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The Harvard Law Review has appointed a Los Angeles-born Egyptian American as its first Muslim president in its 134-year history, elevating him to the top of one of the most prestigious US law journals. Hassaan Shahawy, the new elected president succeeds Micheljit Sandhu ’21.
Shahawy graduated from Harvard College in 2016 with a BA in History and Near Eastern Studies. He then attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar to pursue a doctorate in Oriental Studies and studied Islamic law.
Shahawy has also been involved in direct services work with refugee populations and incarcerated persons. In an interview to Reuters, he has said that his future plans are unclear, but there is a possibility of becoming a public interest lawyer or working in academia.
Founded in 1887 by future Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, it is the oldest operating student-edited law reviews in the United States. Law reviews are staffed by the top students at US law schools, who are often recruited for judicial clerkships and other prestigious jobs in the profession.
Among the legal and political luminaries who have worked at the Harvard Law Review was former U.S. President Barack Obama, named the journal’s first Black president in 1990. Three serving Supreme Court Justices were editors of the Harvard Law Review, as well as the late Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
