Current and Former Lewis Fellows
Since 1993, Reginald F. Lewis Fellows have gone on to amazing careers in the legal academy. Among the alumni and alumnae of the program are tenured professors at the top law schools in the United States. The following table provides detailed information about the current work of former fellows.
2019-20 Lewis Fellow
Zahra Takhshid
Zahra Takhshid’s scholarly interests include torts, contracts, comparative defamation law and privacy, and Islamic law. In her doctorate dissertation, she analyzed the role of public policy and unconscionability in negligence lawsuits that involve the express assumption of risk defense. She is currently working on a paper which re-examines the unconscionability defense pertaining to arbitration clauses and offers a new perspective. Zahra received her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and LL.M. in Private and Islamic Law from the University of Tehran School of Law and Political Science. She then pursued her second LL.M. degree at the George Washington University Law School. Zahra earned her Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degree from Fordham Law School. At Fordham, she also served as the Islamic Law Fellow at the Institute on Religion, Law, & Lawyer’s Work. She is also a passionate advocate of youth education and has taught and worked with middle school and high school students in Washington, D.C., and New York City. In addition, Zahra writes Op-Eds for several Iranian newspapers on current comparative legal issues. She speaks Farsi as her native language and is fluent in English. She is proficient in French, Arabic, and the programming language Swift.
Bar License: New York , Iran.
| Lewis Fellow | Fellowship Year(s) | Current Position |
| Nikolas Bowie | 2017-2018 | Assistant Professor of Law Harvard Law School |
| Duane Rudolph | 2015-2017 | |
| K. Sabeel Rahman | 2012-2014 | Associate Professor of Law Brooklyn Law School |
| Abbye J. Atkinson | 2009-2010 | Assistant Professor of Law UC Berkeley |
| Vincent Chiao | 2008-2010 | Associate Professor University of Toronto |
| Eleanor Marie Brown | 2007-2009 | Professor of Law and International Affairs Penn State Law |
| Hilary C. Robinson | 2006-2007 | Associate Professor of Law and Sociology Northeastern University School of Law |
| Angela M. Banks | 2004-2006 | Charles J. Merriam Distinguished Professor of Law Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law |
| Timothy William Waters | 2003-2004 | Professor of Law and Val Nolan Faculty Fellow Indiana University Maurer School of Law |
| Gavin Clarkson | 2002-2003 | Professor of Law University of Houston Law Center |
| Cristina M. Rodríguez | 2001-2002 | Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law Yale Law School |
| Laura Nyantung Beny | 2000-2001 | Earl Warren DeLano Professor of Law University of Michigan Law School |
| Stephen M. Rich | 2000-2001 | Professor of Law University of Southern California School of Law |
| Kenneth W. Mack | 1999-2000 | Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law Harvard Law School |
| Lino Mendiola, III | 1998-1999 | Partner Eversheds-Sutherland, LLP |
| Marc Spindelman | 1997-1998 | Isadore and Ida Topper Professor of Law Ohio State University Moritz College of Law |
| Ralph Richard Banks | 1996-1997 | Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law Stanford Law School |
| Alexa J. Smith | 1995-1996 | Major Gifts Officer Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) |
| Sydney Patel | 1994-1995 | |
| Richard Thompson Ford | 1993-1994 | George E. Osborn Professor of Law Stanford Law School |
Learn more about the Reginald F. Lewis Fellowship for Law Teaching