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.
2021-22 Reginald F. Lewis Fellow
Chika okafor
Chika O. Okafor is the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law School. He is a justice scholar—focusing on economic & racial justice, criminal justice, and environmental justice. His scholarship lies at the intersection of law, economics, and public policy. He integrates economic theory, econometric techniques, and legal analysis to uncover mechanisms of—as well as inform solutions to—socioeconomic inequality. Chika is an affiliate of Opportunity Insights, the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, and the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard.
Chika is a PhD Candidate in Economics at Harvard University, a JD graduate of Yale Law School, a BA graduate (with Honors) of Stanford University, and a proud graduate of the Chicago Public Schools for elementary and high school. In the private sector, he is a former consultant with McKinsey & Company and a former attorney in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He is also a public policy practitioner with experience at the local level with the Chicago Public Schools, at the national level with the U.S. Senate and NAACP LDF, and at the international level with the European Court of Human Rights and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Chika is a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow, a Stone PhD Scholar in Harvard’s Program in Inequality and Social Policy, a former Terence M. Considine Fellow in Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, and a Fellow in Aging & Health Economics with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Chika is licensed to practice law in New York (active status) and Illinois (inactive status).
| Lewis Fellow | Fellowship Year(s) | Current Position |
| Zahra Takhshid | 2019-2021 | Assistant Professor of Law University of Denver Sturm College of Law |
| Nikolas Bowie | 2017-2018 | Assistant Professor of Law Harvard Law School |
| Duane Rudolph | 2015-2017 | Assistant Professor of Law Peking University, School of Transnational Law |
| 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 Faculty of Law |
| 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 | Owner/Managing Director Native American Capital |
| 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 | Maurice Jones, Jr. – Class of 1925 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