Ronald S. Sullivan

Professor Ronald S. Sullivan is a faculty member at Harvard Law School, holding leadership roles as Faculty Director of the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop and Faculty Director Emeritus of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute. He served as Faculty Dean of Winthrop House (2009-2019), making history as the first African American to hold this position at Harvard. His practice-based scholarship spans criminal law, trial advocacy, legal ethics, and race theory, with a focus on exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals and reforming prosecutorial practices. The Huffington Post recognized him as the “Muhammad Ali of wrongful convictions” for securing the release of over 6,000 incarcerated individuals.

Professor Sullivan’s career merges academia and real-world impact. He designed the Brooklyn Conviction Review Unit, a national model for exoneration, and delivered a TED Talk that popularized criminal justice reform. His policy work includes advising Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign on criminal justice and contributing to Kenya’s constitutional reform (1994). He has testified before Congress and provided legal analysis for CNN, FoxNews, and PBS.

His recent publications include “The Omnipresent Tree” (2024) on judicial theory, “Opening Arguments Pedagogy” (2024), and juror selection analysis (2024) for Donald Trump’s cases. His work intersects with civil rights litigation, constitutional law, and systemic criminal justice reform, particularly through conviction integrity programs and indigent defense systems. He serves on the Governing Trustee of Dana Farber Cancer Institute (since 2011) and the United States Committee for Public Counsel Services.

• Education:
  • B.A., Morehouse College (Phi Beta Kappa)
  • J.D., Harvard Law School (President, Harvard Black Law Students Association; General Editor, Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal)
• Previous Roles:
  • Yale Law School (Teaching Award winner)
  • Public Defender Service for D.C.
  • White-Collar Defense Attorney at D.C. law firms