Meet Dehlia Umunna The First Nigerian Law Professor At Harvard Law School

Dehlia Umunna, a 42-year-old seasoned scholar, has just become the first Nigerian to be appointed a Professor at Harvard Law School.

Naija news learnt that  Dehlia Umunna started teaching at Harvard Law School in 2007.

The Professor who 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,  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.

These students represent adult and juvenile clients.

Before joining Harvard, Law School, Umunna was was a trial attorney with the D.C. Public Defender Service and 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.

Meet my cousin Prof Dahlia Umunna—> She has become The First Nigerian to be appointed Professor of Law at the Prestigious Harvard law school.
Big congratulations cuz. pic.twitter.com/96UC33nylX

— ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor (@exquisiteOG) March 23, 2019

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 training across the country.

Sharing her joy, Umunna said, “I am blessed and honoured 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.

This Nigerian lady, Dr Wendy Okolo, is the first Black woman to earn a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering. pic.twitter.com/a5xWNDGBxp

— Facts About Africa (@OnlyAfricaFacts) March 19, 2019