LIDS partners with numerous organizations and individuals and is grateful for the ongoing support and opportunities that these partners provide. Partnerships range from providing supervisory support for semester-long projects to funding to the development of project opportunities themselves. Please visit our Get Involved page if you are interested in partnering with LIDS.
- Law Firms
- Client Organizations
- Faculty Members
- Student Organizations
- HLS Programs and Administration
Law Firms
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
LIDS is grateful for its ongoing partnership with the pro bono practice of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Orrick attorneys serve as supervising attorneys for many of LIDS’ partner projects, providing legal advice and guidance and helping student teams ensure high-quality deliverables.
Orrick is a global law firm with over 1,100 lawyers in 21 offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups and individuals. Orrick has a dynamic pro bono practice managed by a full-time counsel who generates opportunities for attorneys firmwide. The pro bono program was ranked eleventh (out of two hundred) in the 2009 American Lawyer rankings.
Located in in London, Paris and Washington DC, Three Crowns is a specialist law firm dedicated to client representation in international arbitration. Its attorneys have represented corporate and sovereign clients in many of the most significant commercial, investment treaty, and inter-state disputes of the past decades. In its pro bono practice, Three Crowns commits itself to developing projects that are important to the firm and not always fully addressed by others. Many of these cases focus on global issues of human rights, migrants and refugees, and international development.
Client Organizations
LIDS has completed projects or is currently carrying out projects for the following organizations, among others: Advocates for International Development, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, Development Alternatives, Inc., Endeavor Global, Institute for Liberty & Democracy, International Organization for Migration, International Relief & Development, International Rescue Committee Thailand, Kiva, Liberian Ministry of Justice, MIT J-Poverty Action Lab, Nuru International, Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Public International Law & Policy Group, Qatar Charity/Applied Research Institute, Root Capital, Sirona Cares, South Pacific Business Development, Technoserve Tanzania, and the World Resources Institute.
LIDS has also partnered with organizations to offer substantive, practical opportunities to students to engage in law and international development work for clinical credit during Harvard Law School’s Winter Term. Past clinical partners include the Millenium Challenge Corporation and the Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD).
Faculty Members
William Alford, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of Law, Director of the East Asian Legal Studies Program Chair, Harvard Law School Project on Disability
LIDS Advisory Board member and overall strategic adviser
David Kennedy, Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law, Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School
Overall strategic adviser
Jeswald W. Salacuse, Henry J. Braker Professor of Law, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
LIDS Advisory Board Member and speaker at several LIDS events
Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Adviser for the MCC-LIDS Law & Development Independent Clinical in Lesotho on Dispute Resolution During the Land Regularization Process
Lucie White, Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Adviser for the MCC-LIDS Law & Development Independent Clinical in Lesotho on Decentralization of Healthcare Services, and overall strategic adviser
Mark Wu, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard Law School
LIDS brown bag lunch series speaker
Student Organizations
Harvard Advocates for Human Rights
Co-sponsor of events
Harvard International Law Journal
Co-sponsor of events
Harvard Human Rights Journal
Co-sponsor of events
Harvard South Asian Law Students Association
Co-sponsor of events
Harvard African Law Association
Co-sponsor of events
Harvard Women’s Law Association
Co-sponsor of International Women’s Day Event.
Fletcher International Development Group
Happy hour co-host
Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Club
Co-sponsored 2010 LIDS Symposium
Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development
Happy Hour co-host.
HLS Programs and Administration
International Legal Studies (ILS) is an HLS administrative office that organizes, promotes, and facilitates a wide range of programs and events related to international, foreign, and comparative law. These include semester abroad, a joint-degree program with the University of Cambridge, Winter Term International Travel Grants which provide funding for students conducting independent writing or clinical projects abroad, and the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship which supports students engaged in summer public interest work in countries across the globe. ILS coordinates exchange programs with select law schools around the world, bringing students and faculty with a diverse range of knowledge and experiences to spend time at HLS, and enabling HLS students and faculty to study, conduct research, or teach at partner institutions. ILS works with HLS research centers and student organizations to sponsor talks, panels, and conferences on an array of international topics. Through its website, information sessions, and other outlets, ILS also provides students, faculty, and alumni with information on internationally focused opportunities, activities, and resources.
ILS has generously supported LIDS events, including co-sponsoring our yearly Symposium.
Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs
The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs is an academic and student services office at Harvard Law School. It facilitates hundreds of academic opportunities for students to learn law through practice in both in-house clinics and externship settings, locally and around the world. Clinical work is supplemented by a rigorous curriculum of courses developed in conjunction with faculty. In addition, the office provides oversight and direction for the large community of HLS clinics and student practice organizations.
Clinical legal education is one of the most important and valued aspects of an HLS education, confirming our commitment to public service and to providing students with the best possible learning experience. In clinics, students take direct responsibility for representing clients in actual cases under the supervision of nearly 70 HLS clinical faculty and instructors who are expert practitioners in their fields. In addition to the many clinical offerings, HLS also requires all J.D. students to contribute at least 40 hours of law-related pro bono work as a condition for graduation, which the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs oversees. The hope of the office is that by giving back to the community, HLS graduates will develop a lifelong commitment to using their education and skills to contribute to the public good.
In 2011, the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs worked with LIDS and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to offer the LIDS-MCC Independent Clinical Project in Lesotho. In addition, LIDS works with the Office each semester to offer pro-bono credit to students who work on LIDS projects.
Office of Public Interest Advising
The goal of OPIA is to encourage law school students and lawyers to incorporate an ongoing commitment to public service work throughout their careers. OPIA views its role as one of helping students and alumni find a vision of the type of work they want to do that will fit their unique values, interests and personalities. It aims to instill this vision not only in the students and graduates going directly into full-time public interest jobs, but also to those moving into public service at a later stage in their careers and those embracing public service work as an integral part of their professional lives through significant pro bono work in the private sector. To meet these goals, OPIA offers events expose students to the wide array of options available to them and build community and support for public interest, invites public interest leaders and mentors to campus, maintains a library of resources and a public interest job search database, offers materials and services for those planning a public interest career or seeking a new position, and offers career advising to students.
LIDS and OPIA collaborate on law and development career events and advising, including co-sponsoring events featuring LIDS Advisory Board Members Kala Mulqueeny of the Asian Development Bank and El Cid Butuyan of the World Bank.
The Human Rights Program (HRP) seeks to give impetus and direction to international human rights work at HLS. The HRP fosters coursework and student participation in human rights activities through its summer fellowships, clinical work, speaker series, applied research, and scholarship. The HRP forges cooperative links with human rights organizations in this country and abroad, and works with student organizations such as the Harvard Human Rights Journal and the Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights. The HRP plans and directs international conferences and roundtables on human rights issues, and publishes reports and scholarship resulting from these events. Its staff advises students wishing to conduct research projects with human rights organizations, and provides counseling on careers in the field. Through these activities, the HRP seeks to make international human rights an integral part of a HLS education.
LIDS and HRP have collaborated on hosting events at the intersection of international development and human rights. HRP generously co-sponsored a LIDS event with UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, while LIDS co-sponsored an HRP event featuring Peter Rosenblum, “The Cash Nexus: Advocacy at the Intersection of Development, Human Rights and the Global Economy.”
The Dean of Students Office (DOS) exists to support Harvard Law students. It advocates for students, assists with personal matters, supports and coordinates a range of extracurricular activities at HLS, including student organizations. DOS is dedicated to ensuring that students have the best possible experience at HLS.
As a student organization, LIDS is grateful for the invaluable support provided by DOS.
Become A Partner
Want to get involved with LIDS? Just click here to contact us or reach out to LIDS Co-Presidents Sarah Weiner and Beth Nehrling.