent to TobyStock, the Dean of Admissions at thetime, over the span of those sevenmonths probably helped. I sent thoseletters because I was confident Har-vard Law was the one place thatwould open up limitless opportunitiesand challenge me to compete againstthe best and the brightest. My scoreswere right on the cusp, though, sowhen I went to bed the night after Igot the phone call from Toby saying Ihad been accepted to HLS, I got downon my knees and prayed for the firsttime in my life.

By mid-September, I was miserable.The passion that motivated those let-ters and that made me want to be a

part of Harvard Law above all elsewas being snuffed out. Getting an LPwhen grades were released in Febru-ary further woke me up that I wasdoing something wrong, especiallybecause I received it in the course forwhich I studied the most after be-grudgingly attending every class, de-spite my instincts otherwise. “Soreally,” I dared to ask, “what is thereto lose if I do things differently nextyear?”

As a 2L, I began to focus on thingsoutside of school, such as my friendsand my health, to balance with thehabits I had previously thought werenecessary for me to be a “successful”Harvard Law School student. Itworked. I ended up getting H’s andeven a Dean’s Scholar, I joined Stu-dent Government and was able tomake some minor but importantchanges, and, most importantly, Ibegan building the foundations forlifelong friendships.

I was actually a little worried beforeI decided to change my approach tobeing a law student. In hindsight, myfears were unfounded. I had struggledwith the insecurity of thinking I did-n’t have what it took to “succeed” atlaw school, but realized that I didn’t

need to shed my identity because ofwhat I thought was success or howothers were succeeding. My success atHarvard Law School was part and par-cel with retaining my identity.

A professor of mine here at lawschool once told me that in order tohave direction in life, it is not onlynecessary to know just who you are,but who you are not. Many studentshere will find and meet their callingsby becoming partners, judges, and ac-ademics. They will go on to representour school in extraordinary ways, butthat’s not who I am. My vision of suc-cess has, and always will be, workingacross communities to give peoplefaith in their leaders and their govern-ment.

My passion shouldn’t have to be puton hold only to be rekindled threeyears down the line. I need to definemy success instead of accepting a def-inition forced on me by others duringmy moments of insecurity. I givecredit to my friends, for giving merespite from the echo-chamber of anx-iety, and I need to remember thatWalden Pond is also not too far away.Someone marched to his own beatthere. Perhaps I can figure out how todo that here.

BY ALBERT WU

Indie group’s mellow set makesupcoming concert a must-see

Best Coast, a West Coast indie band fronted by BethanyCosentino, made a splash in the Boston indie scene duringa Fall 2010 tour. The chillwave band returns this Februaryto a larger venue alongside Wavves, a genre mate of whichCosentino’s boyfriend isa member.

Although ParadiseRock Club does nothave the same under-ground feel as the Mid-dle East, where BestCoast last appeared inBeantown, the spacewill provide plenty ofconcertgoers with theopportunity to hear aline-up of solid bands,purchase the band’smerchandise, and, ofcourse, drink plenty.

Last September I wasone of the many fanswho got a chance tohear the band performits repertoire in CentralSquare, where it led asmaller tour. Cosentinobantered about song ori-gin and tour stories, justenough to keep a fan en-thralled. The focus was the music, with the band perform-ing almost all of its 24 songs off of various EPs and itsSummer 2010 album, “Crazy for You.” With barely fourmonths between tour visits, the band has only released onenew non-collaboration song, “When You Wake Up,” avail-able on a split album with other bands on the tour. Ac-cording to Pitchfork.com, fans can also pick up new

merchandise, including beer cozies and old-school sun-glasses, on this tour.

You don’t have to be an indie music fan to enjoy the low-fi, summery music. The band’s lyrics are simple, but leavean indelible impression. Cosentino and fellow band mem-

ber Bobb Brunohave explosivestage personalitiesthat are spectacularto witness. If noth-ing else, a mellownight of chill beachmusic should be awelcome respitefrom the crampedLangdell carrels.When you leaveParadise, you willbe singing BestCoast’s “When I’mWith You” to your-self and wishing theconcert neverended.

Who: No Joy,Best Coast, Wavves

When: Friday,February 4, 2011

Where: ParadiseRock Club, Boston,

MASongs to YouTube before going: “When I’m With You,”

“Boyfriend,” “Bratty B,” “Sun Was High (So Was I)”Additional Suggestion: Tell band member Bethany

Cosentino it’s your birthday, and she just might invite youon stage with her (confirmed at the November Phoenix,Ariz. show).

BY JENNA SWIREN

January 31, 2011 Page 7

FAST FOOD NIGHTMARE: THE SEARCHFOR BOSTON’S QUINTESSENTIAL BURGER

Few cities truly encapsulate Americaquite like Boston. Home of the Free-dom Trail, Paul Revere, and the RedSox, Boston serves as a constant re-minder of both American history andculture.

But what about American cuisine? Aa city as American as Boston has tohave a true all-American meal. You cango to the North End for Italian. We haveThai food galore. But where is the bestburger and fries?

Bartley’s Burger CottageAddress: 1246 Massachusetts Ave,

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.Burger Combo: Countless varieties.

Mine had Bacon, Grilled Onions, andMushrooms. About $9-$11.50.

I’ll start out with Harvard’s own sta-ple, Bartley’s. Located near HarvardSquare, it is the students’ pick for bestburger in town. That’s no surprise, ei-ther. As you enter Bartley’s, you’retransported to a surreal little shack andbarraged by political caricatures, blackand white photos of the Beatles, andold-school cigarette advertisements.

But once I bit into my burger, I real-ized Bartley’s was all show. Theburger’s huge meat patty tasted under-seasoned and under-flavored, despite itsmassive size. Worse, the gargantuanpatty overshadowed all the other, tastieringredients. The crisp bacon, over-salted to death, didn’t make matters bet-ter.

Still, some of the ingredients stoodout. Best of all was the cheese, so gooeythat it amplified every single bite withcreaminess. The mushrooms and sweetgrilled onions, piled on like a miniaturemountain, helped to compensate for themeat’s flavorlessness — just notenough.

Middlesex LoungeAddress: 315 Massachusetts Avenue,

Cambridge, MA 02139.Burger Combo: Ciabatta, Bacon,

American Cheese, Pickles, Lettuce,Tomato, Onion. $7.25.

With the myth of Bartley’s greatnessbusted, I roamed the rest of Cambridge,looking for another burger to take Bart-ley’s place. I finally arrived at Middle-sex Lounge, one of the trendierrestaurants and clubs in town, whichserves its burger until the late hours ofthe night.

Yet the loud, pulsing techno and thethrongs of wild dancers could not helpsave this burger from the scrap list. Theburger’s key downfall lay in the veryfactor that many diners have hailed asits claim to fame, the monstrous cia-batta buns. The ciabatta is more utili-tarian than beneficial. It props up theweight of the dense burger and sops thejuiciness of the meat, which could turneven the hardest bun soggy. Still, thebuns dominated the flavor of the burgerand made every bite feel abrasive.

The other components didn’t help.Aswith Bartley’s, the bacon was aggres-sively salty. Moreover, the meat wasovercooked, with rough, nearly burntedges. The thin slice of cheese was ano-show in the flavor department.

Finally, the biggest sin of all, theburger came with a bag of potato chips,no fries. Need I say more?

KO PrimeAddress: 90 Tremont St., Boston, MA

01208.Burger Combo: Foie Gras, Kobeyaki,

Secret Sauce. $19.After Middlesex, I knew I had to kick

it up a notch if I wanted to find a truequality burger in Boston. So I steppedinto one of Boston’s best steakhouses,KO Prime, known for its ultra-gourmetfoie gras burger. Accompanying thatburger is an equally refined ambience,full of moody lighting, plush couches,colorful neon lights, and one of thecoolest bars in town.

This foie burger did a few thingswell, not the least of which was that itwas served fresh off the grill, with apatty that literally oozed savory oil as Itouched it. That same oiliness was, un-fortunately, an Achilles’ heel, as thebottom bun fell apart. Even so, the pattytasted delicious, leaving just the right

amount of fat slathered all over themouth without ever feeling mushy orsoggy. It could have used more season-ing, though.

I can’t say so much for the foie gras,unfortunately. While I did get a slightlybitter, subtle aftertaste, the foie gras wassimply relegated to a small, grilled tri-angle placed neatly on top of the patty.The taste was all but lost under thepatty’s relentless juiciness. The samegoes for the “secret sauce,” a zestylemon mayo, which had little noticeableeffect on the burger.

Sel de la TerreAddress: 255 State St., Boston, MA

02109.Burger Combo: Grilled New England

Ground Beef, Vermont Cheddar,Pancetta and Spicy Aioli. $14.

Disappointed with my last “gourmet”experience, I decided to go for some-thing more complex but less gimmicky.I settled on Sel de la Terre, which at-tempts to infuse the traditional burgerwith some minor innovations. The endresult felt muddled, however, as thoughthe burger lacked a true identity or fla-vor profile.

At first, I found the huge burger,cooked to a beautiful red in the middle,delicious, but I soon began to noticelarger and larger flaws. First was the ex-treme saltiness of the overly generousportion of pancetta. Second, the garlicaioli simply did not come through — ashame, since it had the potential to ele-vate the burger with its herby richness,which helped to bring all the disparateelements together. Worst of all, though,was the gigantic, overpowering bun, sodry that it interfered with the burger’sdelicious savoriness.

RadiusAddress: 8 High Street, Boston, MA

02110.Burger Combo: Vermont Cheddar,

Horseradish Mayo, Fried OnionStrings. $19.

By this point, I had virtually given upon Boston’s burger scene — until Ireached Radius, one of the city’s bestrestaurants. Upon entering, I found my-

self drawn to the chic blend of modernand classic, including a ring of blazingred running across the domed ceiling.If nothing else, I knew this burgerwould have some style.

Style doesn’t begin to explain thesuccess. As the plate plopped down, Isaw a massive burger, oozing all overwith horseradish mayo, topped with amountain of fried onions. At first, Ifeared the sight: I’d never liked horse-radish, and I was almost certain itwould ruin this beauty. Yet, as I bit in, Irealized that this burger was not just thebest of Boston, but also the best I’deaten, ever. It even sold me on horse-radish.

Everything came together in pureharmony. The horseradish mayo wassurprisingly nuanced, with a subtle pep-pery, spicy tanginess that I found irre-sistible. The onions didn’t feel cloying,instead adding just the right amount ofsweetness and oil to an already com-plex dish. And the texture was superb.The creamy, rich sauce acted as the es-sential glue between the chunkier meatand the crunchy onions.

The Final Verdict

In some ways, this mission could beconsidered an absolute failure. Amongthe five burgers I tried, most failed mis-erably. They were over-seasoned, gim-micky, confused, and at times evencooked improperly.

However, Boston does have one gem— not just a gem, but the Holy Grail ofburgers, the one that eluded me every-where in my travels, from New York toLos Angeles to Chicago. Radius is thedefinitive burger experience.

Edmund Mokhtarian is a food criticand blogger. At his blog, The FoodBuster (www.thefoodbuster.com), he re-views restaurants, bakeries, wines, andchocolates from around the nation andthe world.

Visit http://www.hlrecord.org for anexpanded verison of this article, in-cluding reviews of the restaurants’french fry offerings.

BY EDMUND MOKHTARIAN

EDMUND MOKHTARIAN/PHOTO COURTESY

K.O. Prime serves a foie gras burger, but only places a small, grilledtriangle of foie gras on top of a fatty beef patty.

EDMUND MOKHTARIAN/PHOTO COURTESY

Radius serves a “massive burger, oozing all over with horseradishmayo, topped with a mountain of fried onions.”

Last year’s keynote speaker at theHarvard Women’s Law AssociationConference, Valerie Jarrett, drew astanding-room-only crowd to RopesGray. Conference organizers hope fora repeat this year on Feb. 11, 2011.

The theme for the fifth annual con-ference is “This is What EqualityLooks Like: The World We Want forWomen & Girls,” and the conferencereflects the broad theme. Conferenceorganizers have reached out to otherparts of the Harvard community, in-cluding the Kennedy School, Mastersof Public Health students, and under-graduates.

“We’re really hoping for a diverseaudience,” said Conference Co-ChairPoppy Alexander. “It was a priority forus, making sure this was an event forthe entire campus. We bring in sometruly excellent speakers, and it’s aunique opportunity to have that manypeople from that many fields in oneroom and we want to share that.”

The programming, which includespanels on equality in health, econom-ics, the judiciary, and for girlsstretches beyond traditional law schoolfare. Although these are the majorways lawyers tend to discuss equality,said Alexander, the goal is to reachwomen who don’t frequent Langdell,including a group of local Girl Scouts

who have already registered.Those more interested in the legal

side of things won’t feel left out,though. A panel on “Equality on BothSides of the Bench” brings together,among others, the Honorable DeborahBatts of the Southern District of NewYork and Lisa Blatt, a partner atArnold & Porter who, with her thirti-eth argument before the SupremeCourt, just set the record amongwomen litigators.

“It’s amazing to have someone ofthat caliber in a friendly conversationwith the judge, who would normallybe on the other side of the bench,” saidAlexander.

Keynoting the event is Russlynn H.Ali, the Assistant Secretary for CivilRights at the U.S. Department of Edu-cation. A veteran education advocate,Ali reports to Secretary of EducationArne Duncan as his main adviser oncivil rights and education.

“Russlyn Ali is a truly inspirationalperson who speaks her mind, lives herbeliefs, and makes the lives of womenand girls better every day,” Lecturer onLaw Diane Rosenfeld L.L.M. ‘96 toldthe Record via email. Rosenfeldcounts Ali as both a colleague andfriend after the Secretary attendedRosenfeld’s Title IX seminar in 2009and the two collaborated to raiseawareness of schools’ roles in prevent-

ing sexual violence on campus.“Everyone should come hear her talk

about the innovative leadership sheprovides as the Assistant Secretary forthe Office of Civil Rights of the USDepartment of Education,” saidRosenfeld. “She has transformed theOffice into a place that takes seriously

women's rights to equality in educa-tion. We are honored to have her oncampus.”

For more information and to regis-ter, visit the conference website:http://hlsorgs.com/wla/conference/

Page 8 Harvard Law Record January 31, 2011

Women’s LawAssociation Conference toTake Interdisciplinary Look at Equality

BY JOEY SEILER

“This is What Equality LooksLike: The World We Want for

Women & Girls”Conference Schedule of Events8:30-9 Breakfast9:00-9:15 Introduction9:15-10:30 Health & Equality10:35-11:50 Equality and Economics12:00-12:10 Welcome from Dean Minow12:10-1:00 Keynote1:00-2:15 Roundtable Luncheon2:20-3:35 Equality on Both Sides of the

Bench3:40-4:55 Equality for Girls5:00 Cocktail Reception6:30 Dinner Banquet