Dehlia Victoria Umunna is a Clinical Professor of Law and the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, where she became the first Nigerian faculty member in 2015.
Born in London in 1973, she grew up in Nigeria and later moved to the United States.
Umunna has extensive experience as a public defender, representing numerous indigent clients in serious criminal cases.
She is recognized for her expertise in criminal law, mass incarceration, and issues of race, and she actively mentors law students in their legal practice.
Education
Umunna’s education journey began with primary schooling in Nigeria before she moved to the United States.
She earned a BA in Communications from California State University, San Bernardino, in 1995.
Umunna then pursued a JD from George Washington University Law School in 1998, followed by a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School in 2011.
Professional role and contributions at Harvard Law School
Umunna is a Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (HLS) and the Faculty Deputy Director of the law school’s Criminal Justice Institute (CJI).
She supervises third-year law students in representing adult and juvenile clients in criminal and juvenile proceedings in Massachusetts Courts, including the Supreme Judicial Court.
Umunna’s teaching and research interests include Criminal Law, Criminal Defense and Theory, Mass Incarceration, and Race Issues.
She also serves as a Faculty Adviser to student organizations and coaches the HLS National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy and HLS Black Law Student Association Trial Teams, leading them to numerous regional and national awards.
Additionally, Umunna is a faculty member for Gideon’s Promise and frequently presents at Public Defender Training Conferences and Social Justice Reform Panels across the country.
Recently, she was appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to the Bar Admissions Curriculum Committee to help develop the Uniform Bar Exam.
Previous experience as a Public Defender
Before joining Harvard, Umunna worked as a trial attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS).
At PDS, she represented indigent clients in hundreds of cases ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies such as kidnapping, child sexual abuse, rape, and homicide, some of which received nationwide media attention.
Umunna also trained attorneys under the District of Columbia Criminal Justice Act as part of the PDS faculty.
Additionally, from 2002 to 2007, Umunna served as an Adjunct Professor of Law and Practitioner in Residence at American University, Washington College of Law.
She was a board member of the District of Columbia Law Students in Court Clinic and a guest lecturer at George Washington University Law School.
Awards and recognitions
Umunna has received several prestigious awards, including Harvard Law School’s Dean’s Award for Excellence, recognizing her exceptional service as a student supervisor, lecturer, coach, and mentor.
She also received the Southern Public Defender Training Center Outstanding Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.
Academic credentials
Umunna is a member of the Massachusetts, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bar Associations.
She holds a B.A. in Communications from California State University, a Master’s in Public Administration (MC) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a JD from George Washington University Law School, where she won the J.B. Shapiro Prize for Public Interest.
Her article, Rethinking the Neighborhood Watch: How Lessons from Nigerian Villages Can Creatively Empower Communities to Assist Low-Income, Single Mothers In America, was published in American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law (Volume 20, Number 4).
Umunna is also a proud mother to her two children, Ifeanyi and Edozie.
