Who We Are

LIDS actively welcomes graduate students at Harvard Law School, the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Fletcher School. We believe that bringing together students with diverse perspectives and backgrounds makes our community stronger and improves our ability to support our NGO partner organizations. If you are a student interested in these topics, we hope that you will consider joining our organization. Learn More >>

LIDS is a dynamic organization with many ways to get involved, depending on your desired level of involvement and time commitment. Here’s just a sample:

• Engage in hands-on work with our international development projects.
  • LIDS projects offer an excellent opportunity to gain real development experience, hone project skills and build a professional network. And, according to our members, they’re also a lot of fun. Our project teams generally consist of 3-6 graduate students (from HLS, HKS, HBS, Fletcher or MIT) and work directly with a senior client at one of our partners – generally, a development agency such as an NGO, IGO or foreign government. Teams meet weekly and members are expected to contribute 3-4 hours of time a week, on average.
• Bring academics and development practitioners to share their experiences.
  • Collaborate with our speakers and events organizers to host or co-sponsor events spanning the universe of development topics. Highlights from last year include meeting with microfinance consultant and expert April Rinne, and a panel on student work experiences in the developing world.
• Discuss poverty alleviation and visa frustration with your colleagues over beer.
  • We have an active social calendar that strives to build community throughout the international development community in Boston and Cambridge. Get to know your fellow students, the best sources of information and inspiration, at our happy hours and community activities.
• Learn about careers in international development.
  • Stay tuned in to our schedule of workshops and events about landing a summer internship or finding a job in the field.
• Help us make our organization even stronger by joining our core committees.
  • Work directly with LIDS leadership in one of our committees: Events (responsible for inviting speakers and planning career activities), Projects (which helps screen, design and monitor international projects), Social (responsible for setting up our numerous activities) or Collaborations (which looks for creative ways to work with alumni and others).

LIDS offers students of all backgrounds the opportunity to delve into the intersection of international development and law – from the theoretic to the nitty-gritty – and develop close relationships with your peers and mentors in the field. For more information on how to get involved email Outreach Chair, Nicole Summers.

April 13, 2011 – Cambridge, Mass. – Responding to early efforts to resolve the political crisis in Bahrain by key leaders of the nonviolent opposition movement and ranking officials in the U.S. State Department, a team of 22 students from Harvard Law School and other graduate schools have worked with Prof. Chibli Mallat, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Visiting Professor of Islamic Legal Studies at HLS, to complete a detailed study on critical issues in the Bahraini constitution, possible options for reform, and language for potential amendments. The essay, “Constitutional Options for Bahrain” was published April 12, 2011, in the Virginia Journal of International Law Online. The background papers are available at http://tinyurl.com/3w59hlb.

The joint effort was initiated by Prof. Mallat when he spoke at the LIDS Allen & Overy Speaker Series. The study, which encompasses seven background papers, includes contributions from students in the Harvard Law and International Development Society and Prof. Mallat’s classes. Students worked in teams to address issues ranging from the role of the executive to comparative examples of transition to constitutional democratic monarchy. The project, intended to provide technical advice that would inform a compromise solution and offer an entry point for dialogue in Bahrain, was distributed to opposition leaders and the U.S. Department of State.

On March 15, 2011, the King of Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency. Plans to publish the study in Arabic in Bahrain’s sole independent newspaper, Al Wasat, were impeded when the government shut down the publication and forced the editor-in-chief to resign.

In the words of Jason Gelbort, incoming Co-President of LIDS and co-author of the study: “For me, this project is a great example of what LIDS does: real life legal work, collaborative across schools and the world, a learning experience for students, and most importantly working to forge change for good.”