Executive Board

The LIDS Executive Board is composed of current students actively engaged in the organization. It is responsible for the overall management of the organization and implementation of its activities. Each spring semester, new co-presidents are elected and a new board is appointed for the following academic year.

Co-President: ALLISON BEEMAN

Allison is a member of the class of 2022 at Harvard Law School. She graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Government and Legal Studies and from the Fletcher School at Tufts University with an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy. Prior to law school, she lived in Jordan, where she worked for a start-up e-commerce bookstore, a Middle East news agency, a humanitarian research consultancy, and a refugee resettlement legal aid organization. This summer, she worked on war crimes investigations as an intern with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability. At HLS, Allison is also involved in HLS Advocates for Human Rights, the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and the Harvard International Law Journal. She served as LIDS Co-VP of Projects in the 2019-20 academic year.

CO-President: MOHAMMAD ZIA

Mohammad Zia is a third-year JD student at Harvard Law School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland and went on to complete an MPP from the University of Oxford. Prior to law school, Mohammad worked at the World Bank in DC, was a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco, and was a Luce Scholar in Indonesia. Mohammad is fluent in Spanish and he is also conversational in Arabic, French, Portuguese, Urdu, and Bahasa Indonesian. Mohammad has traveled to over 40 countries since becoming a U.S. Citizen in 2010. He is interested in technology, economic development, and peacebuilding. He served as LIDS Co-VP of Professional Development in the 2019-20 academic year.

Co-Vice President, Projects: Abbey Doyno

Abbey Doyno is a second-year JD student at Harvard Law School and is concurrently earning her Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Abbey was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Morocco and worked for Oxfam America’s impact litigation division. This summer, Abbey worked for Anderson & Kreiger LLP. Abbey earned her B.Sc. in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University.

Co-Vice President, Projects: Elisabeth Frommelt

Elisabeth Frommelt graduated from the LL.M./M.A. Double Degree programme at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). She previously obtained a B.Sc. in International Politics and Government from Bocconi University (Italy), after having completed an exchange semester at Northwestern University, with a particular focus on law.

Elisabeth has an international background, as she grew up and studied at different international schools, and speaks seven languages. Throughout her academic, professional, and extracurricular path, Elisabeth has focused on technology, economic development, and capital market law.

Co-Vice President, Projects: Natalie Hills

Bio coming soon

VP Finance, Misthura Otubu

Misthura Otubu is an LLM candidate at Harvard Law School, she has two first class degrees from the University of Lagos and the Nigerian Law School. Prior to starting her LLM studies, she worked for a top tier law firm in Nigeria as an associate in the Capital Markets, Mergers and Acquisitions team. Misthura is interested in corporate law, capital markets, and law and economics. She enjoys mentoring and volunteering.

Vice President, Professional DeVelopment: Victoria Johnson

Victoria Johnson is currently earning her Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy from Tufts University’s Fletcher School where she’s focused on development economics and gender analysis, while interning as a qualitative researcher at Women’s World Banking. Prior to graduate school, Victoria completed a Fulbright Scholarship in South Africa, worked at a nonprofit in Delaware that promoted educational equality, and led the research effort at an executive search firm in Chicago. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and history from William & Mary in Virginia.

Vice President, Communications: Seth Owusu – Mante

Bio coming soon

LLM LIAISON: VICTOR OJEAH

Victor Ojeah is an LL.M Candidate at Harvard Law School. Prior to this, he was an Associate at Nigeria’s foremost commercial law firm – Banwo & Ighodalo, where he advised on composite corporate, securities and finance transactions, for three years. He is currently a Teaching and Research Assistant at Unveiling Africa Summer Institute, he is also the founder of International Law Resource Africa, and the Deputy Project Lead of an environmental justice NGO; Earthplus Africa.

As an undergraduate, he picked interest in the intersection between international law and development, and this spurred his drive to specifically explore the niceties of sovereign debts in the Sino-Africa economic paradigm, at an LL.M. level. He was previously President of the International Law Students Association, University of Benin, a three-time Jessup competitor, and two-time Jessup international rounds Judge. He is a 2018 Scholar of the African Center of International Criminal Justice, the convener of the Victor Ojeah International Law Essay Competition and initiator of the Victor Ojeah Prize for Excellence in Public International Law, University of Benin. At Harvard, Victor is involved in the Harvard International Arbitration Law Students Association, Harvard International Law Journal, and Harvard Negotiation Law Review.

FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW & DIPLOMACY LIAISON: Sapna Ullal

I am pursuing Master of Arts at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University with a focus on data analysis and functional specializations in International trade and development policy. I also hold a Graduate Diploma in Social Sciences from the University of London and a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from the University of Mumbai. In the 2019-2020 academic year, I worked as a team leader for a LIDS project, drafting a white paper on trade and environment, in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, for Washington DC-based law firm New Markets Lab. In summer 2020, I interned with New Markets Lab in expanding this research for a book on trade and sustainable development.

Boston College LAW LIAISON: Heather Odell

Heather Odell is a MALD/JD student at Boston College Law School and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Prior to law school, she worked in the non-profit sector in the Dominican Republic, doing advocacy work and community mobilization related to issues of commercial sexual exploitation. Later, as a program manager at Liberty Shared, an organization that combats human trafficking, she built new partnerships with NGOs and academics in Latin America and the Caribbean. This past summer, Heather interned with RAICES, providing legal services to immigrant clients in South Texas, and with Lawyers for Human Rights of Pretoria, South Africa, supporting projects related to migrants’ rights.

Harvard Law and International Development Society