Home / Courses and Academic Programs / Degree Programs / J.D. Program / Programs of Study / Law and Social Change
Because law is deeply implicated in our economic, political, and social worlds, pursuit of social change invariably involves an engagement with law. Students who seek to understand how law can be harnessed for social change, or who wish to pursue careers as social change agents, are encouraged to follow the Law and Social Change Program of Study.
Organizing Ourselves: Building a Community at Harvard
At the heart of the Program of Study is an effort to build a community of students and faculty committed to understanding and using law as a means of achieving social change. The Program holds regular events with faculty and students who can answer questions about course selection, summer plans, and career options. The Program also sponsors programming on substantive social change topics and social events to give students and professors affiliated with the Program the chance to get to know one another in more informal settings.
This Program of Study includes not only those courses and clinics that are obviously relevant, but also classes and activities that with less obvious links to law and social change that are potentially critical to building relevant understanding, skills, and strategies. Learning about the past, analyzing relationships among law, society, the economy, and social institutions, dissecting powerful institutions, and developing skills and capacities – including data and policy analysis skills – are all important steps; so is understanding particular problem areas and related legal materials. In order that students may develop a broad understanding of the ways in which law can contribute to social change, the Program is organized in two ways. First, recommended courses and faculty advisors are categorized according to different modes of social change work (a list that we continually expand and modify as the Program develops):
∙ Organizing and Social Movements
∙ Organizational Development and Leadership
Second, because many students are drawn to law and social change through a substantive focus, problem area, or constituency, courses and faculty are categorized into substantive “areas” (also a list that we continue to expand and modify):
∙ Children, Youth, and Family: Health, Welfare, and Education
∙ Community Economic Development
∙ Poverty
The Program of Study is not designed to encourage students to concentrate on a single mode or area of social change work. Nor does the Program view these different modes and areas as completely independent of one another; to the contrary, modes and areas of social change are deeply related to and impact each other. In sum, the Program’s intent is to enable students to develop a rich understanding of the promises and limitations inherent in the various modes and areas of work that are of interest to the student.
What follows is a description of modes and areas of social change, along with a preliminary list of faculty advisors and courses for each. Please note that for administrative ease, classes are listed only once in the “areas” section of this overview – although most have relevance to multiple areas of social change work. These lists will be updated as the Program continues to develop.
People are at the heart of social change. So, then, are deliberate strategies to organize people, to mobilize groups with shared interests, to forge social movements, and to connect these efforts to law. The question of how law can facilitate organizing – how law can contribute to the building of social movements by enabling associations to meet, raise funds, speak, and act or by offering targets and arenas for action – is an important theme. The role of intellectuals and intellectual movements in social movement work is also an important area of study.
HLS
Advanced Clinical Practice (Prof. Grossman and Ms. Caramello)
The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education, and Juvenile Justice (Prof. Bartholet)
Child Advocacy Clinic (Ms. Budnitz)
Children and the Law (Visiting Prof. Rosenbury)
Advanced Negotiation: Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams (Prof. Bordone and Mr. Van Loo)
Critical Perspectives on the Law: Issues of Race, Gender, Class and Social Change (Prof. Guinier)
Mediation (Mr. Hoffman)
Negotiation Workshop (Profs. Mnookin and Bordone)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
DPI-312: Sparking Social Change (Profs. Fung and Moore)
MLD-201A Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change (Profs. Heifetz, Williams)
MLD-377: Organizing: People, Power, and Change (Prof. Ganz)
MLD-342 Persuasion: The Science and Art of Effective Influence (Prof. Orren)
Social change also involves reforming the institutions that structure and govern our society – including corporations, labor unions, administrative agencies, schools, child welfare institutions, and religious organizations – as well as working through these institutions to influence other sectors of society. Forging partnerships between public and private institutions also constitutes a promising avenue for reform.This mode of social change will enable students to understand how to reform and harness existing political, social, legal, and economic institutions.
HLS
Antitrust Law and Economics - US (Prof. Elhauge)
The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education, and Juvenile Justice (Prof. Bartholet)
Bankruptcy (Prof. Roe)
Child Advocacy Clinic (Ms. Budnitz)
Children and the Law (Visiting Prof. Rosenbury)
Comparative Corporate Governance (Visiting Prof. Enriques)
Corporations (Profs. Clark, Coates, Hanson, Kraakman, , Ramseyer, Spamann)
Advanced Negotiation: Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams (Prof. Bordone and Mr. Van Loo)
Government Lawyer (Mr. Heinrich)
Introduction to Accounting and Corporate Financial Reports (Visiting Prof. Dharan)
Law and Economic Development (Prof. David Kennedy)
Local Government Law (Prof. Frug)
Mediation (Mr. Hoffman)
Negotiation Workshop (Profs. Mnookin, Bordone)
Public Law Workshop (Profs. Gersen and Vermeule)
Taxation (Profs. Halperin; Kaplow; Shay; and Warren)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
SUP-211: Institutional and Community-Based Strategies to Support Children and Strengthen Families (Prof. Wilson)
SUP-201: Poverty and Social Policy (Prof. Edin)
SUP-447: Politics, Policy Making and Political Action in American Education (Profs. West and Peterson)
Harvard Business School
Entrepreneurship in Education Reform (Prof. Childress)
Litigation is an historically significant and still often powerful force for social change. Indeed, litigation has been central to many of the most well-known and important achievements in social change work. This mode will enable students to develop an understanding of how litigation can function as a tool of social reform and in evaluating the uses and limits of litigation in this context.
Advanced Clinical Practice (Prof. Grossman and Ms. Caramello)
The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education, and Juvenile Justice (Prof. Bartholet)
Mass Tort and Complex Litigation (Prof. Rosenberg)
Complex Litigation (Mr. Clary)
Copyright and Trademark Litigation: TRO to the Supreme Court (Ms. Cendali)
Drug Product Liability Litigation (Mr. Grossi)
Employment Law Workshop: Advocacy Skills (Mr. Churchill)
Employment Law Workshop: Strategies for Social Change (Mr. Churchill)
Evidence: Prof. Brewer, Mr. Heinrich, Visiting Prof. Murray; Prof. Nesson (Fall; Spring); Ms. Schulman
Federal Litigation: Civil (Prof. Rosenberg)
Government Lawyer (Mr. Heinrich)
Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Clinical Seminar (Prof. Anker; Ms. Ardalan)
International Commercial Arbitration (Mr. Beckett and Mr. Tan)
Introduction to Advocacy: Criminal Justice (Prof. Sullivan)
Introduction to Advocacy: Skills and Ethics in Clinical Practice (Prof. Grossman and Ms. Caramello)
Legal Profession Courses (all)
Mediation (Mr. Hoffman)
Negotiation Workshop (Profs. Mnookin, Bordone)
Patent Litigation (Mr. Porcelli)
Practical Lawyering in Cyberspace (Prof. Malone and Mr. Bavitz)
Supreme Court Litigation (Mr. Goldstein, Ms. Howe and Mr. Russell)
Trial Advocacy Workshop (Prof. Ogletree, Prof. Sullivan)
Social change requires not only mobilization, but also creating institutions capable of sustaining movement work. Building and leading lasting organizations of this kind depends on critical contributions from lawyers. This mode will enable students to understand the ways in which law can be instrumental to the development and leadership of social change organizations.
HLS
The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education, and Juvenile Justice (Prof. Bartholet)
Government Lawyer (Mr. Heinrich)
Introduction to Accounting and Corporate Financial Reports (Visiting Prof. Dharan)
Decision-making and Leadership in the Public Sector (Prof. Heymann)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
SUP-605: Leading Cities (Profs. Williams and Goldsmith)
IGA-610: Leadership and 20th Century American Foreign Policy (Prof. Nye)
MLD-101: Strategy Structure, and Leadership in Public Service Organizations (multiple sections)
MLD-201: Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change (multiple sections offered)
MLD-202: Exercising Leadership: A Cross-Cultural and International Perspective (Prof. Williams)
MLD-325: Becoming a Leader (Prof. Gergen)
>MLD-327: Moral Leadership: Self, Other, and Action (Profs. Ganz and Steinberg)
MLD-351: Leadership Literacy (Prof. Kellerman)
MLD-401A: Financial Management in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (Prof. Thornburg)
MLD-501M: Group and Team Dynamics (Prof. Gonzalez)
MLD-601: Operations Management (Prof. Fagan)
MLD-604: Performance Leadership: Producing Results in Public and Nonprofit Agencies (Prof. Behn)
Harvard Business School
Leading and Governing High Performing Nonprofit Organizations (Prof. Ebrahim)
Authentic Leadership Development (Profs. George, Nokria, Kaploaw and Olson)
Change often comes through the political arena, and perhaps no mode of change is more directly defined by law than electoral politics. Campaign finance laws and election law – along with the Constitutional issues they raise – form the heart of this Program mode, but union and non-profit participation in the electoral process is also crucial.
HLS
Administrative Law (Prof. Rakoff; Visiting Prof. Hickman)
Law and the Political Process (Prof. Guinier)
Local Government Law (Prof. Frug)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
DPI-324: Running for Office and Managing Campaigns (Prof. Jarding)
DPI-329: Driving Forces in American Politics (Profs. Kamarck and Gergen)
DPI-331: Election Reform (Prof. King)
DPI-608: Political Communications (Prof. Baum)
In contemporary society, almost no movement for social change succeeds without an effective media and internet component. Indeed all of the modes of social change listed here often depend heavily on the media and the internet. Legal regulation of these outlets is extensive, and understanding the ways in which law structures, facilitates, and constrains media and internet work is integral to understanding law and social change.
HLS
Communications and Internet Law and Policy (Prof. Benkler)
Entertainment and Media Law (Mr. Brotman)
Online Law and Business in a Globalized Economy (Mr. Gasser)
Practical Lawyering in Cyberspace (Prof. Malone and Mr. Bavitz)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
DPI-185: 2020 Vision and Information Policy: Considering the Public Interest (Prof. Bowie)
DPI-600: Press, Politics, and Public Policy (Prof. Jones)
DPI-608: Political Communication (Prof. Baum)
DPI-611 Mass Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy (Prof. Baum)
DPI-614M: Public Opinion, Polling, and Public Policy (Prof. Blendon)
DPI-659: Media, Politics and Power in the Digital Age (Prof. Mele)
DPI-684: New Media and Democracy (Prof. Bowie)
MLD-480: Leadership for a Networked World (Prof. Mechling)
MLD-717-A: The Arts of Communication (multiple sections offered)
HLS
The Art of Social Change: Child Welfare, Education, and Juvenile Justice (Prof. Bartholet)
Child Advocacy Clinic (Ms. Budnitz)
Children and the Law (Visiting Prof. Rosenbury)
Education Advocacy and Systemic Change Clinical Seminar (Fall and Spring) (Ms. Cole and Prof. Gregory)
Education Law and Policy (Prof. Gregory)
Family Law (Prof. Halley; Prof. Suk)
Trusts and Estates (Prof. Sitkoff)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HLE-111: Institutional and Community-Based Strategies to Support Children and Strengthen Families (Prof. J. Wilson)
HLE-270: Youth Development and Education Policy (Prof. Ferguson)
HLE-312: Major Issues in Federal Education Policy (Prof. Kim)
HLE-325: Effective Interventions and School Reforms for At-Risk Children (Prof. Weissbourd)
HLE-342: Tackling the Toughest Challenges for Modern American Higher Education (Prof. Light)
HLE-347: Politics, Policy Making, and Political Action in American Education (Profs. West and Peterson)
HLS
Making Rights Real: The Ghana Project (Prof. White)
Poverty, Human Rights, and Development (Prof. White)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HUT-100: Policymaking in Urban Settings (Prof. Apgar)
HUT-208: Redevelopment Policy (Prof. Fainstein)
HLS
Capital Punishment in America (Prof. Steiker)
Criminal Adjudication (Prof. Sullivan)
Criminal Investigations / Police Practices: Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments (Prof. Gertner)
Criminal Investigations / Police Practices: Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments (Prof. Weinreb)
Criminal Justice Workshop (Prof. Lanni)
Introduction to Advocacy: Criminal Justice (Prof. Sullivan)
Race and Justice: The Wire (Prof. Ogletree)
Prosecuting Transnational Criminal Organizations (Prof. Heymann)
Sentencing Theories and Punishment (Prof. Gertner)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
CCJ-104: Crime, Community and Public Policy (Prof. Braga)
CCJ-202: Sociology of Crime and Punishment (Prof. Western)
HLS
Financial and Legal Needs of Law and Moderate Income Households (Ms. Charn)
Post-Foreclosure Eviction and Housing Law Clinical Seminar (Fall; Spring) (Ms. McDonagh)
Poverty, Human Rights, and Development (Prof. White)
Socio-Economic Rights (Justice Ngcobo)
Taxation (Profs. Halperin; Kaplow; Shay; and Warren)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
MLD-410: State and Local Public Finance (Prof. Chodos)
PED-130: Why Are So Many Countries Poor, Volatile, and Unequal? (Prof. Hausmann)
PED-210: Public Finance in Theory and Practice (Prof. Rosengard)
HLS
Advanced Environmental Law in Theory and Application (Prof. Lazarus)
Environmental Advocacy: Citizen Suits (Mr. Goho)
Environmental Law (Prof. Lazarus)
Environmental Practice Skills, Methods, and Controversies: Siting and Permitting of a Wind Farm as a Case Study (Prof. Jacobs)
International Environmental Law (Visiting Prof. Salzman)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HUT-263: Planning and Environmental Law (Prof. Blaesser)
IGA-204: Environmental and Resource Science for Policy (Prof. Holdren)
IGA-336: Environmental Justice as a Public Policy Issue (Prof. Hoyte)
HLS
Feminist Legal Theory (Visiting Prof. Rosenbury)
Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice (Ms. Rosenfeld)
Gender Violence Legal Policy Workshop (Ms. Rosenfeld)
Theories of Sexual Coercion (Ms. Rosenfeld)
Title IX (Ms. Rosenfeld)
Trafficking and Labor Migration Seminar (Prof. Halley)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
MLD-324M: Women and Leadership (Prof. Kellerman)
Administrative Law (Prof. Rakoff; Visiting Prof. Hickman)
Drug Product Liability Litigation (Mr. Grossi)
Food: A Health Law and Policy Seminar (Prof. Greenwald)
Health Law (Mr. Barnes)
Health Law and Policy Workshop (Profs. Cohen and Elhauge)
Law and Policy of Federal Funding Flows (Mr. Barnes)
The Politics of Health: A Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation Seminar (Prof. Greenwald)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HCP-100: Introduction to Health Care Policy (Profs. Burke and Stevenson)
HCP-175: Political Analysis and Strategy for U.S. Health Policy (Prof. Blendon)
HCP-382: Health Policy Reform: Comparative Perspectives (Prof. Ruggie)
IGA-325: Bioethics, Law and the Life Sciences (Prof. Jasanoff)
HLS
Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Clinical Seminar (Prof. Anker; Ms. Ardalan)
Immigration Law (Prof. Neuman)
Immigration Law: Policy and Social Change (Prof. Anker)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
DPI-347: American Immigration Policy (Prof. Williams)
HLE-211: The Economic Impact of Immigration (Prof. Borjas)
HLE-212: Policy, Politics and the Impact of Illegal Immigration from Latin America (Prof. Schumacher-Matos)
Advanced Skills Training for Human Rights Advocacy Clinical Seminar (Prof. Giannini and Ms. Farbstein)
History of Human Rights (Visiting Prof. Moyn)
Doctrine and Practice of Inter-American Human Rights System (Mr. Delgado; Ms. Brewer)
Human Rights Frontier: Disability Rights in Comparative and International Perspectives (Visiting Prof. Stein)
Human Rights Research Seminar (Prof. Glendon)
International Human Rights (Prof. Neuman)
International Law (Visiting Prof. Gross)
Laws of War (Prof. Blum)
The Promises and Challenges of Disarmament: Clinical Seminar (Docherty)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
IGA-203: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy (Prof. Power)
IGA-304: Human Rights and International Politics: The Basic Policy Dilemmas (Profs. Risse and Stewart)
Local Government Law (Prof. Frug)
Natural Resources Law (Visiting Prof. Anderson)
Transactional Practice Clinical Workshop (Fall; Spring) (Prof. Price)
Extreme Urbanism (Prof. Frug)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HUT-201: Urban Politics, Planning and Development (Prof. Altshuler)
HUT-209: History and Theory of Urban Planning Interventions (Prof. Fainstein)
HUT-263: Planning and Environmental Law (Prof. Blaesser)
HUT-268: Public and Private Development (Prof. Fainstein)
National and International Security Law Workshop: Covert Operations, Espionage and Intelligence Gathering (Profs. Goldsmith and Blum)
National Security Law (Mr. Baker)
National Security Law: Legal Frameworks and National Decision-making (Mr. Zarate)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
Advanced Clinical Practice (Prof. David Grossman and Ms. Caramello)
Housing Law and Policy (Prof. David Grossman)
Poverty Law (Prof. White)
Predatory Lending and Consumer Protection Clinical Workshop (Fall; Spring) (Mr. Bertling and Mr. Weinstein)
Harvard Kenedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HLE-201: Poverty and Social Policy (Prof. Edin)
American Indian Law (Prof. Anderson)
Constitutional History II: Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement (Prof. Klarman)
Critical Perspectives on the Law: Issues of Race, Gender, Class and Social Change (Prof. Guinier)
Discrimination: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives (Visiting Prof. Suk)
Legal Profession: Law and Social Movements (Prof. Guinier)
Legal History: American Legal History, 1865 to the Present (Prof. Mack)
Race Relations Law: 1776-1876 (Prof. Kennedy)
Race Relations Law: 1776-Present (Prof. Kennedy)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
HLE-207: Social Structure and Culture in the Study of Race and Urban Poverty (Prof. W. Wilson)
PED-501M: Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building 1 (Prof. Kalt)
Constitutional Law: First Amendment (Profs. Parker, Feldman, Field, Tushnet)
Laws, Markets, and Religions Seminar (Prof. Clark)
Harvard Kennedy School (not all courses offered every year)
DPI-342: Religion, Politics, and Public Policy (Prof. Parker)
DPI-225: Religion and Government: Choices of Morality, Law, and Policy (Prof. Hehir)
IGA-307: Religion in Global Politics (Prof. Toft)
Employment Discrimination (Prof. Bartholet)
Employment Law (Prof. Sachs)
Employment Law Workshop: Advocacy Skills Clinical Seminar (Mr. Churchill)
Employment Law Workshop: Strategies for Change Clinical Seminar (Mr. Churchill)
The Program of Study is also designed to enable students to develop a range of methodological tools – including sociological, anthropological, and historical tools – that can be deployed to understand the relationship between law and social change, both historically and in contemporary society. Faculty available to assist students in this endeavor include Professors Chris Desan, Janet Halley, Michael Klarman, Adriaan Lanni, Ken Mack, Todd Rakoff, Jeannie Suk, and Jed Shugerman.
Students who wish to pursue academic careers in this area should combine the course work discussed above with opportunities for significant research and writing.