Jeremy Perelman

S.J.D. Candidate

Carriere Fellow

Teaching Assistant

jperelman at law.harvard.edu

Dissertation

Social and economic rights lawyering: theories and practices of developmental social change in sub-Saharan Africa

This project seeks to develop a theoretical framework, a systematizing typology, and an empirical case analysis evaluation of a recent practice reflective of the rights-based approach to development: socio-economic rights lawyering. This practice, most often related to social change and "development as freedom" normative objectives, includes a variety of cause lawyering tools including targeted legal aid programs, developmental rights impact litigation, or community action and legal empowerment approaches. The project will use a case study approach to investigate the theories of change and assess the lawyering practices of selected organizations operating in three African countries. The underlying argument this project seeks to develop is that socio-economic rights lawyering can enhance the poor’s ability to take control over decisions affecting their lives in developing countries, provided first that its practice is based on a pragmatic approach to lawyering, rather than a rigid formalistic or non-formalistic conceptual model, and that it is informed by local, national and international political economy considerations, as well as by empirical analysis.

Fields of Research and Supervisors

Social Change: Theory and Practice, with Professor Lucie White, Harvard Law School, Overall Faculty Supervisor
Law and Development, with Professor Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School
Rights Theory and Development, with Professor Frederick Schauer, Harvard Law School/Kennedy School of Government
Sociology of Organizations, with Professor Ryan Goodman, Harvard Law School

Additional Research Interests

Human Rights
Social Movements
Law and Development

Education

Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2004-2011
Stanford Law School, J.S.M. 2003
Fletcher School, Tufts University, M.A.L.D., 2002
Université Paris-1 Panthéon Sorbonne, France, Maîtrise en Droit International, mention Droit des Affaires, 1998

Appointments and Fellowships

Harvard Law School, 2005-2006, Teaching Assistant, Making Rights Real: The Ghana Project, Prof. Lucie White
Harvard Law School, 2004-2005, Clinical Teaching Assistant, Community Action for Social and Economic Rights , Prof. Lucie White
Stanford Law School, 2003-2004, Teaching Assistant, International Development and the Rule of Law, Erik Jensen
Harvard Law School, 2003, Research Assistant, Community Action for Social and Economic Rigths, Prof. Lucie White
Harvard Law School, 2002-2003, Visiting Researcher, Supervisor Prof. Henry Steiner
Fletcher School, Tufts University, 2001-2003, Research Assistant, Prof. J. Salacuse

Representative Publications

J. Perelman, Book Review, Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Summer 2006 (forthcoming)
J. Perelman, The Way Ahead? Access to Justice, Public Interest Lawyering and the Right to Legal Aid in South Africa: the Nkuzi case”, Stanford Journal of International Law, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2005 (forthcoming)
J. Perelman, Legal Aid in France: a Survey, Bellow Sachs Project, Harvard Law School, available here

Additional Information

My Resume
Languages: French (native), English, Spanish (fluent), German (Read, Spoken), Hebrew and Madarin Chinese (Basic)

Page last updated March 03, 2006