Stanford Law School’s Law Review has recently elected its first Iranian-American, Muslim president.

Daniel Khalessi ’22 was elected in November 2020, and assumed the role last month.

Khalessi attended Stanford University as an undergraduate, receiving his B.A. in International Relations with Honors from the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and a Certificate in Iranian Studies in 2013.

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While at Stanford, he interned for Ambassador Susan Rice at the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Middle East North Africa Office and studied abroad at Oxford.

“My journey here is part of the larger story of the Stanford Law Review. Twenty-five Stanford Law students launched the first Volume of SLR in 1948,” he told Stanford Law Review. 

“Like the founders of this law review, my presence here is unlikely. I am the son of Iranian immigrants. My father died when I was nine years old. And I had to come to terms with who I was as a kid growing up in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks and the tensions between my country and the country of my heritage.

“The notion of becoming the first Muslim and Iranian-American president in the 74-year history of the Stanford Law Review was completely foreign to me. I hope my election demonstrates some degree of progress.”

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business and high technology.

Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, produce outstanding legal scholarship and empirical analysis, and contribute regularly to the nation’s press as legal and policy experts.

Harvard Law School’s Law Review also recently elected its first Muslim president, adding to a series of noteworthy diversity firsts for the school’s prestigious legal journal.