Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School

What Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School does

The Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School is a non-profit academic clinical program founded in 2020-2021 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the first U.S. law school clinic devoted entirely to election law practice. The Clinic trains Harvard Law students through hands-on litigation and advocacy across the full case lifecycle — pre-filing investigations, discovery, briefing and oral argument, trial, and appellate work — while also engaging in amicus brief work, legislative drafting, and policy advocacy.

The Clinic's core activities span redistricting and voter suppression litigation, campaign-finance challenges, voting-rights enforcement under federal and state statutes, and support for affected voters and communities of color. It operates three analytical platforms: RPV Near Me (county-level racially polarized voting estimates using King's Ecological Inference), TrueViews (MRP-based public-opinion estimates at sub-state geographies), and PlanScore (redistricting-plan scoring across all 50 states). Methodologies are validated for federal Voting Rights Act litigation and have been referenced in Supreme Court opinions, most notably Allen v. Milligan (2023).

The Clinic is funded through Harvard Law School's academic budget; all legal services and analytical tools are provided at no cost. Revenue is therefore not commercially generated. The Clinic's "customers" are civil-rights NGOs, grassroots voter organizations, affected communities, and pro bono co-counsel partners across more than ten U.S. states, with a co-counsel coalition that includes NAACP LDF, ACLU, Paul Weiss, Campaign Legal Center, Law Forward, Arnold & Porter, Sierra Club, NARF, and Protect Democracy.

Name

Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School

Legal name

Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School

Website

https://hlselectionlaw.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School is the first U.S. law school clinic dedicated entirely to election law, training students through litigation and advocacy in redistricting, voter suppression, and voting-rights cases. It serves civil-rights NGOs and affected voters with free legal representation and three analytical platforms (RPV Near Me, TrueViews, PlanScore).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Election Law Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), Legal Services (5411), Legal Counsel and Prosecution (922130)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Legal Education & Legal Aid Clinics (Law School–Run) (EDAHAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Defense & Legal Aid Services (BPAIAFAC), Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)

Keywords

• Election law litigation
• Voting rights advocacy
• Redistricting analysis
• Racially polarized voting
• Legal clinical education

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Services (Free): As a Harvard Law School clinical program, the Clinic provides free legal representation and advocacy services. It is funded through Harvard Law School's academic budget rather than client fees. Services include direct representation, amicus briefs, redistricting analysis, and policy advocacy.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School is an academic clinical program that trains law students through hands-on election law litigation and advocacy. It provides free legal representation, amicus brief work, redistricting analysis, and policy advocacy on voting rights matters including redistricting, voter suppression, racial and partisan gerrymandering, and campaign finance. The Clinic also publishes three public-facing analytical tools: RPV Near Me, TrueViews, and PlanScore.

Product overview

The Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School is a legal clinic (not a technology company per se) that offers three distinct analytical tools for election law advocacy: RPV Near Me provides estimates of racially polarized voting patterns across U.S. counties using King's Ecological Inference method; TrueViews offers geographically granular public opinion data using multilevel regression and poststratification; and PlanScore enables scoring of redistricting plans. These tools serve voters, community groups, activists, lawyers, and journalists to understand voting patterns, minority representation, and electoral system performance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RPV Near Me: A free tool providing summary measures of racially polarized voting for every county in the country using King's Ecological Inference technique.
• PlanScore
• TrueViews

Products and services

• RPV Near Me A web-based tool providing free access to summary measures of racially polarized voting (RPV) for every county in the United States, using techniques approved by federal courts for Voting Rights Act litigation.
• TrueViews A website-based tool providing detailed public opinion estimates on key policy issues by geography (county, Congressional district, state legislative district, city/town, ZIP code, school district) using multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) methodology.
• PlanScore A redistricting scoring service that evaluates and publishes district plans for all 50 states, analyzing partisan, demographic, racial, and geometric features of electoral maps.
• Amicus Representation Free amicus brief representation in election law cases of national importance, provided by Clinic students and faculty.
• Direct Representation Free direct legal representation of clients in voting rights cases involving redistricting, voter suppression, racial and partisan gerrymandering, and campaign finance matters, handled by Clinic students under faculty supervision.

Quantifiable outcome

• Supreme Court upheld Section 2 of Voting Rights Act in Allen v. Milligan, with Court relying heavily on ELC amicus brief
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 October 2023Joint submission to the Federal Election Commission on AI regulation in election campaigns. Urged the FEC to clarify regulations around AI-generated content in campaign ads.
• Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on TrueViews project. Professor Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, Professor Ruth M. Greenwood, and Professor Justin de Benedictis-Kessner are faculty affiliates of the Bloomberg Center for Cities.
• Local Politics Lab at Harvard Kennedy SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-development of TrueViews with Professor Justin de Benedictis-Kessner directing the Local Politics Lab at HKS.
• PlanScorecoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration to make redistricting fair and easy to understand. PlanScore is made up of legal, political science, and mapping technology experts who score and publish district plans for all 50 states.
• Legal Defense Fund (LDF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Louisiana redistricting cases (Robinson v. Landry, Nairne v. Landry, Callais v. Landry), Mississippi DeSoto County case, Jefferson County Alabama case, and multiple other voting rights matters.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Louisiana redistricting cases, Jacksonville NAACP case, Montana voting laws challenge, and numerous other voting rights cases nationwide.
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Louisiana redistricting cases including Robinson v. Landry challenging Louisiana's congressional map under the Voting Rights Act.
• Law ForwardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Wisconsin redistricting cases including Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission and Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy lawsuit challenging Congressional maps.
• Campaign Legal CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission and amicus representation in cases including Borja v. Nago.
• Arnold & PortercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission challenging gerrymandered state legislative maps in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
• Stafford Rosenbaum LLPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Wisconsin redistricting cases including the lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's Congressional map.
• Abrams Fensterman, LLPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel in Clarke v. Town of Newburgh and Serratto v. Town of Mount Pleasant voting rights cases under the New York Voting Rights Act.
• Native American Rights Fund (NARF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting ACLU and ACLU of Montana in challenge of Montana laws hindering Native American participation in state elections (Western Native Voice v. Jacobsen).
• Protect DemocracycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorked with Protect Democracy to file amicus brief in Dagusen v. Aguilar supporting dismissal of voter purge request based on faulty data.
• Civil Rights and Justice Clinic, University of Washington School of LawminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint brief of Law School Clinics focused on Civil Rights as Amici Curiae in Portugal v. Franklin County (WVRA case).
• Mehri & SkaletminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLocal counsel working with ELC and FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub on amicus brief defending FEC's function in Democratic National Committee v. Donald J. Trump.
• Hawks QuindelminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLocal counsel for amici in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission gerrymandering case.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Demos: Mult-issue racial equity and democracy policy organization with significant voting rights, redistricting, and campaign finance work. Comparable given overlapping issue-area focus and federal/state litigation on voting rights, though broader than election law alone.

Direct peers

• Brennan Center for Justice: NYU-affiliated, nonpartisan law and policy institute focused on voting rights, redistricting, and election administration. Closely comparable given its university setting, research-and-litigation model, and tool-building (e.g., redistricting analysis) overlapping with PlanScore and TrueViews.
• Native American Rights Fund: National Native voting rights litigation organization partnering with ELC and ACLU in Western Native Voice v. Jacobsen (Montana). Comparable in mission and case portfolio around voting access for marginalized communities.
• Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: National civil rights legal organization that runs major voting rights and election protection programs (e.g., Election Protection). Operates overlapping election law litigation and voter protection work with comparable clients and federal court engagement.
• Campaign Legal Center: Voting rights and campaign finance litigation organization; co-counsel with ELC in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission and amicus representation including in Borja v. Nago. Direct competitor/collaborator in redistricting and campaign finance cases.
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund: Long-standing voting rights litigation organization and a primary ELC co-counsel across Louisiana redistricting, Mississippi DeSoto County, and Jefferson County AL matters. Operates in the same election law litigation space with overlapping matters and client base.
• ACLU Voting Rights Project: Nationwide voting rights litigation program that ELC has co-counseled with on Louisiana redistricting, Jacksonville NAACP, and Montana voting laws challenges. Closely overlaps in clients (voters and communities of color) and substantive case theories (Section 2 VRA, state VRAs).
• Protect Democracy: Nonpartisan democracy-protection organization that partnered with ELC on the amicus brief in Dagusen v. Aguilar. Operates comparable federal-court election and democracy litigation.
• Law Forward: Voting rights litigation organization serving as ELC's co-counsel in Wisconsin redistricting cases (Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy). Direct peer in state-level redistricting and democracy litigation.

Emerging players

• University of Chicago Law School — Mandel Legal Aid Clinic and Election Law programs: Other elite law-school-affiliated election law and civil rights clinical programs that produce scholarship and litigation experience similar to ELC. Comparable as a peer academic clinical model in the same niche, though not a direct litigation competitor on specific cases.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses6 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/electionlawclinic/rpvnearme
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/election-law-clinic-harvard-law-school

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School