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

Required Class Component: Strategic Litigation and Immigration Advocacy (2 spring classroom credits). Students who enroll in this clinic will be enrolled in the required clinical course component by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.

Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: None.

By Permission: No.

Add/Drop Deadline: December 3, 2021.

LLM Students: LLM students may apply to the clinic through the LLM General Clinic Application. International LLM students in F-1 student status cannot be placed at GBLS.

Placement Site: Either HLS or GBLS (downtown Boston).

For thirty years, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic (HIRC), in partnership with Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), has focused on direct representation of individuals applying for U.S. asylum and related relief, as well as representation of individuals who have survived domestic violence and other crimes and/or who seek avoidance of forced removal in immigration proceedings (i.e., VAWA, U-visas, Cancellation of Removal, Temporary Protected Status, etc.). HIRC is also involved in district court and appellate litigation, as well as policy advocacy at the local, national, and international levels.

HIRC students take the lead in representing clients from all over the world who are seeking protection from being returned to human rights abuses in their country of origin, protection from exile after years of living in the United States, or reunification with their families. About forty students are placed each year with HIRC either at Harvard or at its partner clinic, Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston’s oldest legal services organization (located in downtown Boston). Students are encouraged to sign up for either sixteen or twenty hours per week (4-5 clinical credits).

Students who have taken the course “Emerging Issues in Refugee Protection: The Representation of Child Asylum Seekers” may request a clinical seminar waiver by contacting the clinic directly.