The Animal Law & Policy Clinic provides students the opportunity to advance the interests of wild, farmed, and captive animals through litigation, administrative rulemaking, policy initiatives, organizing, and other legal advocacy avenues. You will gain direct experience with a broad range of federal and state laws—such as the Endangered Species Act, the Animal Welfare Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act—and develop critically important strategic thinking and analytical skills. You will have significant responsibility over your projects, and will learn best practices of case management, including how to juggle multiple projects and how to work with co-counsel.
How to Register
The Animal Law & Policy Clinic is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. You can learn about the required clinical course component and clinical credits, in the Course Catalog.
Meet the Instructors
Mary Hollingsworth
Visiting Clinical Professor and Director
Mary Hollingsworth, Visiting Clinical Professor and Clinical Director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic was formerly a senior trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, where she has worked since 2011. She has more than a decade of experience litigating cases arising under the Endangered Species Act in federal courts across the country.
She received a B.A. in Political Science and Russian & East European Studies from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law. After law school, she clerked for Justice Michael Ryan of the Arizona Supreme Court and Judge Murray Snow of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona before joining the U.S. Department of Justice through the Honors Program.
Nirva Kapasi Patel
Executive Director, Animal Law & Policy Program
Nirva is an attorney with a background in science, communications, and animal policy. She brings decades of experience inspiring positive change for animals as an animal rights campaigner, non-profit board member, and executive producer of documentaries such as Meat Me Halfway, The End of Medicine, and The Game Changers–one of the most watched documentaries on Netflix. Nirva also spent the past five years serving on the board of Farm Sanctuary, most recently as its Chair.
Prior to becoming Executive Director, Nirva was a Global Policy Fellow with the ALPP focusing on live animal markets and animal legal education in India. She also provided critical research for Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic, where she also worked with students on projects and cases. She has been Involved in the Clinic’s ongoing lawsuit against the National Park Service over the dying Tule Elk population at Point Reyes National Seashore, and efforts to eliminate public funding for cruel and unnecessary animal experimentation.
Nirva has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, the Fur Free Coalition, and the International Vegan Film Festival, in addition to Farm Sanctuary. She grew up in Ashland, Massachusetts, and then worked in animal advocacy in Mumbai, India for close to a decade. Since returning to the U.S., Nirva has led several successful animal advocacy campaigns, including banning the sale of fur in the towns of Lexington and her current home of Weston, MA.
A member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the United States Patent and Trademark Organization, Nirva holds a J.D. from The New England School of Law, an M.S. in Animals and Public Policy from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University. She is a Jain American who practices the philosophy of ahimsa, which espouses nonviolence to all living creatures.
In the News
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Finding an unexpected passion while advocating for beloved creatures
“Little did I know the profound and meaningful impact the Animal Law & Policy Clinic projects would have on my life,” writes Sophia Pereira’24.
April 29, 2024
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Inside the Harvard Law School Clinic Advocating for Animal Rights
By Neil H. ShahVia The Harvard Crimson Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic will enter a new chapter after the departure of its director at the end of this semester. From an ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding its laboratory inspection policies to successful advocacy efforts to allow plant-based milk alternatives
April 24, 2023
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Clinic Submits Public Comments to USDA on Animal Handling, Enrichment, and Personnel Training
By Hallie Aylesworth ’24, Elizabeth Duncan ’23, and Andrew Slottje ’23Via Animal Law & Policy Clinic Blog Today, Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic submitted comprehensive public comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service in response to its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on “Wild and Exotic Animal Handling, Training
April 11, 2023
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Federal Judge Rules USDA Acted Unlawfully in Denying Petition to Improve the Psychological Well-Being of Primates Used in Research
Via Animal Law & Policy Clinic Judge Julie Rubin of the federal district court in Maryland yesterday issued a stunning victory today for Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic. In her 28-page decision, Judge Rubin ruled that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully by denying a petition for rulemaking to improve the
March 29, 2023
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All Creatures Great and Small
A Harvard Law School program is trying to prove that better animal welfare is good for everyone By Rachel Reed Via Harvard Law Today Harvard Law’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program and the affiliated Animal Law & Policy Clinic work together to harness the legal system to improve the treatment of animals — in captivity and
February 22, 2023