First woman to be Professor at Harvard Law School is Nigerian

By Chioma Obinagwam

Umunna Dehlia, a Nigerian, is  first woman to be appointed Professor of Clinical Law at Harvard Law School. Harvard Law Today disclosed.

According to the report, she started working at Harvard Law School (HLS) in 2007 and she is also Deputy Director and Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute (CJI).

Now, 43-year-old Dehlia Umunna has become the first Nigerian to be appointed Professor in Harvard School of Law. She was appointed Clinical Professor of Law.

Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School has since said, “Dehlia’s students revere her; her colleagues at HLS and nationally look to her as an exemplary advocate, teacher, and mentor.

“From her unprecedented win record in criminal defense trials, her deft leadership of the Criminal Justice Institute day-to-day, and her superb coaching of student moot court teams, her published scholarship, to her numerous awards in recognition of her outstanding work as a criminal defense attorney, advisor, and teacher.

“Dehlia is simply extraordinary, an inspiration to her students and her clients in every way. It is a true privilege to be her colleague.”

According to Harvard Law Today, Umunna has been a lecturer at Harvard Law School since 2007. She is the author of the article, “Rethinking the Neighborhood Watch: How Lessons from the Nigerian Village Can Creatively Empower the Community to Assist Poor, Single Mothers in America,” which was published in the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law.

She is also Deputy Director and Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute (CJI), through which she supervises third-year law students in criminal and juvenile proceedings and arguments before Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals court- students represent adult and juvenile clients.

Prior to coming to Harvard, Professor Umunna spent several years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) as a trial attorney.

At PDS, she was a felony one trial attorney, representing indigent clients in hundreds of cases from misdemeanor charges of theft, assault, and drug possession, to kidnapping, child sexual abuse, rape, and homicide.

Some of her cases received nationwide media attention.  She also served as faculty training attorneys under the District of Columbia Criminal Justice Act

She was also an adjunct professor of law and Practitioner in Residence at the Washington College of Law, American University.

In her career, the eminent Lawyer was a lecturer for several years at the George Washington University Law School.

In addition, Umunna is a board member of the District of Columbia Law Students Law Clinic. She currently serves as a faculty member for Gideon’s Promise, and is a frequent presenter at Public Defender trainings across the country.

Sharing her joy, Umunna said, “I am blessed and honored to join Harvard Law School’s remarkable faculty.

“I relish this extraordinary opportunity to continue work that I am truly passionate about, and I am grateful for the deep interest and commitment of the school to issues of criminal justice, mass incarceration, indigent defense and social justice.”

Educationally, Umunna holds a Law degree from the George Washington University Law Center and a Masters in Public Administration (MC) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

She also has a B.A. in Communications from California State University, San Bernardino.

Apart from being celeberated as the first woman to be appointed Professor of Clinical Law at HSL, she has clinched other recognitions, which include  Harvard Law School’s Dean’s Award for Excellence, in acknowledgment of her outstanding service to the HLS community.

Confiance News learnt that Nigerian women have been making history in their various career.

Recently, a Nigerian lady, Dr. Wendy Okolo became the first Black woman to earn a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering.

Before then, the founder of Stand To End Rape, Ayodeji Osowobi was named Commonwealth Young Person of the Year.

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