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 and OCP Blog Highlights.

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

Required Class Component: Supreme Court Litigation (1 winter clinical credit). This clinic and course are bundled; your enrollment in the clinic will automatically enroll you in this required course.

Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: None.


By Permission: Yes. Applications are due October 2, 2024.


Add/Drop Deadline: November 18, 2024.


LLM Students: International students on F-1 student visas are required to have Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization; LL.M. students on F-1 visas are not eligible for CPT.

Placement Site: Washington D.C.

This winter-term clinic is taken concurrently with the Supreme Court Litigation clinical course. Students are immersed in the practice of law before the United States Supreme Court. Both the class and clinic will take place in Washington, D.C.

The clinic and course consist of three major components:
(1) Intensive work on cases before the Court. Students will be assigned to small teams, each working closely with an instructor to write and file a petition for a writ of certiorari, brief in opposition to certiorari, merits brief, amicus brief and/or to prepare for oral argument in a pending case.
(2) Seminars. The instructors will facilitate classroom discussions about Supreme Court practice – including strategy, procedure, brief writing, and oral advocacy.
(3) Events. Students will attend arguments at the Supreme Court, view a moot court, and meet with leading members of the Supreme Court bar, former Supreme Court clerks, and members of the Supreme Court press corps.

The work is extremely rewarding, giving students an opportunity to work side by side with experienced Supreme Court practitioners litigating before the Court from the firms Goldstein & Russell and Gupta Wessler. The work is also quite intensive, precluding students from undertaking any significant non-class-related activities during the winter term. While we do our best to make the schedule manageable, the clinic requires us to complete a large amount of work in a short amount of time, and so students should be prepared to work long hours, including potentially on weekends.

Students will be provided transportation to and from Washington, D.C., as well as housing (students should plan to share rooms, subject to change based on guidance from Harvard or public health officials). Housing will not be provided for students’ spouses or significant others. Students generally will be responsible for providing themselves meals and transportation within the city.

Enrollment is through an application process. Interested students must submit a resume, a writing sample, and one or more references. The writing sample may consist of one or two writing products, totaling fifteen to twenty pages (the sample(s) should accurately indicate the student’s current writing ability, and so should not be significantly edited by anyone other than the author). The reference(s) should include the reference’s name and contact information. Application materials should be sent to Maggie Bay (mbay@law.harvard.edu) by October 2, 2024. Enrollment is limited to 10 students.

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