Clinical and Pro Bono Programs
NOTICE: The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs is currently working remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We are available M-F 9am-6pm. Please dial 617-495-5202 to reach our main line or e-mail clinical@law.harvard.edu.
Explore Resources For Clinical and Pro Bono Programs
Key Resources
Key Resources
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Remembering Kristin Muniz
Kristin Muniz was a senior clinical instructor and trial team coach at CJI for ten years until she left HLS in 2017 to become the Attorney in Charge of the Roxbury Office and then the Boston Office of Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). To all who knew Kristin she was a kind and compassionate person and advocate. She was full of life and vitality, which makes her passing all the more heartbreaking and unexpected. We will miss her so very much.
Clinical & Pro Bono Programs
Clinical & Pro Bono Programs
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In-House Clinics
Hands-On Learning
Explore the ClinicsIn-House Clinics
Hands-On Learning
There are 21 In-house clinics taught by 22 Clinical Professors of Law and more than 60 Clinical Instructors and Lecturers on Law. Each clinic is tied to a classroom component, in which clinical experiences supplement and contribute to further discussion.Explore the Clinics -
Externship Clinics
Hundreds of placements
Explore the ClinicsExternship Clinics
Hundreds of placements
There are 13 Externships taught by faculty and experienced attorneys who are experts in their field. Students are placed at government agencies and organizations across the U.S. and supplement that experience through a required course component.Explore the Clinics -
Connect to Resources
COVID-19 Engagement at HLS OCP
Support your community
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Independent
Clinical ProgramSet up your own clinical placement
Explore the ProgramIndependent
Clinical ProgramSet up your own clinical placement
The Independent Clinical Program is designed to provide students an opportunity to be entrepreneurial and design a custom placement - in U.S. and abroad - that will meet their individualized learning goals.Explore the Program -
Advanced
Clinical ProgramContinue your clinical work into a new semester
Explore the ProgramAdvanced
Clinical ProgramContinue your clinical work into a new semester
With approval of the clinic, the Advanced Clinical Program allows a student to continue their clinical work into subsequent semesters and across academic years.Explore the Program -
Student Practice Organizations
Gain practical legal experience for pro bono credit
Explore the SPOsStudent Practice Organizations
Gain practical legal experience for pro bono credit
While students do not receive academic credit for participating in SPOs, their hours can count towards the 50-hour pro bono graduation requirement starting first day of classes, 1L year.Explore the SPOs
Clinical Spotlight
Clinical Spotlight
Volunteer lawyers will advise military personnel who question the legality of orders during protests, election disputes
by Shane Harrisvia The Washington Post A group of lawyers is offering advice to military and National Guard members who worry they may be given unlawful orders if deployed during protests or disputes over next month’s elections. The Orders Project was formed in response to the use of force against protesters this summer in Lafayette Square, two […]
Celebrating our Clinical Colleagues: 2019-2020 Dean’s Award for Excellence and 2020 Harvard Heroes
On September 29, 2020 the HLS community celebrated the recipients of the Dean’s Award for Excellence and those named as Harvard Heroes via virtual ceremony. While a variety of departments were represented among the awardees, we are especially proud to recognize five members of the clinical community for their hard work and dedication. Congratulations to […]
Remembering Kristin Muniz
Kristin Muniz was a senior clinical instructor and trial team coach at CJI for ten years until she left HLS in 2017 to become the Attorney in Charge of the Roxbury Office and then the Boston Office of Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). To all who knew Kristin she was a kind and compassionate person and advocate. […]
Advocating for Compassionate Release During COVID-19
by Sarah Parker J.D.’21 Quarantined in my apartment, I felt powerless as COVID-19 ravaged our most vulnerable communities last spring. Because of my work with incarcerated people through the Prison Legal Assistance Project (PLAP) here at HLS, I was particularly concerned with the risks the virus posed to incarcerated individuals. As I spoke to PLAP […]
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Student Life in the Clinical and Pro Bono Programs
Julian Spearchief Morris, the first Native American president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Read Caption
Jin Kim '18 (right), a student with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, testified at a special hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on March 21, 2017, alongside fellow HIRC member, Malene Alleyne LL.M. '17 (left). Read Caption
Two Harvard Law clinicians and four students took part in negotiating the treaty banning nuclear weapons as partners of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which recently received the Nobel Peace Prize. Read Caption
Dayne Lee '17, at the Massachusetts State House with Eloise Lawrence (far right), clinical instructor in community lawyering and lecturer on law at HLS; and Elvitria Marroquin and one of her two sons. Lee argued on behalf of Marroquin, who has been fighting foreclosure on her home since 2008. Read Caption
Clinical students photographed at a courthouse. Read Caption
Lecturer on Law Rachel Viscomi ’01 (left) moderated the day’s first panel, “Dispute Systems Design: Expanding Horizons.” Panelists included Seanan Fong, HDS ’16, consultant and founder of Cylinder Project and a solo ombudsman to a major tech company; Stacie Nicole Smith, senior mediator and director of Workable Peace at the Consensus Building Institute; Stephan Sonnenberg ’06, faculty Member and clinic expert at the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law in Bhutan; and (not pictured) Joseph B. (Josh) Stulberg, Michael E. Moritz Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Read Caption