Kibrom Teweldebirhan

Visiting Assistant Professor

Biography

Kibrom Teweldebirhan is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Villanova Law School and a Research Fellow at Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program. Before joining Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Kibrom was a Visiting Scholars coordinator at Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies. At Villanova Law, Kibrom teaches courses on race and international law and contracts.

Kibrom received a doctoral degree (SJD) from Harvard Law School in 2022. He wrote a doctoral thesis entitled “Labor after the Developmental State: Law, State, and Chinese State Enterprises on the African Copperbelt for his SJD. By drawing from ethnographic and archival resources, Kibrom examined the development of Zambia’s labor law in the context of Zambia’s transition to a market economy and the globalization of mining companies from mainland China to Zambia. His ongoing research includes a comparative study of labor law and economic development with a focus on the experience of China, Zambia, and Tanzania during their transition from a socialist to a free-market economy and on the history of legal thought and economic development in postcolonial Africa.

Kibrom’s teaching and research interests include international law, race and international law, law and economic development, Chinese law and legal thought, and legal thought in colonial and postcolonial Africa. He is happy to advise students who are interested in those topics or topics that have comparative or international dimensions.  

Kibrom received his LL.B. from the University of Asmara and LL.M. degrees from Wuhan University and Harvard Law School. After finishing his first law degree, Kibrom worked as a teaching assistant and lecturer in law in Eritrea.

Practice Experience

• Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program, East Asian Legal Studies Program - Visiting Scholars Coordinator
• Harvard Law School - Gradate Program Fellow, LL.M. Advisor
• Weatherhead Center for International Affairs - Graduate Student Fellow
• Harvard Law School - Cravath Fellow
• Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program - Research Fellow
• Harvard Law School - Summer Research Fellowship
• College of Arts and Social Sciences, Eritrea - Lecturer on Law
• College of Arts and Social Sciences, Eritrea - Graduate Assistant
• University of Asmara - Teaching Assistant
• High Court, Asmara, Eritrea - Law Clerk