Biography
Oluwakemi Adeyemi is a 3rd-year Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) candidate at the University of Illinois College of Law where he coordinates both the Law as Science initiative and other JSD candidates.
With over five years of legal practice experience in Nigeria, Oluwakemi is experienced in dispute resolution and corporate advisory services as demonstrated among others by his articles on LinkedIn and Medium.
A former Illini Science Policy Scholar, Oluwakemi worked with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation to develop its Innovate Policy Solutions Brain Trust on Health
A former Policy and Research Legislative Fellow, Oluwakemi has highlighted the need to center the interests of African Americans in conversations around the repatriation of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria given the Trans-Atlantic slave trade connections of the bronzes and through his work on the Family Roots Genealogy Program (a program recognized by Illinois HR 453), his work has supported the goal of connecting African Americans with their extra-extended relatives from Africa through autosomal DNA analysis.
Oluwakemi has presented his work at the Washington University School of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and at the Harvard Law School. His works have been accepted for publication in the Law & Psychology Review and the American Bankruptcy Institute Journals. Oluwakemi’s interdisciplinary skills have been applied towards a project seeking to understand the scope of misunderstanding and misconceptions of copyright laws on social media
With cognate experience working with non-profits addressing social issues in Nigeria and the United States, Oluwakemi has worked with underserved communities in two countries on pressing social challenges like food security, health, workforce development, among others. He has been recognized by the University YMCA as its 2025 Fred S. Bailey Fellow for Community Leadership, Service and Activism and by the Memorial Foundation as a Social Justice Fellow. Oluwakemi currently serves as the Vice President of the African Students Organization at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.