Whitney Benns

Whitney Benns is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School where she teaches Advanced Negotiation: Fugitive Negotiation. She also serves as a Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she teaches the Negotiation Workshop and Fugitive Negotiation: Negotiating Power, Space, and Purpose with/in Educational Institutions.

In her practice as a consultant, facilitator, and educator, Benns works with individuals and organizations to build communication and relationship capacity in negotiation, feedback, and conflict management. She works with a range of clients: nonprofit, for profit, and government, with an emphasis on work with education, legal, philanthropic, and social justice organizations. She is committed to bringing the potentialities of generative conflict, honest communication, and fugitive strategy to folks building power and accountable community.

Since 2017, Benns has provided ongoing support to organizations and campaigns in St. Louis that are working to dismantle extractive systems of law and capital and build movement towards more liberatory futures. Her work aims to help these organizations and campaigns align internal relationships, culture, and communication with collective values and commitments.