The Jane Lakes Harman Writer-in-Residence brings distinguished writers to Harvard Law School to helps students turn complex legal arguments into compelling narratives for public audiences.
From the Dean
The Jane Lakes Harman Writer-in-Residence program presents a tremendous opportunity for members of our community, deepening our commitment to teaching legal writing in its many forms. It allows HLS students to work directly with a distinguished writer through a series of workshops and open office hours. With their accomplished guests, our Writers-in-Residence help students master the craft of presenting complex legal arguments as compelling narratives. As the nature of legal writing continues to evolve with new technology and communications platforms, our Writer-in-Residence provides invaluable insights on how to communicate effectively, whether through a traditional legal brief or short-form writing intended for a broad audience.
This program was made possible by a generous donation from Jane Lakes Harman ’69, a California Representative in the U.S. Congress from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2011 and former president of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. Representative Harman has a pioneer for women in public service, a committed mentor, and a vital member of this community for nearly six decades. We are immensely grateful to her for all she has done to support HLS’s mission of teaching, learning, research, and service.
John Goldberg
Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law
Harvard Law School
“When I was at this law school, there were no writing courses. I didn’t have a clue about how to do public-facing writing and taught myself by looking at what other people did. I hope this program goes on and on and on, and it’s a tool for today’s law students.”
Jane Lakes Harman ‘69
Past Events
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David French
March 26, 2026
Opinion columnist at The New York Times; Former Senior Writer at National Review; Former Senior Editor of The Dispatch; Former Contributing Writer at The Atlantic; author of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.
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Jennifer Gonnerman
March 10, 2026
Staff Writer at The New Yorker; author of “Before the Law” (Finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing).
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Patrick Radden Keefe
February 4, 2026
Staff Writer at The New Yorker; author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (one of The New York Times’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century) and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (a New York Times notable book of 2022).
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Gary J. Bass
January 28, 2026
William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War, Princeton University; author of Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia (one of The Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2023).
