Jimmy Biblarz is a commercial litigator and UCLA Law lecturer who was named one of the “40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40.” His pro bono work has included matters with Public Counsel, the ACLU, and Human Rights First.

Biblarz earned his A.B., J.D., and Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard. His doctoral research examined how neighborhood and school ecosystems shape upward intergenerational mobility. His interest in housing insecurity is also personal: when he was 12, his family was evicted from their apartment in the heart of Jewish Los Angeles and pushed from neighborhood to neighborhood in search of affordability.

At Harvard, Biblarz served as the LGBTQ Specialty Tutor in Eliot House, where he created “Queertime,” a weekly gathering that became one of the most meaningful endeavors of his life. A longtime member of the Harvard Gender and Sexuality Alumni Caucus and a College alumni interviewer, he has remained deeply engaged in the alumni community.

Biblarz believes HAA Elected Directors play an important ambassadorial role—strengthening connections among alumni, students, and the University, and helping Harvard remain accessible and welcoming to people from all backgrounds. In that spirit, he is particularly interested in supporting efforts to recruit and retain outstanding faculty, protect access and affordability, expand fields such as Ethnic Studies, honor Harvard’s historic commitment to American Indian education, strengthen student mental health resources, and deepen meaningful engagement with alumni communities around the world. He also supports efforts to review admissions policies—including donor and legacy preferences—in ways that reinforce public confidence in Harvard’s commitment to fairness and academic excellence.

“At a moment when some institutions are retreating,” he writes, “Harvard should lead by demonstrating that diversity and rigorous scholarship are mutually reinforcing.”