ImeIme Umana


ImeIme Umana is a Nigerian-American law clerk for Robert L. Wilkins. She is the 131st president, and first black female president, of the Harvard Law Review. The previous black president was Barack Obama, 27 years before Umana.

Early years

Umana was born in State College to Nigerian immigrant parents originally from Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria.

Education

She had her high school education at Susquehanna Township High School in Harrisburg. She then went to Harvard College in 2014, where she acquired a BA in Joint Concentration in African American Studies and Government. She holds a degree in law from Harvard and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Career

While obtaining her bachelor's degree, she served as president of Harvard's Institute of Politics and worked at the university's Hiphop Archive. She interned at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, served as both the Community Action Chair of the Harvard University Institute of Politics and Professional Developmental Chair for Public Interest for the Harvard Black Law Students Association.
On 29 January 2017, she was appointed president of the Harvard Law Review by the review's 92 student editors. She contested against 12 candidates, eight of whom were women and eight of whom were people of colour. All candidates were made to answer questions from a forum of editors, write responses to submitted questions and participate in mock editorial activities.
She is currently a law clerk for Robert L. Wilkins of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Awards