Susan headshot

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

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

Amici Curiae Brief on Behalf of Professors of Legal History 

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

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

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

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

Prosecuting Apartheid-Era Crimes?: A South African Dialogue on Justice

Co-authors: Susan Farbstein, Tyler Giannini, Samantha Bent, and Miles Jackson | Aug 31, 2009

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Zimbabwe: Options for Constitutional Protection

Joint publication: International Human Rights Clinic, National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights | Aug 08, 2009