Atieh Babakhani received an award for “Outstanding International LLM Student” from the Philadelphia Bar Association’s International Law Committee at a ceremony at Pepper Hamilton on Nov. 10.

Babakhani is studying the role of gender in marriage law in both U.S. and Islamic law as a student in the LLM in American Legal Practice program.  She is examining the intersection of law and custom, the choices women make in systems of governance where they have fewer rights than men and the ways in which men and women navigate civil and religious law to meet human needs. 

She is also contributing to the research and advocacy projects of the New York City Bar Association’s International Human Rights Committee by collaborating with other committee members to conduct research,  drafting advocacy letters and position papers and supporting the development of the committee’s advocacy projects.

Before enrolling at the Kline School of Law, she worked as an advocate and member of the Iranian Center Bar Association in Tehran.

Babakhani earned her Bachelor of Law degree at Shahid Beheshti University and a Master's in International Law from Allameh Tabatabai University, both of which are in Iran.