Areas of Interest
Human Rights
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In January, Harvard Law students worked with the families of former members of the Afghan parliament hoping to settle safely in Canada.
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Russian forces are using weapons widely banned across the world, says Harvard Law expert
March 3, 2022
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, of particular concern, says arms expert Bonnie Docherty, is the reported use of cluster munitions and other explosives in highly populated areas.
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Justice for all
January 25, 2022
For the past two years, students in Harvard’s Prison Legal Assistance Project have helped prisoners they say were targeted for retaliatory violence.
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Weighing President Biden’s first year: Immigration
January 18, 2022
Sabrineh Ardalan, of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, praises Biden for jettisoning some Trump-era policies, but says he has also “doubled down on” on the former administration’s “draconian … border policies.”
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Crimmigration Clinic helps score First Circuit victory for asylum-seeker, Boston-area immigrants
January 18, 2022
In a case that could have national implications, the Harvard Law School Crimmigration Clinic recently convinced judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to discredit the use of controversial municipal gang databases in immigration proceedings.
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Rescuing MLK and his Children’s Crusade
January 14, 2022
In “Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality,” Harvard Law Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin traces the tactics of the groundbreaking lawyer amid pivotal protests.
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Supreme Court preview: Garland v. Gonzalez
January 4, 2022
Two Harvard Law School scholars explain why the Garland v. Gonzalez case could have broader implications for immigrants and advocates.
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Waiving COVID vaccine patent rights? It’s complicated
December 27, 2021
Harvard Law Today recently spoke to Professors Terry Fisher and Ruth Okediji about COVID-19 vaccine challenges in the global south, waiving drug-maker patents, and what they propose to reform the system in time for the next pandemic.
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Conservative backlash threatens global gender justice efforts
December 7, 2021
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity shared his views at a virtual event last month hosted by the HLS Human Rights Program that focused on his year-long investigation into incorporation of gender and gender identity into international human rights law.
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Debating the future of Roe
December 3, 2021
At the recent Rappaport Forum, panelists discussed abortion rights and whether the Supreme Court should honor precedent — or jettison Roe v. Wade.
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The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University has announced the appointment of Susan Hendrickson ’93 as its new executive director.
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The Tortys return
November 24, 2021
Oscars-style event back in person for its fifth year, celebrating student short films on tort law and justice.
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‘Don’t just be a lawyer. Be a strategist’
November 10, 2021
The Center on the Legal Profession convenes experts from public and private sectors for a day-long symposium on crisis lawyering.
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In a potentially precedent-setting case, Veterans Clinic students work to help LGBTQ widower secure VA benefits
November 8, 2021
Members of the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School are representing a same-sex widower in his appeal before the VA and in federal court in a potentially precedent-setting case.
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Friends and advocates
October 27, 2021
Passionate human rights advocates Anoush Baghdassarian ’22 and Sondra Anton ’22 find friendship and solidarity at HLS.
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Investigating mask mandate bans
September 13, 2021
Michael Ashley Stein ’88, executive director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, says the Department of Education should go beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act in investigating state bans against mandating face coverings in schools.
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A co-author of the 9/11 Commission report, who served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, says engaged citizenry united in its efforts will make this country safer.
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Each year, half of HLS’ first-year J.D. students and around a quarter of LL.M. students participate in at least one of HLS' 11 Student Practice Organizations, with some involved in multiple organizations at once.
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A special responsibility
September 9, 2021
As special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, or VCF, Rupa Bhattacharyya ’95 is working to ensure that fair compensation goes to the victims of the attacks.
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Faculty on the move
September 1, 2021
With the start of the academic year, a look at nine faculty who have joined Harvard Law School, been promoted, or taken on new roles in 2021.
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Fourteen selected as Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows
August 6, 2021
This academic year, 14 Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows have been named at Harvard Law School.
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Polyamory and the law
August 3, 2021
Harvard Law Lecturer on Law Alexander Chen '15, founding director of the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic at HLS, is working with students in the recently-formed Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition to offer legal protections for people in polyamorous relationships.
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Cuba’s ‘uncertain future’
July 19, 2021
Harvard Law Today recently reached out to Visiting Professor Rafael Cox Alomar ’04 to learn more about what is behind recent protests in Cuba, the Biden administration’s response, and whether there is likely to be a lasting impact.
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Since January 2020, Rez Gardi has been living in Duhok, in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region.
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An activist at home in the world
June 14, 2021
Ais has been immersed in a blend of advocacy, legal scholarship, and community building.
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Knowing that people with disabilities would be especially vulnerable during the pandemic to problems with healthcare access and other issues, the Harvard Law School Project on Disability turned its attention early on to COVID-related initiatives and advocacy.
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The alchemist
May 27, 2021
Keyon Lo LL.M. ’21 hopes to combine his legal and artistic skills to promote fairness and diversity
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Linda Heeyoung Park ’21 and Benjamin Antillon Fernandez ’21 are joint recipients of the 2021 David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award.
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Susan Cole: 1948-2021
May 19, 2021
Harvard Law School Lecturer on Law Susan Cole made it her life’s work to help schools and policymakers understand the impact of trauma on learning.
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Harvard Law School’s 2021 Last Lecture Series
May 5, 2021
The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class.
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“Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation,” co-edited by Harvard Law School Professor William P. Alford ’77 was awarded the 2021 Certificate of Merit in a Specialized Area of International Law by the American Society of International Law In March.
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Premal Dharia urges pretrial change to ‘address our country’s addiction to incarceration and punishment’
May 4, 2021
Premal Dharia of Harvard Law School’s Institute to End Mass Incarceration testified before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on reforming the pretrial process as a way to reduce the injustices she says plague the criminal justice system.
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Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program's Phil Torrey weighs in on the Biden administration's efforts to address the nation's immigration policies.
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A study led by HLS Professor Jim Greiner shows that low-income Philadelphians have a hard time accessing a divorce without an attorney — a problem that is likely widespread.
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A focus on the environment
April 22, 2021
In recognition of Earth Day, we highlight some recent work and perspectives of Harvard Law's students and scholars committed to environmental change.
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Among the missing
April 20, 2021
For five years, Rayhan Asat LL.M. ’16 has been fighting to free her brother, a Uighur businessman who was detained by the Chinese government and placed in a Xinjiang internment camp.
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Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella appointed Pisar Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
April 7, 2021
Harvard Law School announced today the appointment of Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella as the Samuel LL.M. ’55 S.J.D. ’59 and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law effective July 1, 2022.
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An academic home for a global mandate
March 26, 2021
At Harvard Law School, where UN Independent Expert Victor Madrigal-Borloz has spent the past two years as a visiting researcher with the Human Rights Program, he has undertaken another role: mentor.
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The Journey of an Idealist
January 7, 2020
Ambassador Samantha Power ’99 reflects on her life and career in her new memoir "The Education of an Idealist."
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Diplomat, academic, and human rights advocate Ambassador Samantha Power ’99 has been appointed William D. Zabel ’61 Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. She has served as Professor of Practice at HLS since 2017.