Dr. Maayan Sudai
Associate Professor, Academic Director of the Clinics for Law and Social Change
Faculty of Law
Field of Research:
Law and Social Movements, Health Law and Bioethics, Feminist Legal Theory, Anti-Discrimination Law, Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Beyond the Playing Field: Rethinking Sports Segregation
As a legal scholar, Dr. Maayan Sudai explores how “separate but equal” shapes social systems. “What happens on the field reflects what happens outside it. If we can challenge our assumptions in a setting as visible as sports, that change can extend far beyond the game.”
As Head of the Clinics for Law and Social Change, she brings this critical thinking to her students, guiding the clinics’ work for vulnerable and underserved communities.
– Dr. Maayan Sudai
The Project
The Clinics for Law and Social Change Program at the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Law is a powerful initiative that combines hands-on legal education with deep social impact.
- Offering free legal aid and advocacy to marginalized groups, including women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people in poverty, survivors of the October 7th attack, and others whose rights are at risk.
Training law students through rigorous, practical experience in the community
Providing real protection and empowerment for communities.
Fundraising Goals
With your support for the Clinics for Law and Social Change Program we can:
- Sustain and expand the clinics’ vital work, ensuring that vulnerable communities continue to receive legal protection and advocacy.
- Strengthen a program that empowers communities while equipping future legal professionals to approach the law as a way to question, understand, and reshape society.
Meet Maayan Sudai
My connection to the Clinics for Law and Social Change Program is personal and long-standing. Nearly 20 years ago, I was a student in the Feminist Law Clinic, shaping my commitment to social justice and sparking my research at Harvard Law School. It taught me that law can be both a tool for critical inquiry and a vehicle for change. Today, the University of Haifa’s Law Clinics continue to do just that.
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Law and direct the Biology and Sexual Diversity in Law and Public Policy team at the GenderSci Lab at Harvard University. My academic path began with an LLB from Haifa, followed by an LLM and SJD from Harvard Law School. My research focuses on the intersection of law, science, and gender, with a particular interest in sex segregation in sport. I am currently developing a context-sensitive framework for sport desegregation, grounded in both theory and empirical research.
My work has been published in Science, The Lancet, the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, and the Yale Law Journal. I have received the Dan David Prize for Bioethics, the Cheshin Prize for Academic Excellence in Legal Research, and the Aharon Barak Prize for Excellence in Legal Research, and I am a member of the Israel Young Academy.
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