A.B. Political Science, University of Chicago 
M.A. Urban Planning, UCLA School of Public Affairs
J.D., UCLA School of Law
Ph.D. History, UC Davis

Nina Farnia is a legal historian, focusing on the role of modern imperialism in U.S. law and politics.  Her publications explore a variety of related subjects, including the evolution of foreign affairs, national security policy, economic coercive measures (sanctions), and global governance & the administrative state.  Her doctoral dissertation, Imperialism in the Making of U.S. Law, 1940-2008, was the 2023 co-winner of the Julien Mezey Dissertation Award from the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, and is the basis of her forthcoming book Imperialism and Resistance (Stanford University Press 2027). She is also the recipient of Albany Law School’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship.

Farnia has published in a wide range of academic journals and popular media outlets such as the Stanford Law Review, Boston University Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, UCLA Women’s Law Journal, Science & Society, and Middle East Critique, among others.

Previously, she was an Equal Justice Works fellow and participated on the legal teams for two Supreme Court cases: Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the largest civil rights class action in U.S. history and her fellowship case, Fazaga v. FBI, which challenged the use of government informants in mosques in Southern California.  During law school she clerked for Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi and women’s rights attorney Nasrin Sotoodeh in Iran.

Farnia earned an A.B. from the University of Chicago, a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, and a Ph.D. from the Department of History at UC Davis, where she was a Provost’s Fellow and a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.