Student Experience
IHRC trains leaders in human rights. Our work is carried out in partnership with international, grassroots, and movement-based organizations across the globe, as well as communities and individuals directly affected by abuse. Our students become part of this community of advocates working to create a more just and equitable world.
Through clinical projects and classroom seminars, students learn and practice a variety of skills deployed by strategic and creative human rights advocates. Students work in small teams under the close supervision of expert clinicians, who provide guidance, mentorship, and continual feedback. Students are involved in all aspects of their projects—conceptualizing goals and formulating strategies, researching and drafting reports and legal briefs, interviewing witnesses and stakeholders, and presenting findings before courts and international bodies.
IHRC’s docket draws on our expertise and networks in six broad areas, while remaining dynamic and responsive to emerging needs and the evolving field. Visit our areas of work pages to learn more about our clinical projects and watch our Q&A video and read FAQ below to learn more about how we work.
Our Values
We strive to create a welcoming, inclusive community and to promote equity in all facets of our work.
We view the Clinic as a space for reflection and critique, where feedback is highly valued.
We aspire to contribute to the necessary work of dismantling oppressive systems and creating a more just and equitable world.
We believe that individuals, groups, and communities impacted by abuse must be at the center of efforts to protect and defend rights. We seek to play a supportive role that respects and builds their agency, power, and expertise, and advances their vision of justice.
We pursue our work with humility, respect for the dignity and worth of all people, the understanding that each individual is unique, and the knowledge that diversity and difference make for a more valuable educational environment.
We seek to practice and cultivate resilience and well-being. We aim to create an environment where students and clinicians are supported to make good mental health choices, care for ourselves, and avoid burnout.
Clinic FAQ
Any 2L, 3L, or LLM student interested in learning what it means to be a human rights practitioner, and understanding how advocates develop and deploy strategies to achieve meaningful change, is encouraged to enroll. Our students acquire knowledge and skills to navigate the varied practice settings in which human rights advocates work. At the conclusion of the semester, students will be able to confidently evaluate and implement a range of methods human rights lawyers use to achieve their goals.
As a large Clinic that offers a variety of projects led by practitioners with diverse human rights backgrounds and deep professional expertise, we can tailor the experience to meet the interests and learning goals of our students. The Clinic trains and challenges students who have significant prior professional human rights experience, and is equally appropriate for students who have no prior exposure to human rights and international law.
More information about registering for the Clinic is available from the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. IHRC is a popular clinic and we encourage JD students with a strong interest in joining our community to bid highly in the registration process.
The specific work you undertake will depend on your project. Examples from recent clinical projects include:
Students who are enrolled in the Clinic are matched to projects based on a variety of factors with significant weight on their identified areas of interest.
Students in our Clinic acquire knowledge and skills to navigate the varied practice settings in which human rights advocates work. At the conclusion of the semester, students will be able to confidently evaluate and implement a range of methods human rights lawyers use to achieve their goals. As a student in the IHRC, you will:
A clinical project allows students to engage with substantive, real-world human rights issues, in partnership with a non-governmental organization or an affected community. Students work in small teams under the close supervision of expert clinicians, who provide guidance, mentorship, and continual feedback. Students take ownership over all aspects of their projects, from conceptualizing goals and formulating strategies, to researching and drafting reports, treaties, and legal briefs, to investigating incidents and interviewing witnesses, to presenting findings before courts and international bodies. Visit our areas of work pages to learn more about our clinical projects.
Some projects run across many semesters, while others last for only one semester or academic year. Each clinical supervisor selects and develops projects related to their fields of expertise, the Clinic’s pedagogical goals, and the potential to create change and have a meaningful impact. Across the Clinic our projects present students with opportunities to learn about a range of human rights issues, methodologies, and skills.
Although projects vary significantly, each project is staffed by a team of two to six students, who may be new or advanced students. Advanced students are students who have participated in the Clinic in previous semesters.
Clinical supervisors typically cannot provide information to prospective clinical students about the specific projects that will be offered in future semesters, given the fluidity of our work and the need to maintain confidentiality.
A clinical seminar is a classroom course that informs students’ clinical project work and develops skills that students can utilize in multiple practice settings. Seminar enrollment is mandatory for all new students.
Our seminars provide a map of the human rights field, including its dominant strategies and methods. The courses help students understand how human rights advocates make change, analyzing not only the rationales behind selection of tactics but also the opportunities and limitations of various advocacy methods. Through case studies, simulations, and interactions with practitioners, students engage with the practical dilemmas that advocates face in a variety of scenarios and evaluate the ethical and strategic implications of different choices.
To enroll in a clinical seminar, a student must simultaneously be enrolled for credit in the Clinic. We cannot accept auditors in our clinical seminars because they cover confidential information related to clinical work.
A clinical supervisor is an experienced human rights attorney who oversees students’ clinical projects, providing guidance, mentorship, and continual feedback. Each supervisor in our Clinic brings years of experience to their practice, drawn from the settings where they worked before joining the law school, as well as the expertise they have developed in the Clinic and their extensive professional networks. Our supervisors oversee between one and three projects each semester. In addition to managing clinical projects, they have a variety of other responsibilities, such as classroom teaching, providing career advice, directing the Clinic’s activities, writing scholarly articles, and working on human rights topics outside HLS.
Yes. Each term, the Clinic has a limited number of spaces allocated for advanced students, meaning students who return to the Clinic after having previously completed a semester with IHRC. The semesters do not need to be sequential.
Advanced students have the opportunity to help shape the overall direction of the Clinic and inform our decisions through a student advisory cohort. At a project level, advanced students may play a more formal leadership role. For example, in consultation with their clinical supervisor, and based on project needs, advanced students may set the strategic direction of a project, manage a specific workstream, serve as the liaison with a partner organization, act as a resource and mentor to new students, or build expertise in specific substantive areas.
At the midpoint of the semester, eligible students (all 2Ls, as well as 3Ls and LLMs in the fall semester) may apply to continue in the Clinic as an advanced student for the following semester. In semesters where there are more applicants than available advanced slots, the Clinic maintains a waitlist.
Students from other Harvard schools are eligible to apply to cross-register. However, HLS students receive priority and, because our waitlist of HLS students is often very long, it is rare for cross-registrants to be offered a place in the Clinic.
Although you cannot work on clinical projects without being enrolled in IHRC, there are other ways you can be involved in human rights work on campus. A student practice organization dedicated to human rights work and advocacy, HLS Advocates for Human Rights, operates under the umbrella of the IHRC. With an annual membership of approximately 70 students, HLS Advocates works in collaboration with and under the supervision of partner organizations. Project partners range from well-established international organizations and experts to small grassroots civil society organizations.
A variety of other HLS programs and groups also address human rights, including the HLS Human Rights Program, a research center that focuses on human rights scholarship and offers human rights fellowships. The IHRC and Human Rights Program are separate entities.
Human Rights Careers
A central aspect of the student experience includes accessing mentorship and career guidance tailored to their individual interests and goals, as well as the shifting demands of the human rights field. Many of our alumni pursue careers in human rights or other areas of public interest, and our strong alumni network is an important resource for clinicians, current students, and graduates. You will find our alumni working on human rights and social justice issues at a variety of NGOs around the globe, international courts, the United Nations, government, law firms, and law school clinics.