Student Spotlights

Class of 2020, share your celebration with us!

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! We're excited to help you celebrate virtual HLS commencement and to share highlights of the day with the Harvard Law School community.

“I’ve always had a passion for engaging in my curiosity,” says João Marinotti ‘20, a linguist turned lawyer whose work focuses on sustainability, business, property, and private law.

With a background in chemical engineering and business, Brian Kulp ’20 is eyeing a future in appellate law

D Dangaran ’20, this year's William J. Stuntz Award winner, intends to focus on gender issues and transformative justice long-term.

Drawing inspiration from his time at HLS, Kelly Kapianga LL.M. ’20, who founded a nonprofit to provide legal services to juveniles, aims to combat corruption in Zambia.

A physician-researcher, Machteld van Egmond LL.M. ’20 explored the intersections among empirical science, law, and medicine during her LL.M. year at Harvard Law School.

Lyla Wasz-Piper ’20 and Kennedi Williams-Libert ’20 have received the 2020 Outstanding Clinical Student Team Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association, recognized for their unique partnership and exemplary teamwork during their time as student attorneys at the Criminal Justice Institute.

The Office of Clinical Pro Bono recognizes Class of 2020 clinical students who have exemplified a pro bono public spirit and demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to delivering high-quality legal services.

Jeremy Ravinsky ’20, this year’s recipient of the Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Award, was recognized for providing more than 2,000 hours of pro bono services with the Tenant Advocacy Project and Project No One Leaves.

Sejal Singh ’20 is the recipient of the David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award. She was recognized for her work on the Project on Predatory Student Lending, as well as her exemplary contributions to public-interest endeavors.

As the 133rd president of the Harvard Law Review, Lauren Beck ’20 has focused on making the journal more inclusive and accessible.

Members of the Class of 2020 reflect on their interests and share experiences they will take from their time at Harvard Law.

Dylan Asafo LL.M. ’20 plans to use his HLS education to help address the inequalities facing communities of color in New Zealand and the wider Pacific region.

Deftly adapting to a shift in both venue and format, and applying skills from their J-Term negotiation workshop, Harvard Law 1L students Adira E. Levine, Noopur Sen, and Adam J. Toobin were able to negotiate their way to victory in The Negotiation Challenge—an international contest drawing competitors from around the world.

Student fellows at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics recently celebrated their fellowships’ end virtually when their capstone meeting moved to Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Born and raised in Nepal, Sabrina Singh ’20 has been speaking out about how the COVID-19 pandemic could exacerbate conditions in her home country.

For the Clinical Program at Harvard Law School, the past weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a time to mobilize. As the clinics have moved to working remotely, their work has continued with new urgency.

HLS students reflect on their first week of online classes.

Harvard Law School Professor Emily Broad Leib ’08, director of the HLS Food Law and Policy Clinic, and her students have been working furiously to ensure that the most vulnerable—and ultimately the rest of us—are fed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Program filed its first Supreme Court brief challenging the Trump administration’s waiver of laws regarding the U.S.-Mexico border wall construction. Ashley Maiolatesi ’20 recently corresponded with Harvard Law Today about what is at stake, the specific ramifications of these waivers, and her own personal connection to the project.