



Thank you to all our attendees for joining us for the first ever Food Law Student Leadership Summit in October 2015! It was an incredible weekend with nearly 100 attendees from 50 different law schools (located in 30 states).

The Food Law Student Leadership Summit was conceived as a way to convene interested law students from around the country to learn from national experts about a variety of key food law issues; develop strategies to start or expand student food law organizations; and build a national network of colleagues.

The Summit also offered an opportunity for the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic to learn how to best support students in creating a food law student network and providing information and resources. Over the coming months, the FLPC will work with interested students to develop a national leadership structure, regional networks, a website and hub for resources, and cross-network projects.

We would like to thank our keynote, Michele Merkel, Co-Director of Food & Water Justice, the legal arm of Food & Water Watch, for speaking to attendees. We would also like to thank our other incredible speakers, panelists, and moderators:

Ona Balkus, Senior Clinical Fellow, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic

Peter Barton Hutt, Adjunct Faculty, Harvard Law School and Senior Counsel, Covington & Burling

Emily Broad Leib, Director, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic

Carter Dillard, Animal Legal Defense Fund

Graham Downey, Student, Yale Law School

Scott Edwards, Co-Director of Food & Water Justice

Robert Greenwald, Director, Harvard Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

Neil Hamilton, Drake University Law School

Amanda Heyman, Jambor Heyman: Lawyers for Good Food

Christopher Hogan, Student, West Virginia University College of Law

Alex Jordan, Student, Harvard Law School

Miguel Keberlein, LAF Chicago Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group

Kim Kessler, UCLA School of Law

Alex Leone, Student, Harvard Law School & President of Harvard Food Law Society

Baylen Linnekin, Keep Food Legal, Adjunct Faculty George Mason University School of Law

Laura MacCleery, Center for Science in the Public Interest

Martha Minow, Dean, Harvard Law School

Kelly Nuckolls, Student, Drake University Law School

Melanie Pugh, Student, Seattle University School of Law

Nate Rosenberg, Natural Resources Defense Council & Founder of Harvard Food Law Society

Jenny Rushlow, Conservation Law Foundation

Laurie Ristino, Vermont Law School

Susan Schneider, University of Arkansas School of Law

Kristen Stilt, Harvard Law School

Food Law Attorney Panel: Movers and Shakers in Food Law and Policy

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Michele Merkel’s Keynote Speech

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Student Panel on Food Law Societies

Sunday, October 4, 2015

View Images from the Summit

About the Food Law Student Leadership Summit

Food law and policy is a fast-growing field of interest among law students, legal professionals, and society at large. Communities around the country and the world are searching for ways to improve the environmental, public health, and social impacts of the food system. Law students and lawyers are uniquely situated to make significant contributions to this emerging field. In response, growing numbers of law schools now offer food law and policy courses, operate student food law organizations, have undertaken clinical work related to food policy, and have hosted conferences on various food law and policy topics.

The Food Law Student Leadership Summit was the first conference to convene law students from around the country who share a passion for food law and policy. Attendees heard from national experts about key food law and policy issues related to the environment, health, food safety, and food waste; developed strategies to start or expand student food law organizations; began the work of building a national network of food law and policy colleagues; and started developing coordinated strategies for addressing some of society’s most pressing food law and policy concerns.

The Summit was hosted by the Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), a division of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. The FLPC is an experiential learning program for law students, which works to address the health, environmental, and economic consequences of the laws and policies that govern our food system. Click here to learn more about our work and email any questions about the Summit to flpc@law.harvard.edu.

The Summit was generously funded by the Charles M. Haar Food and Health Law and Policy Fund.

Thank you also to support from GRACE Communications Foundation.