Who We Are

The Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD) was established by Professor William Alford and Professor Michael Stein in 2004. We are a team of international scholars and advocates working to promote disability human rights. HPOD‘s transnational operation is headquartered in Harvard Law School.

Principals

William P. Alford

Chair, Harvard Law School Project on Disability
Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies, and Director of East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School.

Professor Alford is a graduate of Amherst College and holds advanced degrees from the University of Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale. His publications include To Steal a Book is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization, Raising the Bar: The Emerging Legal Profession in East Asia, and scores of articles on China. At Harvard, his teaching has focused on Chinese law and society, international law, the legal profession, and disability in a global setting. Professor Alford is an honorary professor of Renmin University, Zhejiang University, and the National Institute of Administration of the PRC, as well as an honorary fellow of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Science. He is a member of the board of directors of Special Olympics and has for years been involved through that organization with training, health, and other disability issues in China and elsewhere. He has been called upon for counsel by international organizations, governments, universities, and charitable entities in the United States and abroad.

For further information please visit Professor Alford’s faculty webpage.

Michael Ashley Stein

Professor Michael Stein Executive Director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary School of Law.

Professor Stein is a graduate of New York University, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and a J.D. degree from Harvard (where he was the first person with a disability to serve on the Law Review). His path-breaking scholarship has been published in many leading journals. Recent examples include Disability and the Social Contract, University of Chicago Law Review, and Disability Human Rights, California Law Review. Professor Stein has taught courses on disability law at Harvard, NYU, Stanford, and William & Mary. In addition to playing a prominent role in the drafting of the CRPD, he counsels governments on disability law and policy, represents international disability rights organizations, trains disability human rights advocates around the globe, and serves on several disability rights and research advisory boards.

For further information please read Professor Stein’s Bio and Publication List

Affiliated Harvard Law School Colleagues

Martha A. Field
Langdell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School.

Martha L. Minow
Dean of the Law Faculty and Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School.

Senior Research Associates

Janet E. Lord
Partner, BlueLaw International, LLP, and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law.

Penelope J.S. Stein
Research Fellow, East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School.

Research Associates

Janos Fiala
Director, Central Europe Program.

Deborah Gleason
Director, Philippines Program

Jenny E. Heller
Visiting Research Associate

Sulini Sarugaser Hug
Visiting Research Associate

JaeWon Kim
Director, Korea Program.

Jukka Kumpuvuori
Director, Northern Europe Program.

Yuanyuan Shen
Lecturer, Department of Economics, Brandeis University.

Hezzy Smith
Director, Bangladesh Program.

Katherine Warren
Research Intern

Postdoctoral Fellows

Fengming Cui
Director, China Program; Ed.D. Special Education, Boston University.

Hengameh Saberi
Director, Middle East and Near East Program; S.J.D. Harvard Law School.

Graduate Students

Guo Rui
Doctoral candidate, Harvard Law School.

Wang Gangqiao
Doctoral candidate, Harvard Law School.

HPOD Management

Juliet K. Bowler
Senior Program Manager.

Associated Colleagues and Disability Centers

Peter Blanck
University Professor, Syracuse University, and Chair, Burton Blatt Institute.

Harold J. Bursztajn
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and President of the American Unit of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics.

Theresia Degener
Professor of Law, Administration and Organization at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Bochum, Germany.

Nora Ellen Groce
Leonard Cheshire Chair in Global Health and Inclusive Development, University College London.

Rune Halvorsen
Senior Researcher, NOVA Norwegian Social Research.

Malcolm Langford
Research Fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, and Director, Socio-Economic Rights Programme.

Osamu Nagase
Special Visiting Professor, Research Center for Ars Vivendi, Ritsumeikan University.

Arie Rimmerman
Professor and Richard Crossman Chair for Social Welfare & Planning, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa.

Gerard Quinn
Professor of Law and Director, Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Michael Waterstone
Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Loyola Los Angeles Law School.

China

Wang Liming
Vice President, Renmin University of China, and Member of the Law Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Han Dayuan
Dean, Renmin University of China Law School.

Li Jianfei
Professor of Law, Renmin University of China Law School.

Ding Xiangshun
Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Foreign Affairs, Renmin University of China Law School.

Alonzo Emery
Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Disability Law Clinic, Renmin University of China Law School.

Charles Wharton
Assistant Professor, Renmin University of China Law School.

Xu Jiacheng
Dean, Beijing Lianhe University.

Yu Xingzhong
Associate Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Zhang Wanhong
Associate Professor, Wuhan University Law School and Director, Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute

Lu Zhi’an
Professor of Law, Fudan University Law School.