Nigerian-American Imeime Umana elected President of Harvard Law Review

01 Feb 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Outgoing president of the Harvard Law Review, Michael L. Zuckerman, says he is excited to see where Umana will take the publication in the coming year.

Imeime Umana, President, Harvard Law Review

Nigerian-American, Imeime Umana, has emerged as the first black female president of the Harvard Law Review, an influential legal journal published by a student group at the Harvard Law School. Umana will serve as the 131st president of the publication, joining the ranks of prominent former presidents including former United States President Barack Obama.

Established by Louis D. Brandeis in 1887, the Harvard Law Review is one of the most cited and oldest student-edited law journals in the United States. 24-year-old Umana takes over the helms of the HLR from Michael L. Zuckerman, the outgoing president.

In an email to the Harvard Crimson, a daily student newspaper of Harvard University, Zuckerman said he is excited to see where Umana will take the publication in the coming year.

“Imeime's election as the Law Review's first female black president is historic,” Zuckerman wrote. “For a field in which women and people of color have for too much of our past been marginalized or underrepresented, her election is an important and encouraging step toward a richer and more inclusive legal conversation.”

Born to Nigerian immigrant parents originally from Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria, Umana is a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Umana graduated with a BA in Joint Concentration in African American Studies and Government from Harvard University in 2014. She is currently working on a Doctor of Law degree (Class of 2018) at the Harvard Law School.

Umana was elected out of 12 candidates who contested for the position, including eight women and eight non-white people. As president of the HLR, Umana will oversee more than 90 student editors and permanent staff members who make up the Law Review. Umana is the first and only woman president of the journal since Susan Estrich in 1977. Obama emerged as the first black president of the journal in 1990.

Umana previously served as Administrative Assistant to the Director of Internships and Career Services at Harvard University Institute of Politics from 2010 to 2012; President, Student Advisory Committee at Harvard University Institute of Politics from 2012 to 2013; Director of Scholarships and Fundraising, HMC San Francisco at Harvard Model Congress also in 2013; among other roles.


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