Shayan Davoudi
Second-year student Shayan Davoudi will be one of eight students traveling to West Africa this summer to participate in a Law and Human Rights Internship in Accra, Ghana.
Davoudi will begin his seven-week internship on June 2. He hopes to be assigned to work with the staff of the Law and Development Associates, which could expose him to court hearings, research projects and legislative review and outreach, or work on behalf of United Nations agencies. The internship program is meant to expose participants to “the complexities of implementing policy amidst the challenges of social and cultural norms in a developing country,” according to Abroad Impact, which organizes the internship program.
He had previously participated in the Loyola University-Chicago School of Law summer session in Rome studying Comparative Civil Law, Product Liability and International Human Rights Adjudication in International Tribunals.
This will be Davoudi’s third international relations trip. In January, he was part of John Marshall’s International Human Rights class that traveled to Vietnam. The selection committee was impressed that Davoudi had participated in the trip.
“I found the Vietnam trip to be a very great experience,” Davoudi said. “It really helped me recognize that every country has its own culture and norms. We had interesting discussions with Vietnamese law students that put that in perspective. But I believe even if I influence just one or two people in my international work, it could make a difference.”
Davoudi emigrated to the United States from Iran in 2003. Today he uses his language skills working part time at the Law Offices of Azita M. Mojarad, P.C. helping people with their immigration status filings. At John Marshall, Davoudi is the president of the Amnesty International chapter, the social chair for the International Law Society and is active in the American Society of International Law-Midwest Interest Group.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Northeastern Illinois University. After receiving his JD with a certificate in human rights law, Davoudi plans to earn an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law. His goal is to work for a human rights NGO or government organization.
