Elizabeth Bartholet is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest

Professor of Law Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular j ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, and Faculty Director of Harvard Law School's Child Advocacy Program (CAP). She teaches

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

and family law, specializing in

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

, adoption and reproductive technology. Before joining the Harvard Faculty, she was engaged in

and public interest work, first with the

NAACP Legal Defense Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

, and later as founder and director of the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

focused on criminal justice and

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

issues. Bartholet is a supporter of the #MeToo movement, but has criticized some of what she considers its excesses. Bartholet is an outspoken opponent of the homeschooling movement and has urged governments to implement policies to make it protect homeschooled children from abuse. Bartholet helped to organize the Summit to Regulate Homeschooling to be held at the Harvard Law School on June 18–19, 2020. Her co-organizer, William and Mary law professor James Dwyer, is the author of a 1994 law review article entitled "Parents' Religion and Children's Welfare: Debunking the Doctrine of Parents' Rights" (82 Calif. L. Rev. 1371), claiming that the fundamental civic relationship is not that between parents and children but between the individual and the state. During the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

outbreak in 2020, when school closures forced necessary homeschooling, her previously published perspective on homeschooling was published in Harvard Magazine's May–June 2020 issue in an article by Erin O'Donnell. Bartholet's anti homeschooling views received media attention and drew criticism from homeschool proponents. Bartholet's publications include ''Nobody's Children: Abuse and Neglect, Foster Drift, and the Adoption Alternative'' (Beacon Press, 1999) and ''Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production'' (Beacon Press, 1999), as well as numerous law review articles. Bartholet earned a A.B. degree from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1962, and was granted their Alumnae Recognition Award in 1997. She earned a LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1965, graduating ''magna cum laude''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartholet, Elizabeth Living people Radcliffe College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty American women academics American women legal scholars American legal scholars Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women