Josh McDaniel

Josh McDaniel is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Faculty Director of the Religious Freedom Clinic, where he supervises students representing religious clients. He is also an Associated Scholar with the Centre for Law and Religious Freedom at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.

• Education: BA (Brigham Young University, 2008), JD (UCLA School of Law, 2012)
• Bar Admissions: Supreme Court of the United States, California, Massachusetts, and multiple U.S. Courts of Appeals

His research focuses on religious freedom, constitutional law, and how religious minorities have historically shaped secular legal rights through litigation. His 2025 article Religious Minorities and Secular Rights explores how religious claimants’ use of secular rights like free speech and equal protection created foundational precedents for broader civil rights movements.

Key Contributions: Demonstrated how Jehovah's Witnesses' litigation in the 1930s-40s empowered the Black civil rights movement of the 1950s-60s. Analyzed contemporary implications for cases involving school prayer and social media content regulation.

Awards & Recognition:

• Daily Journal 2022 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award
• Best Lawyers 'One to Watch' in appellate law (x2)

Previously practiced as a trial litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and appellate litigator at Horvitz & Levy, specializing in commercial and civil rights cases with First Amendment expertise. Clerked for federal judges Cormac J. Carney and Jay S. Bybee.