<img width="261" height="283" alt="HamoudiIraqSpeaker" src="/site/files/oldnewsfiles/HamoudiIraqSpeaker.jpg" class="FloatRight">On Tuesday, March 22nd University of Pittsburgh Assistant Professor of Law Haider Ala Hamoudi will speak to students on the Harrisburg campus at noon in the Pit about the “Challenges of Constitution Making in Iraq.”<br><br>Professor Hamoudi’s talk will focus on the challenges of nation building and creating a rule of law in Iraqi society. The talk comes as part of the ongoing Pizza and Policy in the Pit series and is being co-sponsored by the International Law Students Association, The International Law Students Association Widener Chapter, and the Widener University School of Law, <a href="/CampusLife/AdvisingandCounseling/OfficeofStudentAffairsHarrisburg/DeanofStudents.aspx">Office of the Dean of Students</a>.<br><br> A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a double major in Physics and Humanities and a Near Eastern Studies Concentration, Professor Hamoudi earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1996. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Constance Baker Motley in the Southern District of New York. Until 2003, he served as an associate at the law firm of Debevoise &amp; Plimpton.<br><br>Professor Hamoudi served as a legal advisor to the Finance Committee of the Iraq Governing Council during 2003 and 2004. He also served as a Program Manager for a project managed by the International Human Rights Law Institute of DePaul University School of Law to improve legal education in Iraq. In 2009, the American Society of Comparative Law awarded him the Hessel Yntema prize for the best article produced in the American Journal of Comparative Law by an author under the age of 40. <br><br>On behalf of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Professor Hamoudi spent most of 2009 advising the Constitutional Review Committee of the Iraqi legislature, which was responsible for developing critical amendments to the Iraq Constitution deemed necessary for Iraqi national reconciliation. He also advised on other key pieces of legislation, including a hydrocarbons law, a revenue management law, and an antitrust law.  From this work, and from extensive contemporaneous research into the records and legislative history of the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution in 2005, Professor Hamoudi has been preparing a book on the drafting and subsequent evolution of the Iraqi Constitution, to be published by the University of Chicago Press.