Photo of Susan Farbstein

Susan Farbstein

Director
Clinical Professor of Law

Susan Farbstein is the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic and a Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School, where she has taught since 2008. She supervises projects that seek accountability for abuses committed by individuals and corporations, promote socio-economic rights including water and education, and advance gender equity and women’s leadership.  

She is an expert on South Africa, where she has engaged on a variety of human rights and transitional justice issues for more than twenty years. Her writing has been published in the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard International Law Journal, as well as popular media outlets including The New York Times. In 2015, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named her one of the Commonwealth’s “Top Women of Law.” In 2018, the Harvard Women’s Law Association honored her as a “Woman Inspiring Change.” 

She has a robust litigation practice, including Mamani v. Sanchez de Lozada, a landmark case holding the former Bolivian president and minister of defense liable for extrajudicial killings; Wiwa v. Shell, charging Shell with complicity in the extrajudicial killings of non-violent Nigerian activists, for which she was honored as a finalist for the 2010 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award; and In re South African Apartheid Litigation, a suit against major multinationals for aiding and abetting abuses committed by the apartheid state. She has authored numerous amicus curiae briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, and provides strategic and legal advice on human rights cases in other jurisdictions. 

Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Farbstein worked at the Cape Town office of the International Center for Transitional Justice and clerked for the Honorable Morris E. Lasker of the Southern District of New York. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.  

Recent News

Clinic Publications

Reply Brief for Plaintiffs-Appellants

in Mamani v. Sanchez de Lozada and Sanchez Berzain | Aug 27, 2019

Brief for Defendants-Appellees

in Mamani, et al., v Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzain | Aug 27, 2019

Brief of Amici Curiae Retired U.S. Military Commanders and Law of War Scholars in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants

in Mamani, et al., v Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzain | Nov 08, 2018

Brief of Current and Former U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

in Mamani, et al., v Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzain | Nov 08, 2018

Brief for Plaintiffs-Appellants

in Mamani, et al., v Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzain; Counsel: Judith Chomsky, Beth Stevens, James E. Tysse, Steven H. Schulman, Lide E. Paterno, and Paul Hoffman | Oct 19, 2018

Adhikar V. Kellogg: Brief of Amici Curiae Professors of Legal History

| Aug 15, 2018

Jessner v. Arab Bank PLC - Brief of Professors of Legal History

| Aug 15, 2017

Amici Curiae Brief on Behalf of Professors of Legal History

in Ramchandra Adhikari, et al. v. Kellogg Brown & Root, Incorporated, et al.; International Human Rights Clinic; Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein | Jul 24, 2017

Writ of Certiorari to U.S. Court of Appeals (Second Circuit)

in Joseph Jesner v. Arab Bank; Counsel: Sarah P. Alexander and Mary Inman, of Constantine Cannon LLP, and Tyler Giannini and Susan Farbstein of the International Human Rights Clinic | Jun 24, 2017

Jessner v. Arab Bank PLC - Brief of Amici Curiae Professors of Legal History

| Nov 15, 2016

Plaintiffs' Reply Brief in Petition for Certiorari

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Jun 03, 2016

Petition for Writ of Certiorari

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Feb 08, 2016

Petition for Rehearing En Banc

in In re South African Apartheid Litigation; International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Aug 08, 2015

Plaintiffs' Reply Brief

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Jun 04, 2015

Brief of Appellees

in Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Mar 08, 2015

Appellants' Opening Brief

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Feb 02, 2015

Legal Memorandum: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Eastern Myanmar

The International Human Rights Clinic | Nov 11, 2014

Policy Memorandum: Preventing Indiscriminate Attacks and Wilful Killings of Civilians by the Myanmar Military

International Human Rights Clinic | Apr 02, 2014

Amici Curiae Brief on Behalf of Professors of Legal History

International Human Rights Clinic | Nov 12, 2013

Appellees' Petition for Panel Rehearing or Rehearing En Banc

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Sep 23, 2013

Amended Complaint

in Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Susan Farbstein, Tyler Giannini, et al. | Jul 23, 2013

Amicus Curiae Brief on Behalf of Professors of Legal History

in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Susan Farbstein and Tyler Giannini | Jun 01, 2012

Amicus Curiae Brief on Behalf of Legal History

in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Susan Farbstein and Tyler Giannini | Dec 08, 2011

Petition of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit

in Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Susan Farbstein, Tyler Giannini, et al. | Sep 01, 2011

Plaintiffs Opposition to Motion to Dismiss

in Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Susan Farbstein, Tyler Giannini, et al. | Dec 08, 2010

Amicus Curiae Brief on Behalf of International Law Scholars

in Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc. International Human Rights Clinic. Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Apr 08, 2010

Amicus Curiae Brief on Behalf of Torture Survivors

in Samantar v. Yousuf. International Human Rights Clinic Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Jan 08, 2010

Ntsebeza Amended and Consolidated Complaint

in In Re South African Apartheid Litigation. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Oct 08, 2008

Second Amended Complaint IN RE SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID LITIGATION

| Aug 15, 2008

Plaintiffs Surreply on Motion to Dismiss

in Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. International Human Rights Clinic. Counsel: Tyler Giannini, Susan Farbstein, et al. | Aug 08, 2008