Human Rights

Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III ’09, who got his start in civil legal aid as a student attorney at HLAB representing tenants in evictions, reflects on how his time as HLAB influenced his advocacy in the legislature, and why it is of utmost importance to safeguard access to counsel for those who cannot afford it.

When the verdict came down, most of the litigation team was in the second row of the courtroom, leaning forward, tense with the waiting, trembling at times. But Thomas Becker '08 was in the front row, arm around the shoulders of Felicidad Rosa Huanca Quispe, whose father was shot dead in the street all those years ago.

Sarah Grant ’19 is one of 12 law students and early-career attorneys chosen for the 2018 Law Program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics to participate in a two-week program in Germany and Poland this summer, which uses the conduct of lawyers and judges in Nazi-occupied Europe as a way to reflect on ethics in the legal profession today.

On April 20, Harvard Law School will host the third and final major event in its year-long program celebrating 200 years of HLS. HLS in the Community will convene alumni, faculty, students, and staff to explore the extraordinary reach and impact of Harvard lawyers.

After Hurricane Maria roared over Puerto Rico in 2017, Puerto Rican native Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19 felt “completely overwhelmed.” Within days, however, she raised $40,000 for relief efforts, collected truckloads of emergency goods, and helped plan the school’s response to the disaster.

A group of 29 Harvard Law School students (led by Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19) traveled to Puerto Rico over spring break to lend a hand to local residents who are still struggling to obtain disaster relief aid.

Each year, teams of Harvard Law School students are given the opportunity to spend their Spring Break experiencing legal services work with clinics and legal organizations in the Boston area, or working on projects around the country and abroad.

In a landmark decision today, a federal jury found the former president of Bolivia and his minister of defense responsible for extrajudicial killings carried out by the Bolivian military. The landmark litigation began with a collaboration between Bolivian partners and the Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic

A group of current and retired NFL players shared personal reasons for their activism and outreach in a conversation Friday at Harvard Law School, part of “Changing the Conversation to Change Criminal Justice,” a symposium sponsored by the School’s Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising, the Fair Punishment Project, and the Players Coalition.

In February, five students from Harvard Law School were selected to join their peers from 10 other leading U.S. law schools in Washington, D.C. to explore the future of public and private international law at the sixth annual Salzburg Cutler Fellows Program.

Earlier this month, about two dozen international experts gathered for “Humanitarian Disarmament: The Way Ahead,” the inaugural conference of the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative (ACCPI) at Harvard Law School.

Georgetown University Professor Sheryll D. Cashin ’89 delivered the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture at Harvard Law School on Feb. 28 on “The Descendants: From Slavery to Jim Crow to Dark Ghettos, A Call for 21st Century Abolition.”

In 2018, ten Harvard Law School students were selected as Cravath International Fellows. During Winter Term, they traveled to nine countries to pursue clinical placements or independent research with an international, transnational, or comparative law focus. Here, four of them describe their experiences.

To commemorate International Women's Day, the Harvard Women's Law Association hosted the  "Women Inspiring Change" portrait exhibit, which features portraits of inspiring women working in the fields of law and policy. Honorees were chosen by the International Women's Day Exhibit Committee from nominations by HLS students, staff and faculty. The exhibit, held annually at HLS since 2014, will be on display this year through March 9.

At a workshop on immigrants’ rights held Monday morning at the Memorial Church, attorneys Jason Corral and Cindy Zapata of the Harvard Immigration & Refugee Clinical Program shared legal advice on how to deal with the more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration.

Ethel Branch ’08 grew up on her family’s ranch with no electricity, no running water, and a long list of questions about injustice. As she grew up, Branch knew she had to address these questions. “That confusion as to why the world changed when you crossed the Navajo Nation boundary line was a driving question for my youth and my life,” says Branch. It propelled her to study law and policy. And three years ago, at age 36, it led her to become Attorney General of the Navajo Nation.

The #MeToo movement’s roots and its present and future impact were the focus of a discussion with Harvard scholars on Feb. 26 at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, featuring HLS Prof. Jeannie Suk Gersen, Harvard Profs. Jill Lepore and Evelynn Hammonds, and Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, as moderator.

Three Harvard professors and a Ph.D. student in African and African American studies have launched the DACA Seminar, a series of events on campus aimed at sparking conversations about the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and immigration policy and reform, while working to understand options available to Harvard's undocumented students.

Last week, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University launched AIandInclusion.org, a new website related to preventing bias in algorithms and ensuring that voices and perspectives from diverse populations help shape the future of artificial intelligence.

An event at HLS in February honored the work of Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus and Civil Rights Theorist Lani Guinier. Renowned for her books, including “The Tyranny of the Meritocracy,” Guinier joined the HLS faculty as Bennett Boskey Professor of Law in 1998.

The Harvard Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) performed “Heart Mountain: Conscience, Loyalty and the Constitution” on Feb. 3, an acclaimed reenactment of the trials and the events surrounding the internment and drafting of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War.