Our Staff
Josh McDaniel
Director
As Director of the Religious Freedom Clinic, Josh has a passion for teaching his students to develop themselves as highly effective lawyers through the practice of religious freedom lawyering.
Before entering clinical teaching, Josh was a trial litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and then an appellate litigator at Horvitz & Levy, where he specialized in representing individual and organizational clients in both commercial and civil rights cases, with particular expertise in First Amendment and religious freedom issues. He also clerked for the Honorable Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
While in private practice, Josh received a Daily Journal 2022 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award, was twice named a “One to Watch” in appellate law by Best Lawyers, and argued in numerous appellate courts and courts of last resort, including twice before the California Supreme Court. His amicus brief for Jewish schools in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court was quoted by Justice Kavanaugh at oral argument.
Josh earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University and graduated first in his class from UCLA School of Law.
Email: jmcdaniel@law.harvard.edu
Parker knight
Clinical Instructor
Parker is an instructor at the Religious Freedom Clinic, where he guides teams of students representing clients in First Amendment and statutory religious liberty cases. His research focuses on the relationship between legal texts and legal reasoning, especially the influence of rule structures on interpretive methods. Before joining the clinic, Parker clerked for the Honorable David J. Porter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and, as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, litigated First Amendment cases in the Supreme Court of the United States and federal district and appellate courts. Parker received his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge, where he studied legal philosophy, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Fordham University, where he studied mathematics, economics, and philosophy in the university’s honors program.
Email: pknight@law.harvard.edu
Katie mahoney
Clinical Instructional Fellow
Katie is a fellow for the Religious Freedom Clinic. Before joining the clinic, she clerked for the Honorable Amul R. Thapar on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as Editor of the Yale Law Journal, Co-President of the Catholic Law Students Association, and Executive Vice President of the Yale Federalist Society. Before law school, Katie worked at the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, conducting research and developing programs to provide services to prisoners following their release. She received her B.A. in Philosophy from Cornell University.
Email: kmahoney@law.harvard.edu
STEven Burnett
Clinical Instructional Fellow
Steven is an instructional fellow at the Religious Freedom Clinic. Before joining the clinic, he clerked in his hometown, San Diego, CA, for the Honorable Patrick J. Bumatay on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he participated in Stanford’s Religious Liberty Clinic, and was Managing Editor of the Stanford Law & Policy Review. Before law school, Steven was a software engineer at Google, first in Mountain View, CA, and then in New York City. Steven received a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University.
Email: sburnett@law.harvard.edu
Hannah Curtis
Program Coordinator
Hannah serves as the Program Coordinator. During which she assists in managing the administration of the Religious Freedom Clinic, performs research in support of its cases, coordinates clinic activities and clinic-sponsored events, and provides administrative support to clinic staff and students.
Hannah graduated with a B.A., cum laude, in English from University of Dallas in May, 2023.
Email: hcurtis@law.harvard.edu