What Areas of Interest and Academic Resources Does the Harvard Law School Website Cover?

Updated

hls.harvard.edu lists a broad set of legal fields under Featured Areas of Interest, and pairs that list with academic entry points such as the Faculty Directory, Course Catalog, Clinics at HLS, and Harvard Law Today. Together these pages let you see what the school teaches and researches, and who works on it. The areas list is a snapshot of current coverage, so treat it as a starting point rather than a fixed catalog — fields and faculty change over time.

Featured Areas of Interest on the site

The homepage groups its subject coverage into a long, alphabetized list. The fields shown include:

Category Examples from the list
Public and constitutional law Constitutional Law, Administrative and Regulatory Law, Election Law and Democracy, State and Local Government
International and comparative International Law, Comparative Law, Human Rights, Immigration Law, National Security Law
Business and finance Corporate and Transactional Law, Bankruptcy and Commercial Law, Antitrust, Law and Economics, Tax Law and Policy
Technology and environment Technology Law and Policy, Environmental Law and Policy, Health, Food, and Drug Law
Rights and society Civil Rights, Race and the Law, Gender and the Law, LGBTQ+, Disability Law, Poverty Law and Economic Justice
Practice and theory Civil Litigation, Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Legal Profession and Ethics

The list also covers American Indian Law, Animal Law, Arts, Entertainment, and Sports Law, Children and Family Law, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Courts, Jurisdiction, and Procedure, Criminal Law and Procedure, Education Law, Employment and Labor Law, Financial and Monetary Institutions, Intellectual Property, Law and Philosophy, Law and Political Economy, Law and Religion, Leadership, Legal History, Private Law, Property, Torts, and Trusts, Estates, and Fiduciary Law.

Academic resources that go with the list

  • Faculty Directory — find who teaches and researches in a given field.
  • Course Catalog — see the actual courses offered in a subject area.
  • Clinics at HLS — clinical and experiential work tied to practice areas.
  • Harvard Law Today — news and analysis that show how these fields play out in current debates.
  • J.D. Admissions and Graduate Program — entry points if you are looking at the school as an applicant rather than a researcher.

How to use these pages

  1. Pick a field from Featured Areas of Interest that matches your question.
  2. Cross-check it against the Course Catalog to confirm what is actually taught.
  3. Use the Faculty Directory to identify people working in that area.
  4. Read Harvard Law Today for recent commentary and cases in the field.

One caveat: the areas list reflects the site at the time you read it. Offerings, faculty, and emphasis shift by term and by hiring, so verify details against the Course Catalog and Faculty Directory before relying on them.