Family, Gender & Children

This article was originally published in the Harvard Gazette. Mexico and Colombia recently legalized abortion in landmark rulings that offer a stark contrast to…

Harvard Law School faculty members Sabrineh Ardalan, Michael Gregory, and Scott Westfahl candidly discussed their experiences with mental health, during and after law school, and shared how those have informed their work and strategies for well-being.

Ayesha Malik LL.M. ’99 has used her position, inside and outside the courtroom, to advocate for women in the legal system. “This is not a burden,” she says. “This is my calling.”

This year, Brianna Banks was named the 2022 winner of the William J. Stuntz Memorial Award for Justice, Human Dignity, and Compassion, which recognizes a graduating student who has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the principles of justice, human dignity, and compassion while at Harvard Law School.

At a recent public consultation, the U.N. Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a senior visiting researcher at Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, gathered testimonies on the well-being of LGBTI communities around the world.

With the Women Heads of State Initiative virtual summit, Teresa Clarke J.D. ’87/M.B.A. ’88 and Professor Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’96 brought together four female African heads of state to explore opportunities for the continent’s future advancement.

The Harvard Representation Initiative is supporting some Ukranian members of the Harvard community by providing immigration legal representation and social work support, offering options to keep them and their families safe.

Subsidies offered by the federal government for the purchase of new electric vehicles (EVs) may actually increase total greenhouse gas emissions without similar aid for secondhand buyers, concludes a new study led by Ashley Nunes, Ph.D., a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.

Alexander Chen of Harvard Law’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic says Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill likely will face First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause challenges.

In recent paper, Howell Jackson and Timothy Massad propose that the U.S. Treasury Department implement a new mechanism to improve financial services for financially vulnerable households and expedite delivery of government benefits.

During Winter Term, Cravath International Fellows pursued independent clinical placements or research projects, exploring legal frameworks and practices in six countries.

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.

Lani Guinier, the first African-American woman to be tenured at Harvard Law School and an influential scholar who devoted her life to justice, equality, empowerment, and democracy, died Jan. 7.

In Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Clinic, students practice a variety of legal skills in order to amplify the voices of their most vulnerable clients: children.

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.

At the recent Rappaport Forum, panelists discussed abortion rights and whether the Supreme Court should honor precedent — or jettison Roe v. Wade. 

Future-L, a pilot collaboration between Harvard Law School and the National Education Equity Lab, introduces high-achieving high school students from historically underserved backgrounds to the legal field.

Leaked revelations about Instagram’s impact on teens have united Republicans and Democrats in considering legal reforms, say Harvard Law School scholars.

Professor Intisar Rabb, director of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School, was appointed as a special adviser on Islamic Law to the new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

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.

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.

Lecturer on Law James Toomey ’19, on how conservatorships work and what rights are afforded to those who — like Britney Spears — wish to extricate themselves from their constraints.

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.

Homeschooling reform advocates Elizabeth Bartholet and James Dwyer discuss meaningful homeschooling regulations to prevent abuse and promote higher educational standards.

Betsy showed that advocacy can be married with academia and modeled how to unapologetically take a stand.

Keyon Lo LL.M. ’21 hopes to combine his legal and artistic skills to promote fairness and diversity

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.

For Iqra Saleem Khan LL.M. ’21, the journey to Harvard Law School has been filled with significant obstacles. But overcoming tough challenges is second nature for Khan, a resilience for which she credits her fiercest champion: her mother.

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.

In evaluating President Biden's first 100 days, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet says the president has been a champion for children and families, but she hopes he will also reform the current homeschooling regime .

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.

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.

Frederica Brenneman ’53, a member of the first Harvard Law School class to include women, went on to a long career in the Connecticut judiciary focused on child welfare. She was the inspiration for the television show “Judging Amy."

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.

The effect of COVID-19 on the law has been transformative and wide-ranging, but as a Harvard Law School panel pointed out on the one-year anniversary of campus shutdown, the changes haven’t all been for the worse.

In their new report, An Evaluation of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, Harvard's Food Law and Policy Clinic and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition highlight opportunities to make the program more equitable and effective amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

After her first interview in Afghanistan, Nicolette Waldman ’13 realized she had found the career she was meant to pursue.

In the unusual year of 2020, Harvard Law authors continued to do what they always have: Write.

Christopher Lewis, a political philosopher and scholar of the criminal legal system, has been named an assistant professor of law at Harvard Law School, effective Jan. 1.

In recent court victory, students from the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program help safeguard the lives of countless asylum seekers by preventing more stringent federal immigration rules from going into effect.

“The Connected Parent,” a new book by John Palfrey ’01 and Urs Gasser LL.M. ’03  is a practical guide for addressing concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and navigating an increasingly digital world.

Since joining Harvard Law School, Salma Waheedi, a clinical instructor and lecturer on law in the International Human Rights Clinic, has devoted a major part of her teaching and clinical legal practice to training students to become effective international women’s rights advocates.

Alumni books that shed light on what formed a president, a vice-presidential candidate, and a barrier-breaking empire builder, among other topics.

The Human Rights Program launches a series of talks exploring issues of racial justice and human rights. The inaugural event, “Advocating While Black,” takes place on Sept. 24 .

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’56-58, whose lifelong fight for equal rights helped pave the way for women to take on high-profile roles in business, government, the military, and the Supreme Court, died on Sept. 18. She was 87.

In the first colloquium of a sweeping new series, “COVID-19 and the Law,” five Harvard Law faculty members grappled with the challenges, limitations, and opportunities of governmental powers during a public health crisis.

As more schools plan for remote learning, Elizabeth Bartholet and James Dwyer argue that school districts, child protective services, and other agencies across the nation must adopt new safeguards to prevent and respond to incidents of child maltreatment.