Episodes

As we begin work on Season Two, we wanted to share this episode of highlights from the four interviews featured in Season One. First, mediator David Hoffman describes an insightful model for understanding and resolving conflicts. Next, retired homicide prosecutor Phil Mueller explains how prosecutors serve the emotional needs of victims of violent crimes. Our third guest, Jennifer Haverkamp, describes some of her important work in 2016, leading a State Department team in the successful and impac...

From time immemorial, lawyers and law firms have provided free legal services to clients who could not afford to pay. What motivates them to do so? What are the rewards of pro bono service? What makes pro bono legal services different from other forms of volunteer work? What types of pro bono work can be done by lawyers who are not litigators? These are just a few of the questions we asked Emily Cooke, the leader of the pro bono program at the Pierce Atwood law firm. Emily's answers help to expl...

Higher Callings is pleased to offer this unedited version of our interview of Jennifer Haverkamp, the Graham Family Director of the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan. Jennifer has had a long and distinguished career in international diplomacy aimed at mitigating worldwide environmental harms, including the reduction of climate change. This unedited version of our conversation includes material concerning some of her most recent projects, and also takes us back to her ...

Climate change is an existential crisis. It can't be solved by one country or a few countries, but only through worldwide cooperation and commitment. Outside of the glare of the political spotlight, American diplomats work tirelessly to negotiate international agreements to reduce carbon emissions and avoid the worst-case scenarios. One such diplomat is Jennifer Haverkamp. Working for the State Department in 2016, she led two U.S. negotiating teams that successfully arrived at international agre...

The trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd featured a team of prosecutors who exemplified professionalism. Phil Mueller, knows something about the professionalism of prosecutors. As a state prosecutor for 26 years, not only did he try dozens of felony cases, but he played an important role in training prosecutors across the state, and literally wrote the book on the ethical principles that apply to criminal prosecutions. In this second part of his interview, we talk about his expe...

Phil Mueller, a highly successful graduate of an ivy league law school, followed a long and meandering path until he finally found his calling. A decade after his law school graduation, he left a promising career as a civil litigator in a prominent Boston law firm to join his college friend who had just been elected District Attorney for Schenectady County, New York. Phil worked in the D.A.'s office until he retired 26 years later. During that time, he tried dozens of felony cases, including 25 ...

David Hoffman is the founder of the Boston Law Collaborative and teaches mediation and dispute resolution at Harvard Law School. Influenced by the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s, David entered Harvard Law School with the goal of advancing social change. After a clerkship with then-Judge and later-Justice Stephen Breyer, David joined a public-spirited private law firm where he represented prisoners on death row and developed an interest in mediation. He left the law firm in 2002 to form the Boston Law Collaborative, where he serves as a mediator and collaborative lawyer.  In this interview, David describes his career path, his vision of the lawyer as peacemaker, and his quest to use his talents to make the world a better place.