Faculty
The work of Harvard Law School’s faculty is redefining international scholarship. Through their research, teaching, backgrounds, public service, and collaborations with scholars around the world, they embody an awareness of and engagement with the world.
These HLS professors and lecturers, among others, regularly teach courses, seminars and reading groups, lead programs and projects, and conduct research on international, comparative and foreign law.
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- Professor Alford's full profile
William P. Alford
Professor Alford's full profile- Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of Law
- Director, East Asian Legal Studies Program
- Chair, Harvard Law School Project on Disability
- Special Advisor to the Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies
Professor William Alford, inter alia, is deeply immersed in research and pro bono activity concerning disability, some of it with students, with China one principal focus.
- Professor Anker's full profile
Deborah Anker
Professor Anker's full profile- Clinical Professor of Law
- Director, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic
Professor Deborah Anker conducts international and comparative refugee law research especially in connection with her position as senior researcher with the University of London’s Refugee Law Initiative. She has written gender asylum guidelines and numerous amicus curiae briefs as well as the ninth edition of the refugee law treatise The Law of Asylum (West, 2015).
- Professor Ardalan's full profile
Sabrineh Ardalan
Professor Ardalan's full profile- Clinical Professor
- Director, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic
Assistant Clinical Professor Sabi Ardalan engages in research and writing on a range of topics involving international and comparative refugee law, including violations of economic, social, and cultural rights and the refugee definition; Central American gangs and religious persecution; and interdisciplinary collaboration in asylum representation. She is active in developing law student exchanges and trainings with refugee law clinics in other countries, including Morocco, Israel, and Australia.
- Professor Bartholet's full profile
Elizabeth Bartholet
Professor Bartholet's full profile- Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law
- Faculty Director, Child Advocacy Program
Professor Elizabeth Bartholet has written articles, op-eds, and book chapters on the human rights of unparented children worldwide and related international adoption policies, initiated a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and filed an amicus brief before the European Court of Human Rights. She engages in a variety of ongoing advocacy efforts in connection with these issues, including proposed legislation in Congress.
- Professor Benkler's full profile
Yochai Benkler
Professor Benkler's full profile- Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies
- Faculty Co-Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Professor Yochai Benkler is a founder of the Media Cloud project, an open source, open data platform that allows researchers to answer complex quantitative and qualitative questions about the content of online media.
Because Harvard Law School faculty’s expertise and research interests range across jurisdictional and disciplinary borders, so does the curriculum. HLS is leading the way with innovative thinking about how law might best be practiced and taught in a world linked by converging and competing legal systems, technology, and a relative ease of scholarly exchange.
- Professor Blum's full profile
Gabriella Blum
Professor Blum's full profile- Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
- Faculty Director, Program on International Law and Armed Conflict
Professor Gabriella Blum specializes in public international law, international negotiations, the law of armed conflict, and counterterrorism. She is the author of Islands of Agreement: Managing Enduring Armed Rivalries (2007), Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists, co-authored with Philip Heymann and recipient of the Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize (2010), and of The Future of Violence: Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones–Confronting a New Age of Threat, co-authored with Benjamin Wittes and recipient of the Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize (2015), as well as of journal articles in the fields of public international law and the law and morality of war.
- Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
- Professor Cohen's full profile
I. Glenn Cohen
Professor Cohen's full profile- James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law
- Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics
Professor I. Glenn Cohen teaches and writes on health law and the intersection of bioethics and the law. He also teaches civil procedure. Professor Cohen is the author of Patients with Passports: Medical Tourism, Law, and Ethics (2014), and has written, edited or co-edited eight additional books.
- Ms. Cohen's full profile
Rebecca Richman Cohen
Ms. Cohen's full profile- Lecturer on Law
Rebecca Richman Cohen directed and produced WAR DON DON about a war crimes trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She is currently working on a new film that interweaves stories of vintners in France with cannabis farmers in the US, looking at the regulatory regimes and cultural influence of both industries.
- Ms. Crowe's full profile
Anna Crowe
Ms. Crowe's full profile- Lecturer on Law
Anna Crowe is a Lecturer on Law and Clinical Instructor at the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC). Her work focuses on the right to privacy and the right to a legal identity. She also has expertise in humanitarian disarmament and transitional justice.
- Professor Desai's full profile
Mihir A. Desai
Professor Desai's full profile- Professor of Law
- Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School
Professor Mihir Desai writes about tax policy in a globalized economy and on the intersection of taxation, corporate governance, and multinational firms’ internal capital markets, and has testified before Congress regarding corporate and international taxation.
- Professor Desan's full profile
Christine Desan
Professor Desan's full profile- Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law
Professor Christine Desan focuses on the international monetary system, the constitutional law of money, constitutional history, political economy, and legal theory. She is the co-founder of Harvard’s Program on the Study of Capitalism.
- Ms. Docherty's full profile
Bonnie Docherty
Ms. Docherty's full profile- Lecturer on Law
- Senior Clinical Instructor, International Human Rights Clinic
Lecturer on Law Bonnie Docherty, a leader in the field of humanitarian disarmament, strives to protect civilians from unacceptably cruel weapons; as lawyer and field researcher, she is currently working to strengthen international law on cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, and fully autonomous weapons (“killer robots”). She is also doing research on the human rights implications of gold mining in South Africa.
- Professor Donahue's full profile
Charles Donahue
Professor Donahue's full profile- Paul A. Freund Professor of Law
Professor Charles Donahue focuses on European legal history, both English and Continental, with particular emphasis on the medieval and early modern periods. He is currently working on the new Oxford History of the Laws of England’s volume on the 14th-century.
- Professor Elhauge's full profile
Einer Elhauge
Professor Elhauge's full profile- Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Law
Professor Einer Elhauge teaches and writes on issues of global antitrust law and economics, and is the founding faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics.
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Who needs foreign law?
In a globalized society and economy, knowledge of foreign law is important for legal practitioners, says Professor Emeritus Mary Ann Glendon.
- Professor Farbstein's full profile
Susan Farbstein
Professor Farbstein's full profile- Clinical Professor of Law
- Co-Director, International Human Rights Clinic
Professor Susan Farbstein is involved in a range of human rights projects around the globe including litigation to advance the right to education in South Africa; promotion of economic, social, and cultural rights in Zimbabwe; reform of military policy to increase civilian protection in Myanmar; and accountability for a civilian massacre in Bolivia.
- Professor Feldman's full profile
Noah Feldman
Professor Feldman's full profile- Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law
- Director, Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law
Professor Noah Feldman specializes in constitutional studies, with particular emphasis on the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design, and the history of legal theory. He has authored six books, including Cool War: The Future of Global Competition (Random House, 2013).
- Professor Fisher's full profile
William Fisher
Professor Fisher's full profile- WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law
- Faculty Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Professor William W. Fisher focuses on international access to lifesaving drugs for underserved populations, and is writing, with Talha Syed SJD ’04, the forthcoming Infection: The Health Crisis in the Developing World and What We Should Do About It (Stanford University Press).
- Professor Frug's full profile
Gerald E. Frug
Professor Frug's full profile- Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law
Professor Gerald E. Frug specializes in local government issues in the United States and around the world, and is one of the founders of the Urban Age conference series, which addresses the spatial, social, economic, and political dynamics of the world’s cities.
- Professor Gasser's full profile
Urs Gasser
Professor Gasser's full profile- Professor of Practice
- Executive Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Professor Urs Gasser is writing a comparative study on the future of privacy, teaches a course on comparative online privacy, and incubated the Digital Asia Hub. He currently serves as senior advisor to the World Economic Forum’s global Future of the Internet Initiative and is working with UNICEF on children’s rights and digital technology.
- Professor Giannini's full profile
Tyler Giannini
Professor Giannini's full profile- Clinical Professor of Law
- Co-Director, International Human Rights Clinic
Professor Tyler Giannini’s recent international clinical work includes supporting accountability, education and assembly rights, women’s leadership in Myanmar; pursuing accountability in U.S. Supreme Court against companies complicit in apartheid-era crimes in South Africa; similar litigation against the former president and defense minister of Bolivia for their involvement in a massacre in 2003; and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence around a mine in Papua New Guinea.
- Professor Glendon's full profile
Mary Ann Glendon
Professor Glendon's full profile- Professor Emeritus
Professor Emeritus Mary Ann Glendon currently serves as a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Her recent publications include Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell (4th ed. with Carozza and Picker, West, 2016). In 2014, she was appointed to the board of supervisors of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (Vatican Bank).
- Professor Goldsmith's full profile
Jack Landman Goldsmith
Professor Goldsmith's full profile- Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law
Professor Jack Landman Goldsmith writes frequently about international law and national security law issues, including an article in the November 2015 Harvard Law Review about the Supreme Court’s ruling in Zivotofsky v. Kerry regarding foreign territorial sovereignty and the president’s power in recognizing foreign governments.
- Professor Halley's full profile
Janet Halley
Professor Halley's full profile- Royall Professor of Law
Professor Janet Halley specializes in comparative family law, discrimination, law and literary theory, law and social theory, legal theory, and the regulation of sexuality. She is co-director of the Interdisciplinary Project on Human Trafficking, and is working on two book projects: The Family/Market Distinction: A Genealogy and Critique and Rape in Armed Conflict: Assessing the Feminist Vision and its Law.
- Professor Howell Jackson's full profile
Howell E. Jackson
Professor Howell Jackson's full profile- James S. Reid, Jr. Professor of Law
Professor Howell E. Jackson recently published “U.S. Financial Regulation in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis” in Financial Regulation: A Transatlantic Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and with Jeffery Y. Zhang, “Private and Public Enforcement in Securities Regulation” in The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance (2015).
- Professor Vicki Jackson's full profile
Vicki C. Jackson
Professor Vicki Jackson's full profile- Thurgood Marshall Professor of Constitutional Law
Professor Vicki C. Jackson participates in international scholarly projects regarding elected representatives in a democracy, gender equality and the interaction of international and domestic law, and the co-evolution of the constitutionalization of international law and the internationalization of constitutional law. In 2014 she published, with Professor Mark Tushnet, the third edition of Comparative Constitutional Law (Foundation, 2014).
- Professor Kamali's full profile
Elizabeth Papp Kamali
Professor Kamali's full profile- Professor of Law
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Papp Kamali’s current book project is on medieval English felony law, with emphasis on the role of mens rea in jury determinations of guilt and innocence. She is also working on essays related to the interplay of law and equity in a medieval English manor court, the assumptions underlying England’s adoption of trial by jury for crime in the early 13th century, and the role of gossip and publicity in homicide prosecutions in 14th-century London.
- Professor Kennedy's full profile
David W. Kennedy
Professor Kennedy's full profile- Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law
- Director, Institute for Global Law and Policy
Professor David W. Kennedy is particularly committed to developing new voices from the third world and among women in international affairs. He has written numerous articles on international law and global governance and recently published A World of Struggle: How Power, Law, and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy (Princeton University Press, 2016).
- Professor Kraakman's full profile
Reinier H. Kraakman
Professor Kraakman's full profile- Ezra Ripley Thayer Professor of Law
Professor Reinier H. Kraakman researches foreign direct investment by firms located in emerging economies, and is contributing to the forthcoming third edition of The Anatomy of Corporate Law (Oxford) which looks at seven jurisdictions: United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and Brazil.
- Professor Lanni's full profile
Adriaan Lanni
Professor Lanni's full profile- Touroff-Glueck Professor of Law
Professor Adriaan Lanni focuses on ancient Greek and Roman law. Recent projects include book on crime and punishment in classical Athens and a series of articles on comparative institutional design in the ancient world.
- Professor Minow's full profile
Martha Minow
Professor Minow's full profile- Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence
- Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
Professor Minow, who served as Dean of Harvard Law School from 2009-2017, published In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark (Oxford, 2010), examining how this decision has shaped education policy and practice both in the U.S. and abroad, and co-edited with Professor Alex Whiting and Cora True-Frost LL.M. ‘06 The First Global Prosecutor (2015). Her work on human rights and transitional societies includes service on the International Independent Commission on Kosovo and the UNHCR project Imagine Co-Existence.
- Professor Mnookin's full profile
Robert Mnookin
Professor Mnookin's full profile- Samuel Williston Professor of Law
- Chair, Program on Negotiation
- Director, Harvard Negotiation Research Project
Professor Robert Mnookin specializes in the field of conflict resolution and teaches workshops for corporations, governmental agencies, and law firms throughout the world. He co-chairs the American Secretaries of State Project, which aims to bring all former U.S. Secretaries of State to Harvard University to examine—with faculty, students, and experts—the most demanding and important negotiations they conducted while serving in the nation’s highest foreign policy office.
- Professor Modirzadeh's full profile
Naz Modirzadeh
Professor Modirzadeh's full profile- Professor of Practice
- Founding Director, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC)
Professor Naz Modirzadeh advises and briefs international humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and governments on issues related to international humanitarian law, human rights, and counterterrorism regulations relating to humanitarian assistance. Her scholarship and research focus on intersections between the fields of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Islamic law. She is the founding director of the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict.
- Professor Neuman's full profile
Gerald Neuman
Professor Neuman's full profile- J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law
Professor Gerald Neuman co-directs the HLS Human Rights Program. He specializes in international human rights law and immigration and nationality law, and was a member of the U.N. Human Rights Committee from 2011 to 2014.
- Professor Okediji's full profile
Ruth Okediji
Professor Okediji's full profile- Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law
- Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Professor Okediji’s scholarship focuses on the international regulatory environment for knowledge goods, innovation policy and global knowledge governance. She has served as a policy advisor to many inter-governmental organizations, regional economic communities and national governments on the formulation of copyright and patent policies, and on institutional design choices related to IP administration.
- Professor Power's full profile
Samantha Power
Professor Power's full profile- William D. Zabel ’61 Professor of Practice in Human Rights
- Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor Samantha Power has been recognized as a leading global thinker on foreign policy, human rights and democracy. She served from 2013 to 2017 as the 28th U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet. Earlier, she served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights.
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Courses and Reading Groups
Every year, HLS offers more than 90 courses, seminars and reading groups focusing on international, foreign, or comparative law. Every J.D. student takes an international or comparative law class during their time at HLS.
- Professor Rabb's full profile
Intisar Rabb
Professor Rabb's full profile- Professor of Law
- Director, Program in Islamic Law
- Professor of History, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Professor Intisar Rabb has written on Islamic law in historical and modern contexts, Islamic constitutionalism, Islamic legal maxims, and on the early history of the Qur’an text. As director of the Program in Islamic Law, she has launched SHARIAsource, an online global database that will house primary sources on, and analysis about, Islamic law.7
- Professor Ramseyer's full profile
J. Mark Ramseyer
Professor Ramseyer's full profile- Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies
Professor J. Mark Ramseyer teaches and researches Japanese law, primarily from a law and economics perspective. He has taught at several Japanese universities and published a book on Japanese tort litigation, Second-Best Justice: The Virtues of Japanese Private Law (University of Chicago Press, 2015).
- Professor Roe's full profile
Mark Roe
Professor Roe's full profile- David Berg Professor of Law
Professor Mark Roe focuses on the worldwide problems of business bankruptcy, corporate law, and financial regulation. He is currently writing Taxing Banks Properly, which examines how bank taxation impedes or fosters financial safety in the U.S. and Europe.
- Professor Scott's full profile
Hal Scott
Professor Scott's full profile- Nomura Professor of International Financial Systems, Emeritus
Professor Hal Scott conducts research on capital markets, financial regulation, and international finance. He also directs the Program on International Financial Systems which organizes annual symposia gathering senior financial leaders, high-ranking government officials, and distinguished academics for dialogue on the development and improvement of international capital markets.
- Read more in the Harvard Law BulletinRead more in the Harvard Law Bulletin
The journey of an idealist
Ambassador Samantha Power ‘99, now teaching at HLS and the Kennedy School, shares her story in a new memoir.
- Professor Singer's full profile
Joseph William Singer
Professor Singer's full profile- Bussey Professor of Law
Professor Joseph Singer teaches and writes about property law, conflict of laws, and federal Indian law. He also writes about legal theory with an emphasis on moral and political philosophy. He is one of the executive editors of the 2012 edition of Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law (with 2015 Supplement). He has written a casebook and a treatise on property law, as well as No Freedom Without Regulation: The Hidden Lesson of the Subprime Crisis (2015), Entitlement: The Paradoxes of Property (2000), and The Edges of the Field: Lessons on the Obligations of Ownership (2000).
- Professor Stein's full profile
Michael Stein
Professor Stein's full profile- Visiting Professor of Law
- Co-founder and Executive Director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability
Visiting Professor Michael Stein works with disabled persons organizations around the world, actively consults with international governments on their disability laws and policies, and advises a number of United Nations bodies. He and the Harvard Law School Project on Disability continue to train and support the work of self-advocates with intellectual disabilities and their families and supporters in Bangladesh, China, and Israel.
- Professor Stephenson's full profile
Matthew Stephenson
Professor Stephenson's full profile- Eli Goldstein Professor of Law
Professor Matthew Stephenson specializes in the global issues of anticorruption law, legislation, administrative law, and the application of political economy to public institutional design. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Global Anticorruption Blog, which features student analyses of the problem of corruption around the world.
- Professor Stilt's full profile
Kristen Stilt
Professor Stilt's full profile- Deputy Dean
- Professor of Law
- Faculty Director, Animal Law & Policy Program
- Director, Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World
Professor Kristen Stilt teaches and researches on issues in Islamic law and society in both historical and contemporary contexts. She directs the Animal Law and Policy Program and the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World.
- Professor Subramanian's full profile
Guhan Subramanian
Professor Subramanian's full profile- Joseph H. Flom Professor of Law and Business
- H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law, Harvard Business School
Professor Guhan Subramanian’s research explores topics in global corporate governance, corporate law, and negotiations. He is the vice chair for research for the Program on Negotiation and is currently working on a project entitled “The Effect of Prohibiting Deal Protection on M&A Activity: Evidence from the United Kingdom.”
- Mr. Torrey's full profile
Philip Torrey
Mr. Torrey's full profile- Lecturer on Law
- Managing Attorney, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, and Supervising Attorney, Harvard Immigration Project
Lecturer on Law Phil Torrey supervises the Crimmigration Clinic which specializes in the intersection of criminal law and immigration law. In the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, he represents clients seeking asylum and other forms of humanitarian immigration relief. His research focuses on the crime-based grounds of removal and immigration detention, including the private prison industry, and the immigration system’s mandatory detention regime.
- Professor Tushnet's full profile
Mark Tushnet
Professor Tushnet's full profile- William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law. Emeritus
Professor Mark Tushnet led the 2016 Radcliffe Institute conference on public participation in constitutional design, and recently published Advanced Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law (2014), The Arab Spring: An Essay on Revolution and Constitutionalism (2015) with Antoni Abat y Ninet, and the third edition of Comparative Constitutional Law, with Professor Vicki Jackson (2014).
- Professor Unger's full profile
Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Professor Unger's full profile- Roscoe Pound Professor of Law
Professor Roberto Unger’s international work focuses on legal, social, political, and economic theory. He has twice (2007 and 2015) served as the Brazilian Minister of Strategic Affairs.
- Professor White's full profile
Lucie White
Professor White's full profile- Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law
Professor Lucie White has worked for more than a decade on the issue of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2002 she has led Making Rights Real: The Ghana Project, a seminar and clinic in which students work closely with Ghanaian organizations that focus on the human rights dimensions of Ghana’s health policies and practices.
- Professor Whiting's full profile
Alex Whiting
Professor Whiting's full profile- Professor of Practice (on leave, 2019-2021)
Professor Alex Whiting teaches, writes, and consults on domestic and international criminal prosecution issues. He brings extensive prosecutorial experience (including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague) to his role as faculty co-director of the Criminal Justice Policy Program, working with student-fellows and partner organizations to advance criminal justice reform worldwide.
- Professor Wilkins' full profile
David Wilkins
Professor Wilkins' full profile- Lester Kissel Professor of Law
- Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession
- Director, Center on the Legal Profession
Professor David Wilkins directs the Project on Globalization, Lawyers and Emerging Economies, a research collaborative studying how globalization is reshaping the legal services market in Asia, Africa, and Latin America’s emerging economies, and how this process is in turn reshaping the global legal services market, global governance, and the rule of law.
- Professor Wu's full bio
Mark Wu
Professor Wu's full bio- Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies
- Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law
Professor Mark Wu specializes in international economic and trade law. He engages regularly with government officials and several expert groups organized by the World Economic Forum and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development on the future of the global trading system. With the active support of a team of students, he recently co-organized the 20th anniversary conference of the World Trade Organization in the United States.
- Professor Zittrain's full bio
Jonathan Zittrain
Professor Zittrain's full bio- George Bemis Professor of International Law
- Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources
- Faculty Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society
- Professor of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Professor, Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government
Professor Jonathan Zittrain leads the Berklett Cybersecurity Project, at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, which evaluates the set of responsibilities related to foreign intelligence gathering and aims to identify concrete steps to clarify roles and boundaries for the intelligence community, the corporate sector, academics, non-profits, and individuals.