Marilyn Hajj L.L.M. ‘20
Hi Marilyn! Thanks for coming to the Hot Bench. Where are you from?
I’m from Lebanon, from the capital of the south called Sidon.
What do you like best about Lebanon?
I love Lebanon. My friends always joke that wherever I go I’m just like a Lebanese ambassador, because the sentence I use the most in every conversation is, “In Lebanon… in Lebanon…” My father is from the south, my mom is from the north, so they have very biased opinions about each region of the country. And I drive a ton in Lebanon, so I have favorite spots, and I love when people talk to me to tell me they want to come visit, and I love to be like a tour guide and show them around.
Why did you decide to get your LL.M. degree?
I just always knew that my passion was to become a professor and to teach. I love research, and I love conferences and just reaching out to other people, other universities, other countries, other legal systems—common law vs. German law, whatever. So, I applied, and the LLM was the option for me as a Master’s degree, in the hopes that I can apply for the SJD here. Fingers crossed.
So, are you saying that Virginia wine is not as good as French wine?
Actually, the best wine that I’ve ever had in my life was in Georgia—the country. Just better than French wine, and the bottles are the cheapest. Communism tastes so good.
Let’s do a lightning round!
What’s your anti-stress hobby?
Playing with my hair.
What’s your favorite word?
My favorite word in Arabic is “walaw.” Basically, it’s a tiny word that you say when someone tells you, “thank you,” you say, “walaw.” It means, “and if I could,” so basically it means “and if I could do more, I would have done more.” And I love it.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
I would love to live in Tbilisi in Georgia, so pretty. Honestly, I could see myself living a long while in Charlottesville, just so cozy and clean and nice. And in Bordeaux. The southern parts of countries, I like.
If you won the lottery, what would you do with it?
I would just find a way to buy a university and start teaching.
Would you hire all your friends? (#HireMe)
If they’re talented, yes. My criteria would be how theatrical you can be about teaching.
If you could pick one song to play in the background of your life, what would it be?
That’s a hard one. There was one by Rihanna, “I don’t want to do this anymore…” That’s what’s going on right now in my head.
What is your spirit animal?
I feel like the lion. Just obviously with the hair, but I’m also so inherently lazy, like the lion. We’re all just counting on our partners to do it for us.
What are the seven wonders of the Law School?
The free coffee and tea in the library.
The LLM class, absolutely.
Pavilion’s lobby. For the parties.
The staff, just so kind.
Our PAs.
Softball.
ScoCo. The light just reminds you that there’s an outside world is very much needed.
You’re like a social justice person and I want to highlight that. Can you tell us a little about your work before law school?
Basically, I’ve been working since I was sixteen in an NGO in Lebanon. It has a dual purpose: It’s to fight hunger and to fight food waste. On the side of fighting hunger, the NGO had soup kitchens, and through these kitchens I’ve dealt with Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees, Armenian refugees, and Lebanese people from all around Lebanon.
At my most recent soup kitchen, I was responsible for seventy children, mostly Syrian refugees who were very much abused in camps. I taught them to dance hip-hop so they can relax and just get it out there without being violent, which was a big concern for us. The kids were just unhappy because they weren’t living their childhood. It got to the point where I would arrive at the soup kitchen, and I would have a child on my arm, a child on my leg, and a child in my hair. That was something I was very passionate about because it wasn’t really the main aim of the NGO, working with kids, but it’s something that I felt strongly about, because if I were in their shoes, I would like to have fun and just learn something new.
To promote awareness for the problem of food waste, I did Ted Talks in Lebanon. I used to give a yearly intervention at the Middle East University. Just speaking about what we do, how we can help, and how we can change our habits to reduce food waste is important because in our culture it’s a big, big problem. For us, culturally, if we have an invitation of ten people, I’m going bring enough food for thirty people because I would rather you be stuffed and not able to walk than to not have enough.
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mh4ap@virginia.edu