Harvard Law Launches New Clinics

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law has announced plans to start both the Voting Rights Litigation and Advocacy Clinic and the Religious Freedom Clinic last week, the Harvard Crimson reports.

VOTING RIGHTS LITIGATION AND ADVOCACY CLINIC

Through the Voting Rights Litigation and Advocacy Clinic, students will work with nonprofit litigation and advocacy groups to focus on redistricting law, voter suppression, and threats to voting rights. Additionally, students will take a course called “Election Law” and focus on areas such as election administration, political party regulation, or campaign finance.

“The Voting Rights Litigation and Advocacy Clinic will give our students the opportunity to learn, contribute, and practice law in a field that is central to American democracy,” Law School Dean John F. Manning says in a press release.

The clinic will be led by Ruth Greenwood, who previously served as adjunct professor of law at Loyola University Chicago and as co-director of voting rights and redistricting for the Campaign Legal Center in Chicago.

“Ruth Greenwood is a deeply experienced practitioner, thoughtful and principled lawyer who will be both a superb teacher and a wonderful mentor to our students,” Manning says. “I am delighted to welcome Ruth to Harvard Law School.”

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CLINIC

The new Religious Freedom Clinic allows students to represent people “who are restricted in the exercise of their religious freedom,” according to the press release.

“Providing students with practical lawyering experience and skills is one of the most important aspects of a Harvard Law School education,” Manning says. “By enabling students to learn how to be lawyers by representing vulnerable clients who face impediments to practicing their religions, our new Religious Freedom Clinic will build on our long history of clinical education.”

Through the clinic, students can represent “individuals facing obstacles in the exercise of their faith or small churches, synagogues, or mosques with zoning issues.”

Sources: Harvard Crimson, Harvard Law Today, Harvard Law Today