Martha Minow

Martha Minow, Dean Emeritus, Harvard Law School

Martha Minow is Harvard Law School Dean Emeritus and holds the 300th Anniversary University Professorship at Harvard University.

An expert in human rights and advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children, and persons with disabilities, she also writes and teaches about law, culture, and narrative. Her recent books include Saving the News: Why The Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve the Freedom of Speech (2021) and When Should Law Forgive? (2019). (For a list of Dean Minow’s books and publications, please visit her faculty page.)

Ms. Minow co-chairs the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law for the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering and the Access to Justice project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She previously served on the Independent International Commission Kosovo and helped to launch Imagine Co-Existence, a program of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, to promote peaceful development in post-conflict societies. During a 5-year partnership with the Federal Department of Education and the Center for Applied Special Technology, she worked to increase access to the curriculum for students with disabilities. Ms. Minow previously chaired the board of directors for the Revson Foundation (New York) and served on the boards of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Covenant Foundation (New York and Chicago), Facing History and Ourselves, and the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center. In 2008, she served on advisory committees addressing legal policy and educational policy for the Obama campaign.

Her honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (2023), the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award from the Women in Legal Education Section of the American Association of Law Schools (2024), and 10 honorary degrees; she was appointed to the post of 300th Anniversary University Professor, one of 25 faculty members recognized for boundary-crossing work.