Just a few years ago, Barack Obama was helping residents of the Altgeld Gardens housing development challenge the Chicago Housing Authority over asbestos in their apartments.

On Monday, the 28-year-old Obama was named president of the Harvard Law Review, the nation's most prestigious student legal journal. Obama is the first black elected to the post in its 104-year history.

The Review is considered one of the most authoritative of the law school reviews and is a forum for judges and scholars. It is also a high-powered springboard for aspiring lawyers. Its presidents usually go on serve as a clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for a year and then as a clerk for an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.