CHLPI Clinics

FLPC

The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation was established in 2010 to link Harvard Law students with opportunities to work with clients and communities on various food law and policy issues. The Clinic aims to increase access to healthy foods, prevent diet-related diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and assist small farmers and producers in participating in food markets.

Each semester approximately 15 law students are involved in the Food Law and Policy Clinic through enrollment in the Food Law and Policy seminar, which presents an overview of U.S. food policy and considers how law and policy shape our food system and what we eat. The course examines food policy from various viewpoints, including a historical perspective, past and current economic attitudes, and the varying lenses of farmers, consumers, and food corporations. Clinical students have the opportunity to work on a range of projects for school credit. Another 20-30 students work on projects as pro bono volunteers through the Mississippi Delta Project and Food Law Society student organizations, as well as other pro-bono opportunities overseen by the Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Clinic students have the opportunity to work on a range of federal, state, and local law and policy projects, such as:

  • Working with state and local food policy councils to identify and support policy changes to the food system;
  • Analyzing and recommending ways to increase access to healthy foods for low-income individuals and those living in areas with limited food access;
  • Identifying and eliminating legal and non-legal barriers inhibiting small-producers from selling at farmers markets, grocery stores, restaurants, and farm-to-school or farm-to-institution programs;
  • Assessing food safety laws to inform regulatory changes that could increase economic opportunities for small producers while maintaining public health
  • Promoting healthy  school environments by improving the food options available in public schools, encouraging better school health curricula, increasing procurement of fresh local foods for school meals, and creating more opportunities for school and community gardens

Through this work, students have the opportunity to hone a number of skills, such as researching and writing legal and policy documents, reports, and training materials; conducting statutory interpretation; drafting legislation and regulations; performing interviews and fact-finding with clients, stakeholders, and governmental agencies; and presenting workshops and trainings                                                                                                                                     

While the primary offices of the Food Law and Policy Clinic of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation are at the HLS Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, we have an on-campus office in the new Wasserstein Clinical Wing. Given the national scope of much of our work, students can often meet with clinic staff and conduct their work on-campus. Clinic clients are located around the United States, and some students will have the opportunity to travel to the southeastern states, as we work closely with partners in Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina, in addition to our local work in the Northeast.

Students can elect to register for 2, 3, or 4 clinical credits. Clinic slots are available in fall, winter, or spring, and clinic enrollment is through the Helios lottery system.

Contact:

Emily Broad Leib, Director ebroad@law.harvard.edu

617-390-2590

122 Boylston Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Laura Johnston, Program Coordinator ljohnston@law.harvard.edu

617-390-2552

122 Boylston Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

CHLPI

Students enrolled in the Health Law and Policy Clinic of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation will participate in a broad range of national and state law and policy initiatives aimed  at increasing access to quality, comprehensive health care for poor and low-income individuals and families—especially those living with chronic medical conditions.

Through the clinic, students work to inform cutting-edge policy recommendations at the state and national levels in both the legislative and regulatory arenas. Student projects involve informing both national and state level implementation of the Affordable Care Act through regulatory comments and analysis, providing law and policy analysis to national and state coalitions advocating to protect the Medicaid program, and investigating best practices at the state and local level to support the development of new initiatives to increase access to treatment and service programs specifically designed to serve vulnerable populations.

State level work is conducted in Massachusetts as well as other states—currently, projects are ongoing in Alabama, Florida, Georgia,  Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas. Students in the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation will have the opportunity to travel to help facilitate trainings and meetings with state elected and appointed officials and community partners in these states, participate in national law and policy advocacy conferences, and facilitate issue-based meetings with community partners. Over the course of a semester, students can expect to accumulate a wealth of hands-on experience in current and emerging health law and policy issues. Students conduct legal and fact-based research to inform health law and policy recommendations that take shape as student-generated fact sheets, in-depth reports, comment letters, testimony, presentations, and draft legislation or regulatory guidance.

While the primary offices of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation are at the HLS Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, we have an on-campus office in the new Wasserstein Clinical Wing. Given the national scope of much of our work, students can often meet with clinic staff and conduct their work on-campus. Clinic clients are located around the United States, and some students will have the opportunity to travel to the southeastern states, as we work closely with partners in Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina, in addition to our local work in the Northeast.

Students can elect to register for 2, 3, or 4 clinical credits. Clinic slots are available in fall, winter, or spring, and clinic enrollment is through the Helios lottery system.

 

Contact:

Robert Greenwald, Director rgreenwa@law.harvard.edu

617-390-2584

122 Boylston Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Laura Johnston, Program Coordinator ljohnston@law.harvard.edu

617-390-2552

122 Boylston Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

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