The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) serves partner organizations and communities by providing guidance on cutting-edge food system issues, while engaging law students in the practice of food law and policy. FLPC focuses on increasing access to healthy foods, supporting sustainable production and regional food systems, and reducing waste of healthy, wholesome food.

Students in the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic engage in action-based learning to gain a deeper understanding of the complex challenges facing our food system. Student clinicians get hands-on experience conducting legal and policy research for individuals, community groups, and government agencies on a wide range of issues. In doing so, students are asked to turn their academic training into creative, tangible legal and policy solutions to real-world food system challenges.

FLPC student clinicians practice valuable skills not otherwise gained in the classroom. For example, students may engage in the following: legal research and writing, drafting legislation and regulations, commenting on agency actions, engaging in public speaking and trainings, and community organizing, among others. Students are also expected to meet a community engagement requirement, which involves traveling outside of the clinic space to meet with partners and client communities. Students receive credit for their clinical work (3-5 credits/ semester) and are required to enroll in the Food Law and Policy Seminar or the Policy Advocacy Workshop (2 credits) as a prerequisite.

In addition to clinical students, FLPC works closely with 40-50 students each year through the Mississippi Delta Project and the Food Law Society at Harvard Law School. FLPC also offers a unique, vibrant, and fast-paced summer internship opportunity to students from law schools, graduate schools, and colleges around the country.