Elizabeth Bartholet
Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law, Emeritus
An expert on civil rights and family law, Elizabeth Bartholet has served on the Faculty at Harvard Law School since 1977 and served as the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law from 1996 to 2021. In the Fall of 2004, she launched Harvard’s Child Advocacy Program (CAP), and she served as CAP’s Faculty Director until 2021. She served from 1968 to 1972 as staff counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and then founded and went on to direct from 1972 to 1977 the Legal Action Center, a public interest firm in New York City focused on criminal justice and substance abuse issues. At Harvard, she taught employment law and family law. She continues to write, lecture, and consult on these issues.
Bartholet has won several awards for her writing and related advocacy. Selected awards include the Radcliffe College Humane Recognition Award in 1997 and a “Media Achievement Award” in 1994.
Bartholet serves on the Board of Directors of the Legal Action Center and is a member of the Harvard Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committee. She has had extensive experience since 1980 as an arbitrator and mediator.
Bartholet earned a B.A. degree from Radcliffe College and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.
Representative Publications
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Elizabeth Bartholet, Homeschooling: Parent Rights Absolutism vs. Child Rights to Education & Protection, 62 Ariz. L. Rev. 1 (2020). -
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Elizabeth Bartholet, Differential Response: A Dangerous Experiment in Child Welfare, 42 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 573 (2015). -
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Elizabeth Bartholet, The Racial Disproportionality Movement in Child Welfare: False Facts and Dangerous Directions, 51 Ariz. L. Rev. 871 (2009). - Sean Hughes, Naomi Schaefer Riley, Marie Cohen et al., Why Foster Children Are Sleeping in Offices and What We Can Do About It (2023).
- Elizabeth Bartholet, When Universities Become ‘Safe Spaces’ from Free Speech, Hill (Apr. 1, 2023).