Alice Farmer

Alice Farmer joined the University of Maine School of Law faculty as an associate professor in July 2026. Her research is in the fields of forced displacement, international refugee law, and human rights. Professor Farmer writes about climate displacement, examining the legal frameworks to protect people as climate change alters where humans can live, and focusing particularly on property rights in that context.

Professor Farmer regularly teaches Property Law, International Environmental Law, International Human Rights and Refugee Law, and advises students on climate change research.
Prior to joining Maine Law, Professor Farmer was the 2024-2025 Policy Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre.

Before entering academia, Professor Farmer was the head of the legal team for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)’s offices in the United States. She served more than a decade with UNHCR, with various field assignments including Moldova and Liberia.

Previously, Professor Farmer worked for the ACLU, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Human Rights Watch, where she led the organization’s campaign to end immigration detention of children and conducted human rights research in twelve countries. Farmer serves on the board of the Bromley Charitable Trust, an environmental philanthropic foundation.

Professor Farmer earned her B.A. from Harvard College, her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and her M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School.