Clark Lombardi

  • Director of Islamic Legal Studies, Asian Law Center
  • Professor of Law

Contact

Phone: (206) 543-4939
Email: lombardi@u.washington.edu

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Education

B.A. 1990, Princeton University M.A. 1995, J.D. 1998, Ph.D. 2001, Columbia University

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Expertise

Comparative Law — Federal Courts — Islamic Law — Religion and the Law

Recent Courses

LAW A 507 Constitutional Law I: Constitutional Structures of Government
LAW A 591 Constitutional Law: Freedom Of Expression
LAW B 507 Federal Courts And The Federal System
LAW B 556 Islamic Law

Selected Publications

See the full list under the Publications tab below.

Professor Lombardi joined the UW law school faculty in 2004. A specialist in Islamic law and in constitutional law, he teaches in these areas and also teaches courses in federalism, comparative law, and development law. Professor Lombardi's current research and writing have focused on the evolution of Islamic law in contemporary legal systems. He also focuses on comparative judicial institutions and on the way that constitutional systems deal with religious organizations and religious law.

Professor Lombardi has a Ph.D. in Religion from Columbia University where he focused on Islamic law. At Columbia Law School in 1998 he was a James Kent Scholar and editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. From 1999-2000, he clerked for Judge Samuel A. Alito, then on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He practiced law with the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City, where he specialized in representing sovereigns and in complex transnational commercial matters, often with sovereign participation.

Professor Lombardi has lived, worked or studied in Indonesia, Yemen, Egypt, and Afghanistan. He has taught courses on Islamic law at Columbia Law School and the NYU Department of Middle East Studies. He has spoken at the Council on Foreign Relations and numerous academic forums. He has been involved in projects advising on constitutional or legal reform in the Muslim world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. In recognition of his work, he was named a Carnegie Scholar for 2006-08, which allowed him to expand his research into Islamic law and constitutionalism in the modern world.

Peer Reviewed Journals & Law Reviews

Books or Treatises

  • Samy Ayoub, Oxford Islamic Legal Studies (Clark B. Lombardi & Anver Emon, eds., Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2023).
  • Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective (James K. Wellman, Jr. & Clark B. Lombardi eds., Oxford University Press, 2012). 344 pages.
  • Oxford Encyclopedia of Islamic Law (Jonathan Brown, Fareeha Khan, Clark Lombardi & Andrew March eds., Oxford University Press 2012).
  • Clark Benner Lombardi, State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt: The Incorporation of the Shari`a into Egyptian Constitutional Law (Brill 2006) (Studies in Islamic Law and Society 19). 304 pages.

Book Chapters

  • Clark B. Lombardi, Islam and Constitutions: And the Lessons It Holds for the New Field of Buddhism and Constitutions, Ch. 19, in Buddhism and Constitutional Law (Tom Ginsburg and Benjamin Schonthal, eds: Cambridge University Press, 2022)
  • Clark Lombardi & Shamshad Pasarlay, Constitution-Making for Divided Societies: Afghanistan, in Constitutionalism in Context 89-112 (David S. Law ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2022).
  • Clark B. Lombardi, The Role of Courts in "Making" Islamic Law: South and Southeast Asia, in Legal Innovations in Asia: Judicial Lawmaking and the Influence of Comparative Law 180-96 (John O. Haley & Toshiko Takenaka eds., Edward Elgar Pub. 2014).
  • Clark B. Lombardi, The Constitution as Agreement to Agree: The Social and Political Foundations (and Effects) of the 1971 Egyptian Constitution, in Social and Political Foundations Effects of Constitutions 398-425 (Denis J. Galligan & Mila Versteeg eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2013).
  • Clark B. Lombardi & James K. Wellman, Jr., Introduction: Religion and Human Security: An Understudied Relationship, in Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective 1-17 (James K. Wellman, Jr. & Clark B. Lombardi eds., Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).
  • C. Christine Fair & Clark B. Lombardi, Popular Muslim Attitudes Towards Violent Islamic Groups: The Case of Pakistan, in Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective 67-93 (James K. Wellman, Jr. & Clark B. Lombardi eds., Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).
  • James K. Wellman, Jr. & Clark B. Lombardi, Postscript: Lessons for Policymakers about Religion and Human Security, in Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective 285-89 (James K. Wellman, Jr. & Clark B. Lombardi eds., Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).
  • Clark Lombardi, Islamism as a Response to Emergency Rule in Pakistan: The Surprising Proposal of Justice A. R. Cornelius, in Emergency Powers in Asia: Exploring The Limits of Legality 436-65 (Victor Ramraj & Arun Thiruvengadam eds., Cambridge University Press 2010).
  • C. Christine Fair and Clark Lombardi: “Popular Muslim Attitudes Towards Violent Islamic Groups: The Case of Pakistan” in James K Wellman, Jr. and Clark B. Lombardi, eds.: Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective (Manuscript submitted to Oxford University Press and currently under review.)
  • James K. Wellman, Jr. and Clark Lombardi: “Introduction: Religion and Human Security” in James K Wellman, Jr. and Clark B. Lombardi, eds.: Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective (Manuscript submitted to Oxford University Press and currently under peer review.)
  • Clark B. Lombardi, Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court: Managing Constitutional Conflict in an Authoritarian, Aspirationally "Islamic" State, in Constitutional Courts: A Comparative Study 217-41 (Andrew Harding & Peter Leyland eds., Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing 2009) (JCL Studies in Comparative Law No. 1).

Book Reviews

  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 22 Islamic L. & Soc’y 308-11 (2015) (reviewing Constitutional Politics in the Middle East, with Special Reference to Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan (Saïd Amir Arjomand ed., 2008)).
  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 31 Law & Hist. Rev. 475-76 (2013) (reviewing Kristen Stilt, Islamic Law in Action (2011)).
  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 31 Law & Hist. Rev. 475-76 (2013) (reviewing Kristen Stilt, Islamic Law in Action: Authority, Discretion, and Everyday Experiences in Mamluk Egypt (2011)).
  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 24 J.L. & Religion 311-15 (2009) (reviewing Dispensing Justice in Islam: Qadis and Their Judgments (Muhammad Khalid Masud, Rudolph Peters & David Stephan Powers eds., 2005)).
  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 23 J.L. & Religion 725-34 (2008) (reviewing Peri Bearman, Rudolph Peters & Frank E. Vogel, The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution and Progress (2005)).
  • Clark Lombardi, Book Review, 22 J.L. & Religion 607-13 (2007) (reviewing Paul R. Powers, Intent in Islamic Law: Motive and Meaning in Medieval Sunni Fiqh (2005)).
  • Clark B. Lombardi, Book Review, 12 Islamic L. & Soc’y 429-32 (2005) (reviewing Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War and Euthanasia (Jonathan E. Brockopp ed., 2003)).
  • Clark Lombardi, In the Cities of the South: Scenes from a Developing World, 38 Lab. Hist. 382-84 (1997) (book review).
  • Clark B. Lombardi, In Search of Sir Richard Burton: Papers from a Huntington Library Symposium, 115 J. Am. Oriental Soc'y 173-74 (1995) (book review).

Professional Publications

  • Moderator, "Overview of Federal Free Exercise Protections", Second Annual Law and Religion Symposium, University of Washington School of Law (May 17, 2019)
  • Panelist, "Recent International and National Developments", First Annual Law and Religion Symposium, University of Washington School of Law (October 13, 2017)
  • Speaker, "Constitutional Power-Sharing, Devolution/Center-Periphery Relations and Comparative Analysis of Constitutions in Transitional Countries", United Nationalities Federal Council of Burma and Columbia University, Institute for the Study of Human Rights (February 9, 2013)
  • Speaker, "Constitutional Power-Sharing, Devolution/Center-Periphery Relations and Comparative Analysis of Constitutions in Transitional Countries", National Peace Center of Myanmar and Columbia University, Institute for the Study of Human Rights (February 4, 2013)
  • Speaker, "The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt", Annual Meeting, Judicial Review: Between Promise and Chagrin, American Society of Comparative Law (October 5, 2012)
  • Speaker, "Constitutionalism, Constitutional Emergence, and Islam", Workshop on Comparative Constitutional Law & State Building: Beyond Liberalism, National University of Singapore (August 1, 2012)
  • Speaker, "What Happens When a Constitution Is Merely an Agreement to Agree: The Sociopolitical Foundations and Effects of Egypt's 1971 Constitution", Faculty Research Colloquium, National University of Singapore (August 1, 2012)
  • Speaker, "Institutional Design Questions for Regimes that Constitutionalize Shari`a", Conference on Constitutional Transitions in the Middle East, New York University (March 1, 2012)
  • Speaker, "Will Constitutional Theocracy Bloom After the Arab Spring", Constitution-Making and the Arab Spring, University of Virginia School of Law (February 24, 2012)
  • Speaker, "Types of Islamic Review", Comparative Constitutional Law Workshop, George Washington University (February 1, 2012)
  • Moderator, The First Amendment in the Modern Age, University of Washington School of Law and Washington Law Review (January 12, 2012)
  • Speaker, "Judicial Discovery of Islamic Law in Asia", Annual Conference, East Asian Law and Society (October 1, 2011)
  • Keynote, "The Challenges and Opportunities of Islamic Review: Lessons for Afghanistan from the Experience of Other Muslim Countries", Conference on the Afghan Constitution, United States Institute of Peace (September 1, 2011)
  • Speaker, "Apostasy in Afghan Law: The Background to the Cases of Parwiz Kambaskh And Ghaus Zalmai", Who Defines Islamic Crimes in Afghanistan?: Lawyers, Judges and the Interpretation of Uncodified Blasphemy Law, University of Washington School of Law (June 1, 2011)
  • Speaker, "Judges and Islamic Law in Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia", Mediating Tradition: A Conference on National Courts as Interpreters of Islamic and Confucian Law in Contemporary Asia, Sungkyunkwan University (June 1, 2011)