Sheila Shadmand ’95
The University of Mary Washington 2022 Commencement speaker is Sheila Shadmand, a 1995 graduate of Mary Washington who received her J.D. in 1998 from the University of Virginia School of Law.
One of the first female partners of a U.S. law firm in the Middle East, Shadmand has lived for 15 years in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and been a trailblazer for Jones Day, one of the world’s largest law firms. Fluent in French and Farsi, she is in charge of the Saudi Arabia and Dubai offices and the Middle East/Africa region, as well as head of Jones Day’s Global Disputes and International Investigations practices in the Middle East.
Presented with Mary Washington’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2010, Shadmand is among Global Investigations Review’s “Women in Investigations” for 2021. The list highlights 100 remarkable female lawyers, corporate counsel, barristers, and government enforcers working in the investigations field.
Having conducted investigations in more than 30 countries throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, Shadmand is regarded as a leading anticorruption lawyer and the “go-to” counsel for clients conducting investigations in the Middle East and Africa. In the last decade alone, she has led more than 95 investigations and conducted nearly 1,000 witness interviews, using her ability to bridge cultural and linguistic divides to get to the facts and assist numerous global companies in taking appropriate, remedial action.
During her nearly quarter century of practicing law, Shadmand has represented several of Jones Day’s largest clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration, as well as in investigative matters before the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and a number of other news broadcasts and print media. She has served as a member of an advisory board of the Dubai Judicial Institute.
The Legal 500, which has perennially recognized Shadmand as a leading lawyer says of her: “Knows how to navigate the law – and people – to get results.”