In the National Spotlight

Growing up stateless

Third-year law student Omar Hajajra grew up stateless, neither a citizen of Jordan, Israel, nor Palestine, in a concrete-block refugee camp in the West Bank between Hebron and Bethlehem. At the time, he was a third-generation refugee. His grandparents had lived for years in a tent encampment, and his father worked as a janitor for the United Nations. The family, a dozen people in all, shared a small, no-frills apartment, living on food rations during Hajajra's earliest years.

Now, he has been named one of National Jurist magazine's "2025 Law Students of the Year," one of five standout students across the country recognized for making a difference in advocacy and legal service.

At 16, Hajajra's life changed dramatically when he won the U.S. State Department's Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study scholarship. With support from his host family in Hanover, New Hampshire, Hajajra eventually became a U.S. citizen.

Working for a U.S. Senator

The magazine's editors highlighted Hajajra's work across multiple impactful institutions. As an intern for U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hajajra conducted research for the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, legislation later signed into law. During that position, he participated in meetings with Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

This academic year, as executive director of Suffolk Law's Ukraine Accountability Project (UAP), Hajajra has chaired meetings with high-level international prosecutors and led a team documenting Russian war crimes, including a forensic investigation of Russia's attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Project's meticulously researched white papers are regularly reviewed at the highest levels of government, including by G7 leaders, U.S. State Department officials, and European government representatives.

"Omar chairs meetings with very high-level international prosecutors with such presence," Professor Sara Dillon, faculty advisor for the UAP and co-director of Suffolk Law's International Law Concentration, adds. "He maintains his balance, maybe because of all he has seen in his life."

At the European Court and State Department

Hajajra acquitted himself well at the highest echelons of international legal practice. He clerked for Judge Saadet Yüksel at the European Court of Human Rights, where he helped organize a human rights conference gathering top judges from 46 Council of Europe member states. His work earned direct praise from Judge Yüksel, who commended his case law research and memorandums.

In 2023 and 2024, Hajajra expanded his high-impact human rights work for the State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. There, he researched and made recommendations to prevent and respond to conflicts and atrocities — work shared with senior officials across government, including the Department of Defense and U.S. Treasury.

As a member of the Suffolk Law Human Rights & Indigenous Peoples Clinic, under the auspices of clinic director Nicole Friederichs, Hajajra worked on implementing a landmark Inter-American Court ruling—the first international case recognizing Indigenous peoples' right to operate their own media. This spring, he co-led logistics and programming at Suffolk Law's comparative international law program in Madrid, under the direction of Professor Dillon.

"A person like Omar is a cure for cynicism,” Dillon says. “Most people look away from the hardest problems, but he just refuses to do that. He won't give up." After graduation, Hajajra plans to pursue a career in human rights, conflict resolution, or as a legal advisor in the law of armed conflict.

Suffolk Law students continue to receive national recognition for their national impact. Last year, Timothy Scalona, JD '24, was named among the "Law Students of the Year" for his powerful advocacy on housing and homelessness. Learn more about Suffolk Law's impact.