The Food Law and Policy Clinic is a clinical teaching program of Harvard Law School. Our expert faculty and clinical team lead and teach several Harvard Law School courses and an associated clinic, providing students with comprehensive learning opportunities in food law and related policy advocacy.
Semesters Offered: Spring and Fall
Clinical Credits: 3, 4, or 5
The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) provides students with the opportunity to practice using legal and policy tools in order to address the health, environmental, and economic impacts of our food system.
Students enrolled in the clinic get hands-on learning experience conducting legal and policy research for individuals, communities, and governments on a wide range of food law and policy issues. For example, students have the opportunity to: comment on major federal regulations, such as the Food and Drug Administration rules impacting food safety on the farm; identify and promote creative policies to reduce the 40% of food that goes to waste in the U.S.; train and empower food policy councils and other community coalitions to achieve their food system goals; and research and recommend policies increasing access to healthy food at all levels of government.
Students develop a variety of transferable skills in areas such as research, writing, creative problem-solving, project management, oral communication, and leadership. Specifically, students have opportunities to draft memoranda, white papers, and regulatory comments; conduct statutory interpretation; compose legislation and regulations; petition for agency rulemaking or enforcement actions; conduct interviews and fact-finding; and prepare and train communities about civic engagement, the food system, and policy change.
Overall, I really enjoyed my semester working on the FIM project. Not only does FIM intersect with so many of my interests, but the team, support, and mentorship of the clinic was amazing. I realize there was a learning curve in the beginning and learning was definitely an ongoing process, so I greatly appreciate the patience and guidance provided by Heather and Erika. I never felt hesitant to reach out or ask questions when needed. I also loved the experiential learning, the ability to work with the states of Alaska and Oklahoma, as well as interview FreshRx. While it felt like there were a lot of deliverables, I did enjoy working on important, diverse skillsets. I feel my written and verbal deliverables improved throughout these semester which could not have been done without the great mentorship I received. I felt the semester was a great learning opportunity and challenge, one that really forces you to grow and improve – sometimes in ways I didn’t even know I needed to!
—Natalie Ball, FLPC Fall 2023
Overall, I had an incredible and rewarding experience with the clinic and FIM project. I had been waiting almost 2 years to take it, and it was well worth it and definitely a highlight of my entire 3-year MPP/MBA experience. In particular, I was grateful for a safe work environment to make mistakes but also opportunity to challenge myself to learn much more in depth about parts of the food system that I was unfamiliar with. I also found working on different types of work within the FIM project (the landscaping presentations in addition to the research memo) to be interesting and exciting. I loved the round tables and opportunity to learn from what the other project teams worked on.
—Morgan Zaidel, FLPC Fall 2023
"I was interested in working on (the Atlas) project because during undergrad I was really involved with actually setting up a food bank on campus, picking the right location, getting the funding. And I recognized how much food insecurity really impacted my community there. So working on food loss and waste and food insecurity abroad really appealed to me for that reason."
