April Xiaoyi Xu earned her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in May 2021. April is seeking representation to publish her 2 novels: a legal thriller-romance novel, Formidable Iciness, and a young adult fantasy novel, Refraction. If you are interested, April would love to hear from you and submit her query/manuscript: please contact April at xxu@jd21.law.harvard.edu.

April seeks to bring her experience in law and writing together, with a uniquely international and interdisciplinary perspective. 

April loves the law and has thoroughly enjoyed learning from a range of opportunities: from contributing legal research to U.S. federal judges and respected scholars to serving on the editorial boards of 6 law reviews in the U.S. and U.K. She started her legal career as a federal judicial law clerk and is now an associate attorney at Allen & Overy LLP. April served as President of the Harvard Asia Law Society and a Salzburg Cutler Fellow in International Law. She was the Teaching Fellow for Judge Joseph A. Greenaway’s “Great Cases of the Supreme Court” seminar, as well as a Research Assistant to Harvard professors Jeannie Suk Gersen, Noah Feldman, and Urs Gasser, MIT professor and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Amy Finkelstein, and the Harvard Program on International Law and Armed Conflicts. She was Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein’s judicial intern at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and a summer associate at A&O. April served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review and an executive board member for 3 other HLS organizations, as well as a mentor to Harvard College pre-law students and HLS LLM candidates. April also served on the masthead of Cambridge Law Review (U.K.) and the Harvard Radcliffe Student Advisory Board.

April loves writing: creative, journalistic, and academic alike. A freelance writer for 15 publications in 3 languages including the Huffington Post, South China Morning Post, and Caixin since high school, April has published more than 100 articles spanning diverse topics and interviewed more than 20 global leaders in all walks of life, including conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall. She served as Editor-in-Chief of the Claremont Journal of Law and Public Policy and founded the North America-wide Intercollegiate Law Journal. April has conducted both independent and collaborative research in 3 continents, and has published papers on law, politics, and policy in several law reviews and other academic journals. She has won and judged creative writing contests, and presented a Formidable Iciness excerpt to Harvard Law School’s Parody and Drama Society Alumni Network’s Annual Showcase (2022).

April is a people person who constantly learns from others around her and delights in collaborating on ongoing projects and new initiatives alike. Working alongside the World Health Organization’s health systems team, April designed an original universal health coverage campaign for Greater China. She has also collaborated with like-minded peers to found a free SAT tutoring program for students from low-income families in Southern California and an award-winning youth conservation club. On the creative side, in addition to providing pro bono counseling to musicians as a student attorney with the HLS Recording Artists Project, April performed as an actress, singer, and dancer at the HLS Drama Society’s 2021 show. After graduating from law school, April joined the Harvard Law School Association’s Recent Graduate Network as an executive board member, and served as a panelist at Harvard Law School’s February 2022 clerkships panel. April is also a member of Paris Lit Up‘s writing workshop series and the Harvard Language Exchange Program. April sincerely hopes to have the pleasure of working with you to publish Formidable Iciness and Refraction.

April was one of 14 national finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship. She graduated summa cum laude from Pomona College in 2018. April was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Delta Pi junior year, and received the Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Scholarship, Downing Scholarship (full merit scholarship for the University of Cambridge’s MPhil degree), Bernard Chan Service Award, John A. Vieg Politics Prize, and Dole-Kinney Creative Writing Award. 

In her spare time, April enjoys singing with friends, creative writing, public speaking, tennis, Zumba, swimming, strolling under the sun, and learning foreign languages. She has volunteered for the Jane Goodall Institute, Instituto Cervantes, and Lions Clubs International.

Read about April’s thoughts on law and creativity here.

Read April’s law review publications here.

Listen to April’s reflections on her roots here.

Substack: https://aprilxiaoyixu.substack.com