Washington Lawyer - January/February 2025 - 34

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Shayan Davoudi
L
By Jeremy Conrad
aw and poetry are two different
approaches to conflict
and tension. The law is a
system intended to reach
a definitive answer to a conflict,
providing a durable resolution.
After all the motions, rulings, and
appeals, a final judgment is eventually
entered into the record and
the matter is settled. In poetry,
tensions often go unresolved.
Poetry may reflect on a conflict,
but it rarely provides a definitive
answer for its resolution.
These differences are part of what drew Shayan
Davoudi, immigration staff attorney at HIAS, to
begin writing poems last year. Davoudi's legal
practice, representing refugees and asylum
seekers, doesn't always inspire his narrative poetry,
but when it does, the result can be a powerful
expression of his, and his clients', experiences.
Davoudi draws inspiration from the works of
Hafez and Rumi, classic Persian poets whose
verses are known for their deeply emotional expressions
of passion, despair, and faith. Davoudi's
poetry is also informed by his own experiences
of displacement as a refugee. He was born in the
turbulent years following the 1979 Iranian revolution,
in the traditionally conservative city of Isfahan
that played a critical role in the uprising.
Although Davoudi's grandfather was a local religious
figure, the family's theological inclinations
were moderate, and his father faced persecution
by the Islamic regime. Davoudi fled to the United
States at the age of 19.
" I went to law school [and practiced] in Iran, "
Davoudi says. " I wasn't even thinking of the pos34
WASHINGTON LAWYER
* JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
ADVOCATES FOR
REFUGEES IN LEGAL
BRIEFS AND VERSE
worked as an assistant to the dean at American
University Washington College of Law, as of
counsel to an immigration attorney, and as
principal at his own immigration practice before
accepting his current role with HIAS. Aiding
refugees since the 1880s, HIAS assists more
than a million people annually. Davoudi's focus
on providing assistance to the refugee community
was inevitable, he says, given his own experiences.
He was called to it.
sibility of living in a whole different country, but
because I was under the age of 21, I could come
to the United States as a derivative of my father's
asylum status. " When he relocated to Chicago,
Davoudi found work bagging groceries
and then loading freight during the night shift.
Because students in Iran who qualify to attend
law school are not required to complete an undergraduate
course of study before becoming
lawyers, Davoudi went back to school, attending
Northeastern Illinois University while working
at UPS. " I had to start all over again, " he
says.
After completing an undergraduate degree in
justice studies, Davoudi went on to earn his JD
at the University of Illinois Chicago School of
Law in 2014, focusing on public international
law. Then he relocated to Washington, D.C., to
pursue an LLM in international human rights
and humanitarian law at American University
Washington College of Law.
A MESSENGER FOR OTHERS
Davoudi's interest in supporting refugees fleeing
persecution was apparent in his early work
with various nonprofit organizations, including
the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration;
UN Refugee Agency; Ghana's Ministry of
Gender, Children and Social Protection; and
the Human Rights Advocacy Center. Davoudi
Legal practice has taught Davoudi a number
of philosophical and spiritual lessons. " Things
happen by accident, " says Davoudi, who served
as secretary of the D.C. Bar Board of Governors
from 2022 to 2023 and is an expert mentor at
the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center's quarterly immigration
clinics. " That is the ultimate thing that I
have learned practicing immigration law. "
The artist or attorney creates something out of
the chaos of the world through their willingness
to adopt and understand alternative perspectives,
Davoudi explains. When representing
a client, he envisions winning the case,
something he feels is instrumental to his eventual
success. This process of deploying narrative
to guide the outcome of chance circumstances
also describes his approach to writing.
" Every time I want to write poetry, I pretend
that the scene, the subject, the story was
meant to happen for me to write, " he says, " sort
of like a messenger. "
Davoudi's messengers are often inanimate objects
and humble creatures. " I write about common
things, " he says. The connection between
the subject of his poetry and his work with the
refugee community is immediately apparent.
" These objects cannot speak for themselves.
They have life in them, but they cannot speak
on their own behalf, and we have the power to
do it for them, " he says.
Davoudi's narrative poetry is written in both
Farsi and English. His poems' structure reflects
the simplicity of his subject matter. " What I
write is not a beautiful classical poem with lots
of complicated elements, " he says. " It's a simple
description of someone we don't hear, we
don't give a damn about, we don't even see. "
Photos courtesy of Shayan Davoudi
Washington Lawyer - January/February 2025

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