About

The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy is published three times annually by the Harvard Society for Law & Public Policy, Inc., an organization of Harvard Law School students. The Journal is one of the top five most widely circulated law reviews and the nation’s leading forum for conservative and libertarian legal scholarship. The late Steven Eberhard and former Senator and Secretary of Energy E. Spencer Abraham founded the journal forty years ago, in the Spring of 1978. Many alumni have risen to prominent legal positions in the government and at the nation’s top law firms. Some of our distinguished alumni include:

  • Justice Neil Gorsuch
  • Senator Tom Cotton
  • Senator Ted Cruz
  • Secretary of State Michael Pompeo
  • Governor Ron DeSantis
  • Judge David Barron of the First Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Judge Jennifer Elrod of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Judge John Bush of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Judge Kevin Newsom of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Judge Gregory Katsas of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Professor Adrian Vermeule, Harvard Law School
  • Professor Orin Kerr, UC Berkeley School of Law

Our Board of Advisors includes two U.S. Senators, four U.S. Court of Appeals Judges, and leading conservative and libertarian scholars. Past authors have included Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Neil Gorsuch, and then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

The Journal prides itself on developing the writing, researching, and editing skills of each staff member from the beginning of 1L year and continuing through all three years of law school. In collaboration with our sister organization, the Harvard Federalist Society, we provide guidance and advice on finding summer jobs with law firms, public interest groups, and the government. We also guide members through the judicial clerkship application process, and hold fun social events throughout the school year.

We recently launched JLPP: Per Curiam, an online counterpart to JLPP.

Follow us on Twitter @HarvardJLPP