Legesse Mengie

Legesse is a Comparative Constitutional Law and Public International Law researcher. His research interests include constitution-making processes, constitutional identity, (non-)judicial review, federalism, public international law and the rule of law. He has published widely on these areas, taught courses at different universities in Ethiopia and abroad, and managed projects and services. Most recently, Legesse held a visiting researcher position at the University of Oxford (Centre for Socio-Legal Studies). This research visit was part of his doctoral study at the University of Adelaide, Australia, under the supervision of Dr. Anna Olijnyk and Associate Professor Laura Grenfell. His current research concerns the role of constitutional design in the realisation of the rule of law in multicultural and conflict-affected societies. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide, he was an Assistant Professor at Jimma University (2016-2018) and Ethiopian Civil Service University (2018-2020) and taught courses at Ambo University, Haramaya University and Hawassa University as a visiting professor. He was also vice director of Jimma University Legal Aid Centre and editor of Jimma University Law Journal. Legesse has held various prestigious scholarships including Adelaide Scholarship International, Netherlands Government Scholarship, Open Society Foundation London Civil Society Scholar Award, Central European University Scholarship and UN International Law Fellowship. He holds LLB (Haramaya University), LLM in Comparative Constitutional Law (Central European University) and LLM in International and European Public Law (Erasmus University). He is a member of national, regional and international law societies including Ethiopian Lawyers Association, the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers, IACL-International Association of Constitutional Law and ICON-S (International Society of Public Law).