Mekonnen Firew Ayano completed a doctoral degree at Harvard Law School, in February 2016. Mekonnen holds an LL.M. degree from the American University in Cairo and an LL.B. degree from Addis Ababa University. His previous experience includes working as a legal counsel for the World Bank, as a judge in Ethiopia, and as a lecturer at Addis Ababa University.

Mekonnen’s doctoral studies at Harvard Law School focused on law and development, law and social change, legal theory, private law, and property. His dissertation, based on field research in a rural community in Ethiopia, examines institutional structures and processes that shape local customs governing rural land title and the resulting impact on the economy and society of rural Ethiopia. Through this work he explores the formalization of rural land title in the context of developing countries more broadly.

Mekonnen’s research and teaching interests include law and development, legal theory, private law, property, and land and agricultural policies. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, he intends to continue his research into current issues in law and social change, with a focus on the steadily intensifying process of globalization and its consequences for the economy and society of rural Africa.