LAW STUDENTS REJECT LUXURY LODGINGS TO HELP THE HOMELESS

Harvard law student Barbara Eyman turned down spacious quarters at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Washington, offered by the District's largest law firm, Arnold & Porter, for a more modest room at the Dupont Plaza Hotel. Fellow student Susan Hilderley gave up California nouvelle cuisine and a room at the luxurious Sheraton Grande in Los Angeles -- courtesy of the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher -- for a casual dinner and lesser lodgings at the still-lavish Westin Bonaventure.

Courted by the nation's top law firms, these students and scores of others at Harvard Law School have rejected the highest-priced trappings of the annual recruitment ritual in order to help the homeless.

Through a novel plan developed by several law students, the money the firms save on rooms and restaurants will be given to homeless shelters across the nation.

The program already has raised about $10,000, students said, and the final tally is expected to be far higher.

Advocate for the homeless Mitch Snyder welcomed the assistance and commended the students for being "conscious enough to want to consume less and have the difference go to people who need it more."

But he added, "People out there are freezing to death, and it will take more than a drop from a first-class hotel to a second-level, first-class hotel to help. But any gesture is a plus."

Some of the students are aware that the sacrifice is modest. "The students aren't going from the Sheraton Grande to Motel 6," said Joe Patino, one of those coordinating the project. "But everyone is helping. Everyone is happy. And the homeless are getting something out of this."

Bill Sarraille said he and his fellow students are interested in the problems of the homeless, many of whom they see in Harvard Square, "a hundred paces from our campus," and they plan to do more in the future.

"It's the same when you go on interviews in New York, Washington or San Francisco," he said. "It's not something we can solve, but we can help a little bit, and people are excited about doing that."

About 600 Harvard students and 125 law firms -- including 20 in Washington -- participated during recruiting season last fall. Now students at a half-dozen other law schools are interested, and chances are excellent that law students at New York University, Notre Dame and Yale will join next year, according to officials at those schools.

Harvard law student Joseph A. Anderson came up with the idea last summer. As he headed to dinner after work at a Wall Street law firm, he was confronted by a man wearing a garbage bag and pleading for help, he said.

"I had been chiding people who had spoken out on the homeless, but not done enough," Anderson recalled. "Then I thought, I should be able to do something . . . focusing on the recruiting process with all that money going to luxurious hotels and expensive meals."

The recruiting perks lavished on students are driven by competition among law firms, said James Lovett, another student coordinator. "We thought maybe we could turn that competition into a way to help the homeless."

Anderson joined with others from Code Critical, a student organization that had run a dance benefit for the homeless, to set up the program and woo volunteers. They persuaded a Boston travel agency to serve as a clearinghouse for reservations and donate part of its commission from students who make recruiting trip arrangements through the agency.

The students contend -- and the law firms insist -- that the firms have been eager participants.

"The idea that law students want to contribute to the public service effort . . . was wonderful," said Tip Letsche of the D.C. office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, which agreed to join the effort.

Still, Robert M. Hayes, counsel to the National Coalition for the Homeless, a legal advocacy group based in New York, said partners from some of the firms have expressed misgivings privately.

Many of the firms make donations and represent the homeless at no charge, he said, and feel this new program "is mixing apples and oranges."

Hayes, who left the prestigious New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in 1982 to work with the homeless, said the idea of toning down the opulence of recruiting "undercuts . . . the most substantial reason people work in large firms -- the enjoyment of material pleasures."

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