To learn more about the Clinical Curriculum and Registration, please visit our Clinical Registration Center. You can also find more information on How to Register for Clinics and How Clinical Credits Work.

For more information about this clinic, please visit the Clinic Website, Clinic Q&A and OCP Blog Highlights.

Enrollment in this clinic will fulfill the HLS JD pro bono requirement.

Required Class Component: Students must have completed Food Law and Policy (2 classroom credits) and/or Policy Advocacy Workshop (2 credits) to be eligible to enroll in this winter clinic.

Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: None.

By Permission: No.

Add/Drop Deadline: October 23, 2026.

LLM Students: LLM students may enroll in this clinic through Helios.

Placement Site: HLS.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) offers students the opportunity to develop a robust law and policy skillset while engaging in a wide range of cross-cutting issues that address the health, environmental, economic, and social impacts of the food and agriculture system. FLPC combines legal research and analysis as well as a toolkit of policy advocacy strategies to assist community members, clients, partners, and government agencies to understand and improve laws impacting the food system.

Students enrolled in the clinic during the January 2027 term will have the opportunity to learn by working on FLPC’s Global Food Donation Policy Atlas project, which includes the following objectives and tasks:

• Promoting policies that simultaneously address hunger and reduce the amount of food that is wasted, by analyzing and comparing laws and policies that encourage or discourage food donation and food recovery across jurisdictions.
• Collaborating with the food bank partners, food businesses, and community-based organizations providing food to those in need to uplift and strengthen food donation policies and food system justice efforts, and supporting those partners in developing policy priorities and preparing advocacy campaigns.
• Traveling to meet with clinic partners to conduct fact-finding and present our research; for January term 2027, the clinic plans to visit partners in Mexico, and 1-2 European countries (likely Portugal and one other).
• Depending on the needs of the clinic and student interest, there may be an opportunity to work on other clinic projects related to food system justice, climate and sustainability, or food access and nutrition. If you are interested in these other topics, please reach out to Professor Broad Leib to discuss what options might exist.

FLPC students practice a variety of transferable skills not otherwise gained in the classroom, including:

• Interviewing clients and/or stakeholders
• Writing formal legal guides, policy recommendations, toolkits, or public-facing reports
• Drafting and reviewing legislation and regulatory comments 
• Community organizing and coalition building
• Public speaking
• Writing communications/media material (e.g., blog posts, press releases)

For more information about FLPC, please email Professor Broad Leib at ebroad@law.harvard.edu or visit our website at https://chlpi.org/food-law-and-policy/.   

Successful completion of appropriate written work in this offering satisfies the professional writing requirement for matriculants to the J.D. program from 2023 onward.