Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholars
Academic Year 2011-12
Diego Aguilar Pena
Mr. Diego Aguilar was born and raised in La Paz, BCS, México, the least populated Méxican state. The University of Monterrey (UDEM) awarded Diego its most prestigious scholarship; Diego was also the recipient of the Academic Excellence award four times. Diego has always been interested in volunteering for leadership and pro-student activities: he was elected President of the Law School Student Body, and served as a counselor for a community service program and as an academic tutor for freshmen students. In addition, he has represented UDEM in several local, domestic and international debate contests, moot court competitions and conferences. Diego graduated cum laude in 2006. He received the highest score on his thesis from the Board of Overseers, and won the Thesis of the Year award for his work on immigration law (published as an article in 2007).
In addition to involvement in extracurricular activities, during Law School Diego joined a prestigious boutique Mexican law firm where upon graduation he was promoted to Associate. At the firm, he headed the immigration practice, coordinated the team of law clerks, and advised clients on a broad spectrum of matters pertaining to corporate law with an emphasis on commercial transactions. Diego combined full-time practice with graduate study by pursuing a Masters in Corporate Law at UDEM. He graduated cum laude in 2009 earning the highest score on his thesis on energy law from the Board of Overseers and a Letter of Commendation by the Chairman.
In January 2010 Diego became the youngest professor on the UDEM Law School faculty where he taught the Introduction to Legal System Course. He has been acknowledged for obtaining top scores in student evaluations.
Recently, the Mexican Council for Science and Technology awarded Diego a merit-based scholarship to pursue the Traditional LLM focusing on Corporate Law at NYU School of Law. Following graduation, he intends to continue legal practice in combination with teaching.
Leonardo Augusto dos Santos Lusvarghi
Leonardo Augusto dos Santos Lusvarghi received his LL.B from the Northern Parana State University Law School (Brazil) in 2008. He was awarded the Clovis Bevilaqua Diploma for academic excellence in Civil Law with a GPA of 9.5 (out of 10.0). Leonardo was also granted the Academic Laurel Award, the highest honors, for his exemplary behavior as a law student and for obtaining outstanding grades during the course of his studies.
During his undergraduate studies, Leonardo was granted a Scientific Initiation Research Scholarship by the Araucaria Research Support Foundation to participate in a graduate research group on critical procedural science research; he published two articles on complex litigation in conjunction with National Graduate Researchers in Law Committee Conferences (Conpedi). Leonardo was invited to be a teaching assistant for civil procedure and litigation courses for three consecutive years.
Following graduation, Leonardo was admitted to the Masters Degree program of the University of São Paulo Law School (Brazil), where he focused his research on preliminary injunctions in class actions and on public law litigation. To support his graduate work, Leonardo was granted the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation Masters Scholarship. Since beginning graduate study, Leonardo has participated in research on public corruption and anti-corruption strategies for the Department of Legislative Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Leonardo is also a collaborator at the Alternative Dispute Resolution Center of Studies at the University of São Paulo where he teaches negotiation, mediation and arbitration techniques to undergraduate students.
At the New York University School of Law, Leonardo will undertake the Corporation Law LL.M program with a special interest in Capital Markets and Securities Law and Litigation.
Alexander Gelski
Alexander Gelski received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). He graduated with a High Distinction average in his Arts degree, the highest class of grade awarded to students. He also graduated ranked first in his law degree out of a cohort of 240 students and was awarded the University Medal in Law. During his University career Alexander was awarded the University of New South Wales Alumni Association and International Exchange scholarships. He completed an exchange program to McGill University (Canada) as part of his academic program. He won the Goldman Sachs Global Leader Award in which he represented Australia at a New York-based leadership program at the International Institute of Education and the United Nations. Alexander has competed in national and international debating championships as well as international mooting competitions. He received an Honourable Mention for the Best Speaker Prize at the VIS International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna.
Prior to moving to London in 2007, Alexander worked for premier Australian firms Mallesons Stephen Jacques and Clayton Utz. He also worked as a research assistant to Counsel in the corporate fraud defense of one of One.Tel’s executive directors following its collapse. Alexander joined Linklaters LLP (London) in 2007 where he completed rotations in Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Anti-trust (Brussels), Litigation and Financial Markets. He qualified into the Litigation and Arbitration practice as an Associate in 2009. During his time at Linklaters, Alexander was seconded to Citigroup where he worked in the General Counsel’s Office for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Alexander specialises in regulatory investigations, anti-trust, securities litigation and international arbitration.
Alexander is a strong advocate of LGBT rights. He sits on the Executive Committee of the Linklaters LGBT network. He is involved in an LGBT project being carried out in conjunction with the Cambodia Centre for Human Rights. Alexander also volunteers at the London Royal Courts of Justice where he gives free advice to indigent litigants.
Alexander is undertaking the Traditional LL.M program where he will focus on complex civil and criminal litigation, anti-trust and international arbitration.
Pablo Gonzalez Casanova
Pablo González Casanova received his Bachelor of Law degree (ranked first in his graduating class) from Centro Universitario Villanueva (associated with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid) in 2003. Pablo was awarded the Dean’s Mention as one of the best students from all the Social Science faculties of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Simultaneously he pursued his degree in International Business Administration from the European Business School, graduating in 2004. During his last year as a business student, he completed an exchange program with the European Business School in Paris (France) and with the European Business School in Dublin (Ireland), where, as part of his academic program, he also did internships at BNP Paribas (Paris), BarclayCard International Ltd and Accenture (Dublin).
Upon graduation back in Spain, Pablo was admitted to the Madrid Bar Association in 2005 and joined the global leading law firm, Clifford Chance, as an associate within the Banking and Finance Law department of the Madrid offices. Since then, he has specialized in acquisition finance and project finance transactions and in advising financial entities and collective investment schemes on regulatory matters. During his time at Clifford Chance, Pablo was seconded to The Royal Bank of Scotland, where he worked for a year and a half as in-house counsel within the Restructuring department, specializing on refinancing and renegotiating syndicated loans.
Socially and politically committed, Pablo has been involved as a volunteer in several charity organizations belonging to the Catholic Church, and he has also worked as a volunteer during the last catholic World Youth Day that took place in Madrid in August 2011. Pablo is a strong advocate of the protection of freedom of religion, having participated in several organizations and college debates in this field.
Pablo is undertaking the International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration program where he will focus on project financial, business, and commercial law in a transnational context and international arbitration. He has also been awarded the prestigious full-tuition Caja Madrid Foundation scholarship for outstanding academic performance.
Xi Liao
Xi Liao received both of his Bachelor of Law degree (summa cum laude) and Master of Law degree (specializing in Civil and Commercial Law, magna cum laude) from Renmin University of China Law School in 2006 and 2008, respectively. During his time at Law School, Xi actively engaged in extracurricular activities. He served as Deputy Chief Editor of the Law School’s student journal; he was one of the founders of the Law Association of Renmin University, which was named in "China's Top Ten College Associations" in 2006.
Xi has received a number of prizes and scholarships in recognition of his outstanding academic performance and enthusiasm for extra-curricular activities. These include O’Melveny & Myers Beijing Legal Scholarship (2005), Australian Jinzong Scholarship, and Second-Place Prize in the Innovation Cup Academic Competition of Renmin University.
Xi has worked as an intern at Singapore Stamford Law Corporation, Beijing Office; China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation; and Beijing Haidian District Court.
After graduating from Law School, Xi worked at the Beijing office of Hogan & Hartson (renamed as Hogan Lovells in 2010). He was involved in matters relating to general commercial issues, inbound direct investment, mergers and acquisitions. Xi focused particularly on the field of antitrust, competition and economic regulation. He advised a number of multinational corporations on compliance with China’s rapidly-evolving Anti-Monopoly Law and assisted with merger filings to China’s antitrust agency to facilitate cross-border transactions. Xi is licensed to practice law in the People’s Republic of China.
Yael Liftshitz-Goldberg
Yael Lifshitz-Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, in 2009, with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), in the joint program of Law and Education.
Throughout her studies, Yael served as a member of the editorial board of the Hebrew University Law Review ("Mishpatim"), and as a teaching assistant and research assistant, focusing primarily on Law and Economics and Innovation policies. Her involvement in these fields also led her to participate, and lecture, in seminars held by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva. Yael further undertook independent research in the field of Environmental Law (Gone with the Wind? The Potential Tragedy of the Common Wind, forthcoming: 28 UCLA J. ENVTL. L. & POL’Y ** (2009)).
During this time, Yael was also awarded several prizes for academic excellence, such as the Ted Miller prize for interdisciplinary studies (2008-9); Dean’s honors (2007-9) and the Israeli Prime Minister’s grant (2006-8). In 2009 Yael was admitted to the Israeli Bar.
Upon completing her studies, Yael assumed the position of senior law clerk at the Israeli Supreme Court, for both Hon. Deputy Chief Justice Eliezer Rivlin and Hon. Justice Uzi Vogelman (2009-11). In this role, Yael was involved in a diverse range of cases, in drafting legal opinions and addressing various issues of legal policy.
At NYU Yael will be pursuing the Environmental Law LLM.
Patricia Cristina Ngochua
Patricia Cristina Tan Ngochua received her Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law ("ALS") in 2007 where she ranked first in her graduating class. She received several awards upon graduation, notably the Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the St. Thomas More Most Distinguished Award (the highest award conferred on an ALS graduate) and the Dean’s Award for Best Thesis (Gold Medal). She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2008.
While in law school, she was a member of the Board of Editors of the Ateneo Law Journal. She was also a member of the Philippine Jessup team that placed in the octafinal round of the 2005 Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition held in Washington D.C.
After graduation, she joined Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De los Angeles, a top Philippine law firm known for its expertise in general corporate matters as well as the more specialized fields of corporate law, including securities, capital markets, financing, mergers and acquisitions, energy, and special projects. She was a member of the firm’s various deal teams involved in energy and infrastructure projects, mining, telecommunications, aircraft financing, securities, capital markets, corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, foreign investments and tax.
She became a member of the ALS faculty in 2009, teacing Legal Research and Thesis Writing at ALS from 2009 to 2010.
At NYU School of law she is pursuing an LL.M. in Corporation Law.
Chiamaka Nwokolo
Chiamaka Nwokolo obtained her LL.B from the University of Nigeria, graduating at the top one percent of her class as well as being the best female graduating student and the 2nd best graduating student at the University of Nigeria, Law Faculty (2008 class).
She finished with First Class Honors from the Nigerian Law School, graduating as the Best Student in the Nigerian Bar exams among over 5,000 law graduate candidates from all over the country. She was subsequently decorated with several prizes by the Nigerian Council of Legal Education at the 2009 Call to Bar Ceremony held at Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2009. Some of her prizes include: the Council of Legal Education Star Student Award, Hon. Justice (Prof.) Teslim Elias' Prize for the Best Overall Performance (1st Prize), Hon. Justice (Sir) Ademola Adetokunbo's Prize for the Overall Best Student of the Year (1st Prize), Hon. Justice Atanda Fatai William's Prize for the Overall Best Student of the Year (1st Prize), National Association of Women Judges' Prize for the Best Female Student of the Year, Dr. Mudiaga Odje's Prize for the Best Student in Criminal & Civil Procedure (1st Prize), and the Director General's Prize for 1st Class Students.
After her Call to the Nigerian Bar, she was employed as an associate at Aluko & Oyebode, one of Nigeria’s leading law firms, where she specialized in litigation & arbitration, corporate law and intellectual property. Concurrently Chiamaka worked as a lawyer with the Legal Aid Council, where she voluntarily assisted and represented indigent accused persons detained without trial in Nigeria's Ikoyi Prison.
Chiamaka is presently pursuing her LL.M in International Legal Studies and aspires to a career in public interest law with international finance and development institutions or NGOs. She has been appointed Graduate Editor of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, and is currently a Research Assistant to Professor Kevin Davis.
Paula Querol Abenia
Paula Querol graduated from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) School of Law in 2009 as valedictorian with First Class Honors, ranking first among 450 students. She simultaneously earned a Bachelor in Business Administration with a major in finance from the University of Zaragoza Business School where she also earned First Class Honors, ranking first out of 500 students. Paula was awarded the Spanish Undergraduate Merit Scholarship in 2003. She was ranked fifth among all law graduates and seventh among all business administration bachelors at a national level and was awarded the highly competitive Spanish General Army Academy Award to the best graduate of the University of Zaragoza.
During her studies, Paula served as a research assistant in the competition law and international finance departments where she co-published two research papers on hedge funds and derivatives valuation methods. Additionally, she specialized in EU law and in 2007 won the Jean Monnet Chair. She collaborated with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and worked closely with the regional Ombudsman in the defence of children and young people rights.
Socially committed, Paula has been involved in politics and in 2006 was appointed Secretary of Education and Culture of the General Committee of her region, Aragon Spain. She founded the students association "Unión de Estudiantes" which today plays a significant role in the governance of the University of Zaragoza, in particular at the Law School.
Upon graduation, Paula was admitted to the Madrid Bar Association and joined the leading Spanish law firm Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira as part of an international advocacy program offered to three newly-recruited associates each year. Since then, she has worked in different areas of law focusing on corporate and international arbitration (ICC and CIETAC). Last year Paula was promoted to Cuatrecasas’ Shanghai office where she advised major Spanish clients on business transactions and establishing businesses in China. She collaborated with Chinese law firms in various litigation proceedings. She has published several articles focusing on financing investment and on international arbitration in China.
At NYU School of Law, Paula will pursue an LL.M. in Corporation Law with a focus on international finance, corporate transactions and international arbitration. She has been appointed Graduate Editor of the Journal of Law and Business. She has also been awarded the prestigious Rafael del Pino Foundation scholarship for outstanding academic performance.
Nao Takada
Nao Takada holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Tokyo with a focus on private law. While studying there, she became aware of the importance of scientific knowledge in several legal areas, such as environmental regulation and intellectual property. Upon receiving the prestigious Uchimura Kanzo Scholarship, she transferred to Amherst College to study biology, graduating with honors.
Nao continued studying science as a Ph.D. student at Columbia University as a Ph.D. student and then worked as a postdoctoral research scientist. Her research topics are related to type 2 diabetes and usage of induced pluripotent stem cells for the treatment of diabetes.
Nao then decided to go back to law school to integrate her scientific knowledge with the study of law. As a Vanderbuilt scholar, she will pursue a Traditional LL.M. with an emphasis on intellectual property law.
Nestor Venegas
Néstor Venegas was born in Santiago, Chile. He graduated summa cum laude from Universidad de Chile’s School of Law in Santiago in 2005. Néstor received the Philippi, Yrarrázaval, Pulido & Brunner award for academic excellence in Civil Law courses and both his thesis and his final degree exam received the highest score. In 2006 he was admitted to the Chilean Bar Association.
Between 2005 and 2007, Néstor worked in Santiago at Carey & Cía. Abogados , Chile’s largest law firm. As an Associate Lawyer in the Tax Group, Néstor advised clients on personal and corporate tax planning, local and international tax consulting and tax litigation. He has also worked as a professor’s assisstant (ad honorem) at Universidad de Chile’s School of Law in Civil Law courses (2002-2009), History of Law (2004-2005) and International Taxation (2009).
Since 2007, Néstor has worked as a legal advisor to the Department of International Legislation at the Internal Revenue Service of Chile (SII). As part of that unit, Néstor has participated in the negotiation of tax treaties and administrative agreements on exchange of information for tax purposes. He also provided legal support on taxation issues related to the process of Chile’s joining the OECD. Néstor also drafted Chile’s positions on various OECD instruments on fiscal affairs, participated in Chile’s delegation to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters and the Working Party No. 1 on Tax Conventions and Related Questions of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs.
In 2010, Néstor was awarded a Chilean Government Fellowship (Beca Chile), which provides scholarships on the basis of academic and career record and potential for contribution to Chile’s cultural, socioeconomic and scientific development.
Néstor, a native Spanish speaker is fluent in English. He is pursuing the LL.M. in International Taxation at New York University."
Natalia Villalba
Natalia Villalba obtained her law degree in 2008, along with a B.A in Anthropology (2009) and a minor in literature (2008), from Los Andes University of Bogota, Colombia. She graduated cum laude, ranking second out of sixty-eight in her law class and first out of twenty-two in her Anthropology major. Natalia earned various merit-based scholarships, such as Colfuturo and La Candelaria School’s Academic Excellence Scholarship, and was also selected based on merit to participate in her law school’s academic exchange program with the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, Spain. Upon graduation Natalia Villalba was admitted to Colombia’s Bar Association.
Natalia was appointed Assistant Professor at Los Andes University and worked as a business legal advisor both at Deloitte & Touche and at Brigard & Urrutia, Colombia’s largest law firm. She participated in the consolidation of one of the most reliable think tanks in Colombia, The Colombian Private Council on Competitiveness, where she designed, implemented and monitored legal strategies that promote Colombia’s competitiveness, and collaborated on drafting a Bill to improve formalization, as well as other regulatory initiatives.
Natalia has published in specialized legal journals, such as the Colombian Tax Magazine. She also co-authored the last two editions of Colombian National Competitiveness Reports, a reference for lawyers, economists, policy makers, and national and foreign companies.
As an Arthur T. Vanderbilt scholar, Natalia Villalba will undertake a Traditional LL.M at NYU.
Zhuoer Ye
Zhuoer Ye graduated magna cum laude from China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) with a Bachelor of Laws in 2009. She passed the Chinese Bar exam in the same year. She ranked at the top of her law school class and received numerous scholarships and honors from her university for outstanding academic performance. After completing her LLB, Zhuoer was recommended for CUPL’s LL.M. Program in Economic Law without National Entrance Examination. Approximately 3 percent of the students in CUPL are awarded this honor.
During graduate study at CUPL, Zhuoer published several articles in academic journals on securities and property law. She worked as a research assistant focusing on financial security in post-crisis times and on a Comprehensive Statement of Research on Financial Law 2008-2010. Zhuoer was able to graduate early from CUPL
Out of her passion for law, Zhuoer served as an intern for the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, reviewing petitions and drafting opinions. Zhuoer volunteered for the Chinese Academy of Banking Law, helping to organize its annual conference. Together with her peers, she managed the first professional Web site of banking law in China. In addition, Zhuoer participated in CUPL’s Legal Aid clinic, providing free legal advice and assistance to the indigent.
At NYU School of Law, Zhuoer will pursue the LL.M. degree in Corporation Law.
Tania Zacarias
Tania Zacarias Breuer was born in Paraguay. She received her Law degree from Universidad Nacional de Asuncion in April 2010. She graduated with the highest academic honors, summa cum laude, and was ranked in the top 1% of her class, graduating second among a cohort of 1,149 students.
While completing her legal studies, Tania engaged in numerous extracurricular activities, among them, she was an active journalist in the law review, Justicia Joven, published by Centro de Estudios Judiciales, a non-profit association dedicated to strengthening the Paraguayan judicial branch. She was also a member of the legal teams for two different projects aimed at strengthening democratic governance capacity in Paraguay sponsored by the Organization of American States and the United Nations.
In 2006, she incorporated as a trainee at one of Paraguay’s leading law firms, Salomoni & Asociados, where she focused on aspects of complex commercial litigation as well corporate and intellectual property transactional matters. After graduation, she was retained by the law firm as junior associate. She has also expanded her activities in academia, serving as a teaching assistant in the subject Corporate Law at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion.
Tania, a native Spanish speaker, is fluent in English. As a Vanderbilt scholar at NYU, she is pursuing the Traditional LL.M. with a concentration in commercial and international arbitration law.
Academic Year 2010-11
Mr. Atul Ahlawat
Atul Ahlawat was born in 1986 in New Delhi,India, in a family of Government servants. His father is the District Head of Judiciary in the State of Haryana and Mother is a Lecturer in Political Science. Atul completed his pre- university majors in History from University of Delhi in 2006 and was among the top 5% of the students in his class. He took admission in LL.B. in the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi and graduated with a Gold Medal as he stood top amongst 1500 students who graduated in Law from the university in the year 2009 .Atul was awarded the prestigious Hira Lal Daga Memorial Gold medal and The University Law Union Prize for excellence in legal studies and a certificate of excellence from the Chief Minister of Haryana in March 2010.
Atul was admitted in the Bar Council of Delhi in August 2009 and he joined the Delhi High Court Bar Association and The Bar Association of the Supreme Court of India at New Delhi thereafter. He started his legal practice as a criminal defense lawyer in the trial courts of Delhi as well as the High Court .Under the guidance of a Senior Advocate he started handling criminal matters on his own and was concentrating mainly in Matrimonial and Domestic Violence matters.
In May 2010 Atul was appointed as the Additional Advocate General for representing his state, Haryana in the matters before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India,at the age of 24 and hence making him the youngest lawyer to be appointed to the coveted post in the history of the state .
He is undertaking a Traditional LL.M. at NYU,with a focus on Criminal, Constitutional and Human Rights Law.
Ms. Kameliya Angelova
Kameliya Angelova graduated from Sofia University (Bulgaria) in 2006 with a Master of Laws and was admitted to the Sofia Bar Association in 2007. While attending law school, she joined one of the leading Bulgarian law firms and was promoted to Senior Associate upon graduation. A main focus of her practice was the structuring and preparation of public-private partnership projects in core infrastructure sectors, advising both state administration and private investors. She was also engaged in the process of elaboration and drafting of the national strategy and legislation in the concession field.
Another major aspect of Kameliya’s work involved the climate change area. She rendered advice during the negotiation and conclusion of the first for Bulgaria contracts for sale of EU emission allowances. Further, Kameliya worked on the team drafting the regulations implementing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Joint Implementation mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol in Bulgaria.
In her legal practice, Kameliya also acquired valuable litigation experience in the course of several commercial litigations and arbitration proceedings. Most notably, she represented as part of a team the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment in an international construction dispute relating to a FIDIC governed agreement.
Kameliya was one of the founders and a Secretary of the European Women Lawyers’ Association–Bulgaria, responsible for projects dealing with legislation drafting and judicial reform in the country. She was the author and a project manager of a project for training of national judges in EU competition law, which was successfully completed in 2010.
As a Vanderbilt Scholar, Kameliya will pursue an LL.M. in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration.
Mr. Mukerrem Onur Basar
Mukerrem Onur Basar graduated from Istanbul University School of Law in 2004 and was in the top % 1 in a class of approximately 600 students.
He was the highest ranked student of the Istanbul University Social Science Institute competitive Master of Law admission exams (he placed first out of 105 applicants). He obtained a Master of Law Degree in 2008 with full jury approval of a thesis entitled “The Reasonable Length of Civil Proceeding under the Judgments of European Human Rights Court,” published as a book in 2010.
Prior to attending NYU School of Law, he was a research assistant at Istanbul University School of Law. He completed a one year research program in 2006-2007 at Leipzig University School of Law in Germany. During his legal studies, he mainly concentrated on civil procedure, bankruptcy and conflict of laws. He has published several articles in these areas of law. In 2008, he was admitted to the five-year Ph.D. program at Istanbul University and ranked as second out of 53 applicants in admission. He is currently working on his dissertation.
Mukerrem Onur's LL.M. concentration is International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration.
He is fluent in Turkish, English and German.
Mr. Darius Chan
Darius Chan earned a LL.B. with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2007 on a merit-based scholarship by the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation. He was awarded the Chief Justice’s Prize; the Law Society of Singapore Book Prize for being Top in Level; the M Karthigesu Memorial Gold Medal & Prize for Shipping Law; the Rajah & Tann Insolvency Law Prize for Corporate Insolvency and was placed on the Final Dean’s List and the Dean’s List every year. Besides serving as a research assistant on arbitration law, international sales law and civil law, he represented NUS as an oralist in international and local moot court competitions, winning memoranda prizes in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna in 2006; winning the NUS-University of Malaya Moot Competition in 2005, the LexisNexis Best Memorial prize in the BA Mallal Moot Competition in 2004 and was awarded the NUS Student Achievement Award (Language) in 2006.
After graduation, Darius ranked third in his cohort for the Singapore Bar exams and won the Lai Kew Chai Prize for being the top student in commercial practice. He passed the qualifying exams for the New York State Bar in 2008 and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2009.
From 2007 to 2009, Darius clerked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore. In 2009 he was concurrently appointed an Assistant Registrar, deciding on a range of interlocutory applications, and published a judgment on conflicting arbitration and jurisdiction clauses in a contract. He also taught tort law and business law on an adjunct basis at NUS and Singapore Management University respectively between 2008 and 2010.
Following his clerkship at the Supreme Court of Singapore, Darius served as a legal intern with the Open Society Justice Initiative in Phnom Penh, monitoring and reporting on the Khmer Rouge war crimes proceedings. In July 2009, he joined the chambers of Mr Michael Hwang S.C., specialising in international arbitration and co-writing a paper on the seat of arbitration. Darius also served pro bono in various capacities.
Darius's LL.M. concentration will be International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration. In addition to the Vanderbilt Scholarship, he has been awarded the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship by the Public Service Commission of Singapore.
Mr. Francis Donalbain Chukwu
Francis Chukwu studied law as a first degree at the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (the oldest law faculty in Nigeria) from 2001 to 2006. He was awarded the Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Merit Scholarship in 2003. In 2006, he graduated from the University of Nigeria with First Class Honours and also emerged 1st in his class of about 360 students. His graduation with First Class Honours was the 5th in the (then) 45 year history of the Law Faculty. He was subsequently awarded the Best Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Best Graduate in Environmental Law Awards at the University Convocation ceremony in March, 2007.
Francis proceeded to the Nigerian Law School (an institution for one year of professional training of law graduates from all accredited Nigerian Universities before they are admitted to the Nigerian Bar) for his professional qualification in October 2006. He was also awarded the Bankole Olumide Aluko Memorial Scholarship by the Law Firm of Aluko & Oyebode (one of Nigeria’s most prestigious law firms) for his studies at the Nigerian Law School. This Scholarship was instituted by the Firm in Honour of Mr. Bankole Olumide Aluko – a deceased founding partner – and is reserved for the best graduate of the University of Nigeria, University of Lagos, and Ahmadu Bello University, all in Nigeria.
Francis passed the Bar exams at the Nigerian Law School with First Class Honours and placed 2nd in the pool of over 5000 students from all over the country. He then became the 3rd Nigerian to achieve the feat of First Class Honours at both the University Law Faculty and at the Nigerian Law School. He was subsequently awarded the T. O. S. Benson Prize for the Best Overall Performance (2nd Prize) at the Call to the Nigerian Bar Ceremony held at Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2007.
He represented and won laurels for his University in several moot competitions in Nigeria, and was involved in several extra-curricular activities where he took different challenging roles in the Students Union at the University of Nigeria and the Nigerian Law School.
Francis joined the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode after his call to the Nigerian Bar, and has since garnered experience in diverse areas of law, particularly litigation, corporate and project finance and oil & gas. His LL.M. specialization at NYU is “International Business Regulation, Litigation & Arbitration”. Francis aspires to work for international organizations involved in development programs, particularly at developing countries, for a while before retiring to a life-time of law teaching and practice.
Mr. Gabriel Cifuentes
Gabriel Cifuentes graduated from the University of Los Andes School of Law in Bogotá, Colombia in 2008. Gabriel ranked among the best in his graduating class.
Between 2006 and 2008, he was appointed as the General Assistant of the Criminal Law department at the University of Los Andes while he was a teaching assistant for the Criminal Procedure Course and Advanced Criminal Law Course.
In 2009, Gabriel Cifuentes graduated first in his Masters in Law Program at the University of Los Andes. His thesis, “El Genocidio en Colombia: Un Problema de Interpretación” (The Genocide in Colombia: A Matter of Interpretation) received the highest score from the judging panel.
Additionally, Gabriel was one of the founders of the first student newspaper of the School of Law at the University. Today, the newspaper is one of the institutions of the Faculty and it is read by over fifteen hundred students and faculty.
Gabriel was also responsible for the translation of Enzo Musco’s article “Economic Crimes in the European Community” in the July edition of the journal Derecho Penal Contemporáneo (2009). Also in 2009, Gabriel was hired as a lawyer in the Urban Institute for Development (I.D.U.) After assisting the Director for Juridical Matters at I.D.U. he was appointed as a clerk in the Colombian Constitutional Court until his departure to N.Y.U.
Gabriel is fluent in Spanish, Italian, English, French. He is pursuing the Traditional LLM at New York University focusing on Criminal and International Law matters.
Ms. Dinushika Dissanayake
Dinushika Dissanayake, earned her Bachelor of Laws with Second Class Upper Division Honors from the University of Colombo (UoC) in 2008. While an undergraduate, she represented UoC at domestic and international competitions in parliamentary debate and moot court. In recognition of her achievements in academics, specifically in tax law and for graduating at the top of her class, the University awarded her the Julius and Creasy Prize for Tax Law and the Visuvalingam & Rajakunam Buvasundaram Memorial Gold Medal for Bachelor of Laws (Year IV), respectively.
In mid 2008 she presented a paper at the Commonwealth Law Conference, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on jurisprudential perspectives of anti-ragging legislation. She was also awarded the Capital Market Research Award in 2007 by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, for her research on options for amendment of the Takeovers and Mergers Code of Sri Lanka. Dinushika has also served as a researcher for the Sri Lanka Law Commission, undertaking research on the subject of video recorded evidence of children. Her interests have led her to further co-author a publication on Labour Law: Cases and Commentaries, which is to be published shortly by the Law & Society Trust, Sri Lanka .
After graduating, Dinushika was admitted to the bar in December 2009, and has worked as a Junior Counsel in the chambers of Mr. Sanjeewa Jayawardena Esq, one of the top appellate lawyers in Sri Lanka . She has assisted in cases ranging from constitutional issues to fundamental rights applications. She has also served as a Researcher for the Civil and Political Rights Program, Law & Society Trust (LST) Sri Lanka, and has contributed to the 2008 edition of the annual Sri Lanka: State of Human Rights Journal published by LST.
Dinushika’s interest are focused on advocacy and dispute resolution, with a firm interest in the relationship between law, economics and regulation. She will be pursuing an LL.M in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration at NYU.
Mr. Ivo Entchev
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Ivo immigrated to Canada with his family when he was ten years old. He undertook his legal studies at McGill University in Montreal after completing a preliminary arts degree in philosophy and economics at the University of Toronto. At McGill, Ivo received both a Civil Law degree (B.C.L.) and a Common Law degree (LL.B.). He ranked near the top of his class and held prizes for attaining the highest grade in a number of his subjects. In addition to pursuing his studies, Ivo acted as an editor for the McGill Law Journal, a volunteer with the McGill Legal Information Clinic and a participant in a constitutional law moot. In his second year, he organized a seminar course on contemporary philosophical approaches to law. Ivo spent his final semester on academic exchange, studying European Union law at Paul Cezanne University in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Following law school, Ivo completed his articles, which focussed primarily on media and constitutional litigation, at Blake, Cassel & Graydon LLP, a large commercial law firm in Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in June, 2009, before clerking for Mr. Justice Marshall Rothstein of the Supreme Court of Canada. As part of his Traditional LL.M., Ivo is interested in applying interdisciplinary perspectives to the study of law.
Ms. Lisa Fong
Lisa holds a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of Auckland. She graduated with senior scholarship in the top 1 percent of her law class and was awarded senior prize in her political studies major. Lisa worked as a judges’ clerk at the High Court of New Zealand and clerk for the New Zealand Rules Committee. Since 2005 she has worked at Crown Law, where she is now Crown Counsel. In this role she advises and represents the government in civil litigation. She has also undertaken a year long appointment as Private Secretary to the Attorney-General of New Zealand, assisting the minister with his portfolio responsibilities.
Lisa will pursue a Traditional LL.M. in administrative and constitutional law.
Mr. Gunnar Groh
Gunnar graduated from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in 2007 (First State Examination), ranked first at his university and third among all Bavarian graduates. During
his legal studies, he focused on company law and international law. In 2003-2005, Gunnar spent three terms at the University Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), the top faculty of law in France, within an exchange program between the faculties of Munich and Paris II. From the University of Paris II, he received the licence en droit and the maîtrise en droit (with
distinction).
After two years of mandatory practical legal training (Referendariat), Gunnar passed the Second State Examination in Munich in the top 2 % of his class (fall 2009). From 2007 to 2010, he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Comparative Law in Munich (Chair of Professor Eidenmueller). His research work focused on bankrupcty law, company law and conflict of laws. Gunnar also worked as a lecturer at Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich and taught bankruptcy law and international company law in tutorials for students. In 2008 and 2009, he spent several months in the corporate departments of two top German law firms. Currently, Gunnar is preparing his doctoral thesis on bankruptcy law.
Apart from the Vanderbilt Scholarship, Gunnar has also been awarded the prestigious scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service. His NYU law LL.M. concentration is Corporate Law.
Mr. Aris Limjoco Gulapa
Born in the small town of Candaba, Pampanga in the Philippines, Aris obtained his juris doctor degree with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2003. He ranked 1st in his block and 5th in the entire graduating class, and received the Dean’s Award for Second Best Thesis. Aris was oralist and captain of the Ateneo team in various moot court competitions, including the Jessup Competition, the Vis Arbitration Moot and the Asia Cup Moot (where he was judged Best Oralist of the competition). Aris was a member of the Board of Editors and the lead editor of Volume 46, Issue No. 3 of the Ateneo Law Journal. He was admitted to the Philippine bar in 2004. Prior to graduation, Aris was hired by the largest law firm in the Philippines, SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan, where he worked for more than two years, specializing in foreign investments, banking and finance. While practicing at SyCip, Aris taught law at the Ateneo, acted as thesis adviser to law students, and coached the Ateneo Jessup team.
In June 2006, Aris joined Kelvin Chia Partnership, a Singapore-based regional law firm in Asia, where he worked at its Ho Chi Minh City office. While in Vietnam, Aris was granted a foreign lawyer’s practicing license and was able to develop an expertise in the trade and investment regime, specifically Vietnam’s WTO Commitments in Services. In June 2008, Aris joined Tokyo-based Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, one of the so-called “Big 4” law firms in Japan, where he assisted Japanese clients with trade and investments in Southeast Asia (particularly in Vietnam and the Philippines) and represented foreign clients in respect of sophisticated banking and finance deals in Japan.
Aris is pursuing his LL.M. in Trade Regulation with a concentration in International Trade.
Ms. Hong Jin
Hong Jin obtained her bachelor and master degrees of laws from Renmin University of China, Beijing, P.R. China, respectively in July 2002 and July 2004 and majored in business law during her graduate study. She ranked at the top of her class both in the undergraduate and graduate schools and was granted with numerous awards for excellent academic achievement. She has always had a penchant for academic writing which is reflected by the publication of several articles pertaining to business issues by leading publishing houses.
After graduation, Hong worked with Kingsound & Partners, where she advised multinationals on brand protection and IPR related matters. In April 2006, she joined Jun He Law Offices (M&A Department), one of the leading law firms of China, where she dealt with a lot of cross-border transactions for world leading private equity firms and multinationals as well as out-bound investment by large Chinese corporations.
Hong was admitted as an attorney in China in October 2006 and she is currently an LL.M. candidate in Corporation Law at NYU.
Ms. Chea Yun Jung
Chea Yun Jung received her Bachelor of Law and Master of Law degrees from Korea University College of Law, respectively in August 2005 and August 2007. During her undergraduate study, she earned Semester High Honors for five semesters, and was awarded various scholarships including the Gyemseon Scholarships (full-tuition merit-based scholarship) by the Alumni Association of Public Prosecutors in 2004 and 2005. She was also qualified to graduate in Early Graduation for Student Excellence for her outstanding academic performance. In addition to studying the law, she devoted herself to various activities with human rights NGOs, including Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea, Solidarity of the Disabled to Obtain the Mobility Rights, People’s Livelihood Consultation Center, and Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center (KSVRC).
During her graduate studies, Chea Yun Jung has been a researcher at the Legal Research Institute and Research Centre for Basic Law Studies (RCB) at Korea University. Throughout her research, she has often conducted comparative legal analysis in several projects between United States and Korean law, including case law on Negligent Audit, Theory and Practice of Parens Patriae Action and Class Action, Drug Control Law and Media Law. As a key member of the literature seminar, she summarized and discussed various legal literatures of foreign scholars that accepted postmodern methodology into law. She is a co-author of the book, Postmodernism and Law (2006), based on the academic accomplishments of this seminar. Through her extensive research experiences, she developed her master of law thesis, entitled Methodology and Practical Applications of Legal Anthropology.
Chea Yun Jung received a Ph.D. in Law from Korea University in August 2010, majoring in Principles of Jurisprudence. Her dissertation was entitled Acceptance and Development of Pluralism in Law. During her Ph.D. coursework, she lectured on the Sociology of Law, Legal Philosophy, and History of Law at Hankyong National University for five semesters.
At NYU, Chea Yun Jung will undertake a Traditional LL.M. specialization with a focus on Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, International Human Rights Law, Criminal Justice and Health Law. She intends to pursue a career as a research professional and lecturer/professor in an academic field, after finishing her graduate study in the U.S.
Ms. Maria Papatsoris Karaiskos
Maria Papatsoris Karaiskos received her Law and Political Science degree from Universidad Catolica Santa Maria La Antigua (Panama, Panama) in June 2007. She graduated with the highest academic honor, summa cum laude, with a grade point average of 3.0 out of 3.0 and ranking First among 131 graduates. She also obtained Third place of Honor in the Class XXXVIII of 2007, composed of 530 graduates.
Before graduating from law school, Miss Papatsoris worked for nearly two years as a paralegal in a boutique law firm focusing mainly on family and corporate law issues. Upon graduation, Maria was admitted as a member of the Panamanian Bar Association and, in 2008, she joined the litigation department of one of the leading law firms in Panama, specializing on administrative, procedural and civil law matters.
She is a native Spanish speaker, and is fluent in English, Greek and French. During the summer of 2009, Maria took a short license from her job to participate in the Communication in Business course organized by the Institute for English Language Program of Harvard University.
In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship, Maria was also appointed Graduate Editor of the Journal of Law and Business. She is currently an LL.M. candidate in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration.
Ms. Julie Kourie
Julie Kourie graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cape Town ( UCT ), South Africa, with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 2006. Approximately 5 students over a 10 year period graduate magna cum laude from UCT. Julie also holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree from UCT which was awarded with distinction in law. After completing her LLB, Julie went on to complete two years of articles (required apprenticeship) at a highly rated commercial law firm, DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc in Cape Town. She was offered an associate position in 2009 in the environmental law department of DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc, which has been rated as one of the top environmental law departments in South Africa. Julie held this position until April 2010 when she moved to New York.
Julie has a great passion for commercial law and was awarded the class medal (first in class out of approximately 100 students) for Commercial Transactions Law in her final year of law school. Julie also won various other class medals and prizes for the best student taking a course during her law studies at UCT. She was consistently placed on the Dean’s merit list from 2003 to 2006 and was a member of the Golden Key academic society, an honorary society for students who excel at their university studies. She was also chosen to represent UCT at its inter university mock trials.
In addition to her passion for law, Julie has a great interest in community service projects that are focused on assisting women and children. During 2009, Julie volunteered for the Legal Aid Clinic that is run by UCT and which provides free legal advice and assistance to indigent persons. She was also the coordinator and fundraiser for her law firm’s corporate social responsibility program which supported an underprivileged crèche in a very poor area of Cape Town. Her efforts helped to raise funds to purchase food, furniture, clothing and other necessities for the 100 plus children that are cared for by the crèche’s owner and staff.
Julie was awarded a John L. Volgenstein scholarship for the Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business (APCLB) which she is completing this summer. She will read towards an LLM in Corporate Law with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions. Apart from being awarded the Arthur T. Vanderbilt scholarship for the LLM, she is also the 2010-2011 candidate for the UCT/NYU scholarship exchange programme. Julie plans to sit for the New York bar exam next summer. She has accepted a position as an associate at Davis Polk LLP in New York commencing next fall.
Mr. Michele Maltese
Mr. Michele Maltese received his law degree summa cum laude from the University of Pisa (Italy) in July 2008. During his time at law school, Michele was admitted to the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa (Italy), a prominent public academic institution offering a full-tuition scholarship and supplementary courses to a small number of highly selected students at the University of Pisa. He has also been a visiting student in several law schools in Europe and in the United States.
In November 2008, Michele was admitted with a merit-based scholarship to a Ph.D. program in civil and commercial law and procedure at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy), where he is currently carrying out a research project on cross-border insolvency proceedings.
After completing law school, Michele worked for almost two years at the Rome office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he practiced in international litigation and transactions.
His main area of interest includes international and domestic litigation and arbitration proceedings and commercial, corporate and bankruptcy law. He regularly publishes on these topics in Italian law reviews.
Michele speaks Italian, English, French, German and Spanish. He will undertake the Traditional LL.M. Program at NYU, with a focus on international litigation and bankruptcy law.
Ms. Lisseth A. Rincon Manzano
Lisseth Rincon graduated Summa Cum Laude, as class valedictorian from Universidad del Zulia School of Law (Venezuela) in 2009, ranking first among 282 graduates. She also obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a major in Accounting from Universidad Rafael Belloso Chacin (Venezuela) in 2008, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and first of her class out of 140 students.
During her undergraduate studies, she was placed on the Dean’s Merit list every year and she received numerous scholarships and honors for her outstanding academic performance, including Jorge Homez Chacin Scholarship, Best Internship Award and Simon Rodriguez Prize in 2005, 2007 and 2008 for being the best grade point average of the entire School of Law. Furthermore, upon graduation she was awarded Simon Bolivar Prize for graduating with the highest grade point average of the entire community of graduates (8,000) of Universidad del Zulia in 2009.
While attending law school, she acted as research assistant for the Director of the Institute of Political Studies and Public Law and she attended several UN Models, participating during her senior year as Head Delegate of the delegation of Universidad del Zulia at LAMUN and WorldMUN.
Prior to coming to NYU, she worked as finance intern and then as financial advisor for CFM Group, a financial consulting firm with offices in Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica and Argentina. After that, she worked for two years for a leading Venezuelan law firm, first as Legal Assistant and then as Associate Attorney, advising several domestic and transnational corporations regarding corporate, commercial and labor law issues. In addition, she is a long-standing pro bono supporter of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) located in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
She is a native Spanish speaker and is also fluent in English, French and Italian. She was admitted to the Venezuelan Bar Association in 2009 and is also a registered member of the Federation of Certified Public Accountants of Venezuela. She has been appointed Graduate Editor of the Journal of Law and Business. Lisseth is undertaking an LL.M. in Corporation Law at NYU.
Mr. Peter Marshall
Peter holds a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Auckland (New Zealand). He received a number of academic prizes while at university, including senior scholarships in both law and geography for ranking at the top of each graduating class. During this period, he published two academic articles. One of these, concerning the law of evidence, has been cited in a judgment of the New Zealand Court of Appeal and discussed in oral argument before the Supreme Court.
In 2008, Peter took up a two-year appointment as a Judge's Clerk in the Court of Appeal. He spent one year working for the Honourable Justice O'Regan and the other for the President of the Court, the Honourable Justice William Young. He was also employed as an adjunct teaching fellow at Victoria University of Wellington's law school.
Prior to coming to NYU, Peter spent six months as an Assistant Crown Counsel in the Human Rights and Criminal teams at the Crown Law Office, the New Zealand Government's principal legal advisor. He worked on a range of cases during this period and appeared for the Crown in both the High Court and Court of Appeal. He is undertaking a traditional LL.M. at NYU, with a focus on Constitutional and Criminal Law.
Mr. Matthew Moorhead
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University, where he studied as a National Undergraduate Scholar. He received a number of prizes while at university and graduated in the top 1 per cent of his class. In 2007, Matthew took up an appointment as associate or judicial clerk to the Honourable Justice William Gummow at the High Court of Australia. During this period he published in the Federal Law Review and tutored in the College of Law of the Australian National University. Prior to coming to NYU, Matthew was admitted as a lawyer and spent 18 months practising in Sydney as a solicitor at Freehills, a commercial law firm. He is undertaking a Traditional LL.M. at NYU, with a focus on constitutional and international law.
Mr. Juan Pablo Navarrete Poblete
Juan Pablo Navarrete was born in Santiago, Chile. He graduated summa cum laude from Universidad de Chile School of Law in Santiago, Chile in 2004. Juan Pablo received the Pedro Nicolás Montenegro award by Universidad de Chile’s Law School for graduating first in his class among 256 students. Both his thesis and his final degree exam received the highest score. Upon graduation, he was admitted as a member of the Chilean Bar Association. In 2008, Juan Pablo Navarrete graduated first of his class in his Master of Laws in Chilean Taxation at Universidad de Chile.
Since 2004, he have worked in Santiago, Chile as a tax associate attorney at Carey & Cía. Ltda., Chile’s largest law firm. Carey’s tax group was awarded as Chile’s “Tax Firm of the Year” in 2010 by the International Tax Review magazine. Juan Pablo worked in personal and corporate tax planning, and advised local and international clients and foreign counsel on inbound and outbound foreign investment taxation and cross-border transactions. He has also worked as an assistant professor at Universidad de Chile Law School in tax law and in philosophy of law since March 2002.
Juan Pablo is a native Spanish speaker and is fluent in English. He is pursuing the LL.M. in International Taxation at New York University.
Mr. Diego Quiñones
Diego Quiñones received his law degree cum laude from the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, in 2008, where he was ranked in the top 1% of his promotion. His graduation thesis, entitled “The Myth of Eternal Return: The Estate Tax in Colombia”, received the highest grade awarded (5), a Dean’s Letter of Commendation, and was published by the Universidad de los Andes’ School of Law. In addition to his law degree, Mr. Quiñones holds a Bsc in Political Science from the Universidad de los Andes (GPA 4.55/5), and a Minor in Asian Studies (GPA of 5/5), both of which he obtained in 2009 from the same University.
During his undergraduate studies he worked for three consecutive years as a Teacher Assistant for Prof. Manuel Cifuentes’ course in Roman Law. Additionally, he participated in the Cesare Beccaria Criminal Law Study Group, the Law School’s Teacher Assistants’ College, and in the University’s Circle of Political Participation (CPP). In 2007 he completed studies in English Law and European Union Politics at London School of Economics and in 2008 worked as legal intern for the Chinese law firm Alpha in Shanghai in the areas of Banking Law, Contracts Law, and Private International Law. Throughout his studies he worked part time at Quiñones Cruz, a prestigious boutique Tax Law firm.
Upon being admitted to the Colombian Bar in 2009, Mr. Quiñones began his specialization studies in Tax Law at the Universidad Del Rosario in Colombia whilst working as a Political Consultant for the Political Marketing Firm Imagen & Estrategia Publica, where he was part of the coordinating campaign staff for several successful National and Local Political Campaigns. Likewise, he became a member of the Colombian Tax Law Institute (ICDT) and continued to work in planning, advisory and high profile tax litigation for Quiñones Cruz Abogados, where he was promoted to Junior Partner in August, 2009.
In 2010, he coauthored a paper on Taxes in the context of Financial Crises which was presented as a Technical Communication during the 25th Latin-American Tax Law Congress celebrated in Cartagena. Additionally, he coauthored a chapter on Colombian taxes for a book on Latin American Taxes which is to be published by the Dutch editorial Kluwer. His LL.M concentration at NYU Law is International Taxation and he will also be completing the APCLB, for which he was awarded a John L. Vogelstein Scholarship by the Pollack Center for Law and Business.
Mr. Jason J. Rosen
Jason obtained a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honors) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He was ranked 3rd out of 313 graduating students in his law school class and was awarded a Law Faculty scholarship, a Dean’s Prize and the student prize for Civil Litigation. Jason was a tutor at Melbourne Law School and Assistant Editor of the Melbourne Journal of International Law.
After graduating, Jason was admitted as a lawyer and practiced in the litigation department of international law firm Allens Arthur Robinson. He then completed a one year appointment as judicial clerk to the Honorable Justice Finkelstein at the Federal Court of Australia. Before commencing at NYU, Jason worked as a Senior Solicitor in the litigation branch of the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office, the primary source of legal advice for the State of Victoria, Australia.
In 2005, Jason founded the Association for the Prevention of Medical Errors, a non-profit organization that seeks to improve patient safety through law reform. In this role, Jason has worked with the World Health Organization’s Patients for Patient Safety program, submitted a law reform report to the Victorian State Parliament and presented at various conferences on patient safety.
Jason will undertake an LLM in General Studies with a focus on health law and civil litigation.
Ms. Simone Stebler
Simone Stebler graduated with First Class Honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Fribourg Law School in Switzerland in 2005. She was awarded the prestigious FRILEX Price for the best grades. During her third year of studies Simone enrolled at the renowned University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas in France as an exchange student. Following graduation Simone worked as a junior associate with one of Switzerland’s leading law firms and as a law clerk for the District Court of Zurich.
In December 2007 Simone passed the bar exam ranking at the very top of her class. In February 2008 Simone joined Nater Dallafior, a leading boutique law firm specializing in litigation and arbitration, where she has been engaged in both domestic and international commercial and sports arbitration as well as in corporate and commercial litigation.
Simone's LL.M. concentration is International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship, Simone was appointed Graduate Editor of the Journal of Law and Business.
Mr. Timo Steinbiss
Timo graduated from the Humboldt-University of Berlin School of Law in 2006, ranked first among all graduates of his class. His legal studies focused on company and tax law. During his practical legal training in preparation for the German Bar Exam in Berlin, Timo worked for renowned international law firms in these areas of law. Having passed the German Bar Exam second in his class, he joined the Frankfurt office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as a tax lawyer in 2009.
During the academic year 2010-2011 Timo will be a candidate for the LL.M. in Taxation at the New York University School of Law.
Mr. Christian Stretz
Born in 1981, Christian Stretz studied law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, one of Germany’s leading law schools. During his legal studies he focused on commercial law as well as on competition law and antitrust law. In 2007 he graduated in the top 1.75 percent of his class. Following his graduation he worked as an academic research assistant for Professor Johannes Hager at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, where he was involved in several research projects, tutored young students and assisted in the renowned annotation-work “Staudinger” on tort law of the German Civil Code.
During his two-year mandatory legal clerkship Christian worked for international leading law firms in Germany and the Middle East. In 2009 he passed his Second State Examination and ranked in the top 1.9 percent of all participants. He is a member of the Munich Bar Association and was appointed assistant lecturer for Professor Hans Christoph Grigoleit’s first year students at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich.
Christian is co-author of the book “Compendium of standard forms for paralegals”, published in November 2009. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship he has been awarded a scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service for outstanding academic performance.
Currently he is working on his doctoral thesis focusing on the liability of real estate constructors. His main topic of study at New York University will be corporation law. Other fields of interest are real estate law and litigation law.
Academic Year 2009-10
Mr. Rafael Francisco Alves
Rafael Francisco Alves obtained his bachelor of laws and master degree from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in January 2005 and May 2008, respectively. During his undergraduate studies, he received a research grant from the Brazilian National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (2001-2002) and was awarded the 2003 University of Sao Paulo Civil Procedure Award. His master degree thesis on anti-arbitration injunctions was approved with honors in 2008 (considered excellent and recommended for publication).
Rafael was the Research Coordinator of FGV Sao Paulo Law School (2006-2008), after being a full-time researcher in the same institution (2005-2006). In 2007, Rafael participated in the two-month internship of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in Paris. Moreover, Rafael was the coach of FGV Sao Paulo Law School team in the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition both in 2007 and 2008, being awarded the third prize in the 2nd edition (2007) and the first prize in the 3rd edition (2008). He also took part in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, being the coach of FGV team in the 15th edition (2007-2008) and the coach of the University of Sao Paulo team in the 16th edition (2008-2009), when the University reached the Quarterfinals.
In April 2008, Rafael was selected to be a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), working at the Brazilian Ministry of Justice. In October 2008, Rafael was nominated Chief of Staff of the Secretariat of Legislative Affairs of the Ministry of Justice, where he worked until April, 2009.
He is currently a Director of the Brazilian Arbitration Committee and assistant to the Board of the Brazilian Arbitration Review. Rafael’s main areas of research are contracts, litigation and alternative dispute resolution (especially arbitration). He is also interested in issues on law and development, rule of law and dispute resolution environment. He is in the General Studies LL.M. Program.
Mr. Joe Edwards
Joe obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Sydney in 2004, majoring in History, Government and International Relations. During the course of his B.A., Joe was awarded the Turner Prize (Turner Fellowship) for Best Student in Government and International Relations and was placed on the Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance in 2002, 2003, and 2004.
Joe obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney in 2006, graduating with First Class Honors and in the top 0.1% of his class. During the course of his LL.B., Joe was awarded the Sir John Peden Memorial Prize for Foundations of Law, Federal Constitutional Law, International Law and Real Property; the Walter Ernest Savage Prize for Legal Institutions; and the Lexis-Nexis Butterworths Prize for Best Student in Combined Law. Joe was also a member of the Editorial Committee of The Sydney Law Review, the flagship law journal of the University of Sydney and the highest-ranked peer-reviewed law journal in Australia, and a member of the Amicus Curiae Litigation Clinic, a program which involves students in the management of amicus curiae (friend of the court) interventions in cases involving important public interest issues.
During his legal studies, Joe worked as a researcher at the Australian Law Reform Commission, Australia's peak law reform body, and as a paralegal at the Australian-based international law firm, Blake Dawson. Upon graduation, Joe clerked for the Honorable Justice R.W. White of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and was admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia. For the past two and half years, Joe has been practicing constitutional law and administrative law at the Australian Government Solicitor, the principal legal adviser of the executive government of Australia.
Joe will undertake an LL.M. in General Studies with a focus on constitutional law and public international law.
Ms. Jin Yi Hwang
Jin Yi Hwang was born in South Korea, but moved to Argentina when she was young. Jin Yi received her law degree from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2006. She ranked in the top 0.5 % in a class of approx. 3000 students, being granted the Honor Diploma and the Lexis Nexis prize. She has been assistant lecturer in the University of Buenos Aires since her graduation.
In the professional field, Jin Yi has been admitted to practice law by the Buenos Aires Bar. She has been actively promoting the relationship between Latin America and Asia. Jin Yi was partner attorney of the law firm Lopez Ruf & Associates where created the department of Latin America-Asia.
She also founded the Association of Young Asian Entrepreneurs in Argentina.
Jin Yi is also a journalist and producer. She became the first Korean TV News anchor to broadcast in Spanish in Latin America (onTelefe, one of most-watched tv channels), which granted her much recognition from Korea. She has been host and general producer of several radio programs and an analyst of Asian topics on CNN in Spanish.
Mr. Luca Jagmetti
Luca Jagmetti received his first law degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During his studies, he spent one year at the University of Montpellier in France based on the ERASMUS/SOCRATES exchange and scholarship program.
After Law School, Luca worked as a legal clerk at the District Court of Zurich, passed the bar exam and wrote a doctoral thesis on “Intragroup Cash Pooling” which earned the distinction summa cum laude and won two prizes for outstanding academic achievement.
Since 2007, Luca has been working for Bär & Karrer, one of the leading law firms in Switzerland, where he has been engaged in M&A transactions, general corporate matters, financial restructuring law and litigations. Luca is in the Corporation Law LL.M. program at NYU.
Mr. Shin Kwon Lim
Shin Kwon received his bachelor of law degree (summa cum laude) from Seoul National University in 1999. He ranked top in the class in the sophomore year, the year corresponding to the 1L in a US law school, and earned a full tuition dean’s scholarship from the University.
In 1998, during his senior year, Shin Kwon passed the Korean bar exam as one of approximately 700 successful test takers out of more than 20,000 applicants. He was one of the five youngest trainees at the judicial research and training institute (JRTI), who passed the bar exam in their senior year. He completed the two year training course at the JRTI in top the 2% in a class of approximately 700 lawyer candidates.
Shin Kwon received his masters of law degree from Seoul National University in 2003 while also serving as a judge advocate for the Korean Air Force. He was the first air force officer who served as an operational law officer at the Korean US Combined Forces Command (CFC) based in Seoul, as a member of CFC judge advocate office.
Upon completion of military service in March, 2004, Shin Kwon has worked at Kim & Chang, the largest law firm in Korea as an associate in the corporate department. With a main practice area of M&A and antitrust, he has been actively engaged in dozens of M&A transactions (both domestic and international) and antitrust cases. At NYU, he is pursuing the corporation LL.M. program.
Mr. Emiliano Marambio Catan
Emiliano graduated first in his class from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT), Argentina, where he obtained a law degree. During his law studies, he received a full tuition scholarship from UTDT and a distinction from the City of Buenos Aires Bar Association, and he was a teaching assistant for several courses, including Constitutional Law, Torts, and Contracts.
After graduating from the law school he obtained an M.A. in economics (posgrado en economía) at UTDT, and he was professor of an introductory course in Economic Analysis of Law between 2003 and 2006, and a visiting professor of that same course for LL.M. students during the Summer of 2009, all at UTDT School of Law.
In 2007, Emiliano obtained a McCracken Fellowship at New York University (NYU), Department of Economics. Since August, 2007, he has been pursuing his PhD in Economics at NYU. At NYU, he was a teaching assistant for Professor Nicola Persico in the Law and Society course, research assistant for Professor Florencia Marotta-Wurgler during the summer of 2009, and obtained one of the two distinctions awarded by the Department of Economics for the Microeconomics qualifying examination in 2008.
His research interests include economic analysis of law, corporate governance, and empirical legal studies.
Ms. Kiri Mattes
Kiri Mattes graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2000 and a LLB with first class honours in 2002. She received numerous awards for academic achievement including the Nancy Gordon Smith Memorial Prize awarded to the first 5 LLB candidates obtaining first class honours at graduation. In 2009, Kiri completed a Graduate Diploma of Law at the University of Sydney and was awarded the Sir Maurice Byers Prize for Constitutional Law.
In 2003, Kiri was Associate to the Honourable Justice Sackville in the Federal Court of Australia. She has been admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW and is currently a Senior Solicitor at the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office, where her practice has spanned criminal, administrative and constitutional law.
Kiri is pursuing a General Studies LL.M. with a focus on public law and international law.
Mr. Matus Navrat
Matus Navrat graduated from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia with a Masters Degree in Law in 2003. He holds a PhD. and Doctor Degree in Law from Trnava University in Trnava, Slovakia awarded in 2008 and 2006 respectively. He completed a six month research program starting in fall of 2004 at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition Law and Tax Law in Munich, Germany. Since 2006 he has worked on a part-time basis as a research assistant at Trnava University.
In 2006 Matus joined Horizon21, a Swiss hedge fund and private equity manager. He worked as in-house counsel, specializing in the structuring and distribution of hedge funds and private equity funds, and negotiating swap documentation under the standards of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. In August 2007 he assumed the position of head of local branch of Horizon21 in the Cayman Islands and as a director of over fifty offshore investment funds and corporate entities. He was a member of company’s monthly investment and semi-annual treasury committees on the Cayman Islands.
Matus is the author of over a dozen research articles on matters concerning corporate law, intellectual property law and constitutional law. He is also the author of a book on the law of computer programs, databases and domain names, and co-author of a case book for students on intellectual property law.
Matus has been admitted as an attorney to the Slovak Bar of Attorneys. His LL.M. concentration is Corporation Law.
Mr. Simon Peart
Simon received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 2006, graduating with First Class Honours. During his time at law school he received a number of academic prizes, including the prize for the best Honours dissertation. Simon also completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Otago majoring in philosophy.
In 2003 Simon won the New Zealand Law Students' Association National Mooting Competition. He went on to represent New Zealand at the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C. in 2004, where his team reached the advanced rounds of the competition and was ranked 8th. Simon has continued to be involved with mooting in New Zealand through coaching teams, judging regional and national competitions, and authoring problems. In his final two years of study, Simon worked as a tutor with the law faculty, tutoring Legal Systems, Public Law, and Jurisprudence.
Following graduation, Simon worked for two years as a Judges' clerk at the High Court of New Zealand. He was involved in the full range of the Court's work, but took a special interest in competition (antitrust) and regulatory litigation. He subsequently worked for 18 months in the competition and regulatory department at Chapman Tripp, one of New Zealand's largest law firms.
In addition to the Vanderbilt Scholarship, Simon comes to NYU as a Fulbright scholar and is undertaking an LL.M. in Trade Regulation, concentrating in antitrust.
Ms. Florie Pellerin-Catellier
Florie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Ottawa, Canada, where she was granted both a Civil Law degree (LL.L.) and a Common Law degree (LL.B.). She ranked first in her class and received numerous awards and scholarships for her outstanding academic performance. During her legal studies, Florie acted as a research assistant for the Dean of the Civil Law Faculty and as a teaching assistant in contracts law. She also volunteered with ProBono Students Canada, acted as student representative of the Civil Law Faculty Administration Board, and was part of the Civil Law Faculty’s moot team for the Sopinka Cup, where she won the award for best cross-examination.
Upon graduation, Florie clerked for the Honorable Justice Marie Deschamps of the Supreme Court of Canada. She then passed the Quebec Bar exams and joined Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, one of Canada’s leading law firms, as an articling student in their tax department. Her main areas of interest are corporate tax law, international law and contracts law. Her NYU LL.M. law concentration is International Taxation.
Ms. Amanda Alves de Lima Baptista dos Santos
Amanda Alves de Lima Baptista dos Santos was born in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil), and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. Amanda received her Law degree from Pontifícia Universidade Católica – PUC (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) in December 2006. She graduated among the top 1% students of the Law School, with a grade point average of 9.4 out of 10. She was the highest ranked student of the Law School’s competitive admissions exams (she placed first out of 1,863 applicants) and was awarded a full scholarship, covering the 5 years of legal study. Amanda was elected class president by the student body, for the 5 years of Law School and was the valedictorian of the Law Class of 2006. She attained the maximum grade in Tax Law in the Brazilian Bar Exam (10/10).
During 2003 and 2004, Amanda was a trainee in the litigation department of a Brazilian law firm, counseling clients, especially insurance and investment fund companies, on civil, litigation and corporate law issues, and participating in the development of legal thesis and defenses. In 2005, she joined Baker & McKenzie, a Brazilian firm, counseling local and foreign clients on tax, customs and regulatory issues regarding imports/exports, tax treaties, transfer-pricing rules and local taxation. Amanda has developed expertise on tax planning and tax issues faced by the oil, gas and renewable energy industry in Brazil. She is also interested in environmental and climate change issues. She has completed specialization courses in Brazilian Tax Law, and Tax Planning. She is currently an LL.M. candidate in International Taxation at NYU.
Ms. Valentina Shagisultanova
Valentina E. Shagisultanova obtained her bachelor degree in International Law and masters degree in European Law from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in June 2004 and June 2006 respectively. She ranked in the top 5% of students in a class of about 150 students during her bachelor degree studies and in a class of about 50 students during her masters degree studies. She pursued a non-degree program in October – December 2004 at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) in order to prepare the graduate masters degree thesis “Charter of the European Joint-Stock Company”.
During her legal studies, Valentina mainly concentrated on corporate law and has two publications in this sphere: an article “A Legal Entity: Is It a Contract or an Institution” published in 2005 in Collection of Works of the Franco-Russian Colloquium, and an article “European Joint-Stock Company (Societas Europea)” published in January 2005 in a Russian law periodical “Foreign Trade Law”.
From October 2005 until May 2007 Valentina worked as a paralegal and after graduation as an associate in the Moscow office of the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. From May 2007 until June 2009 she was an associate of another international law firm presented in Moscow – Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Her work experience includes activities such as M&A transactions, capital market transactions, international arbitration and various issues of Russian corporate and contract law.
In 2009 – 2010 Valentina undertakes an LL.M. in Corporations with a concentration on M&A and capital markets regulation.
Mr. Tilman Turck
Tilman Turck graduated from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in 2005 in the top 2 % of his class. During his legal studies, he focused on conflict of laws, civil procedures and European contract law. In 2007, he passed his Second State Examination and ranked 3rd out of 646 participants.
After his graduation, he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of International Law in Munich. His research there focused on European contract law and European insolvency law. At the same time, he started his Doctoral Thesis about Recognition of Foreign Procedures in European Insolvency Law and was also teaching civil procedures.
Tilman will undertake an LL.M. in General Studies with a focus on civil procedures and coporations. In Fall 2009, he will also be working as a research assistant for Professor Oscar Chase.
Ms. Ruiqing Wang
Ms. Ruiqing Wang obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2005 from China University of Political Science and Law, and was first in her graduating class. She later pursued a Master of Laws degree at Peking University Law School. She also joined a human rights law collaborative program between Peking University and Lund University of Sweden and was selected as an exchange student sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. During her studies, she has been awarded a number of scholarships and honors in recognition of her academic performance. She was also an editor of Peking University International and Comparative Law Review.
Ruiqing passed the highly competitive Chinese national bar examination in 2005. She then participated in the “Outstanding Young Lawyer Internship Program” at Lovells LLP Beijing Office and later joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Beijing Office as a legal consultant after graduation. Her professional practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, the initial public offering of securities and compliance matters following listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Ms. Huan Xiong
Huan Xiong obtained her LL.B. and LL.M. degrees from Renmin University of China. She ranked at the top of her class in both the undergraduate and graduate schools and was awarded numerous scholarships and honors for her outstanding academic performance. In September 2005, she was selected by the Chinese government as a member of the fifth “Sino-French Training Program on Law in Europe” to pursue a one-year graduate study program at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, sponsored by the French Government Scholarship.
Following her graduation with honors from University of Paris 1, Huan returned to China and worked with the Beijing office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, an international law firm, where she advised on initial public offering of securities, mergers and acquisitions and various Hong Kong Stock Exchange regulatory, compliance and general corporate issues. She passed the Chinese bar exam in 2007. Her LL.M. concentration at NYU Law is Corporation Law.
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Academic Year 2008-09
Mr. Moritz Abramovitz
Moritz Abramovitz received his law degree from the Universidad de Lima School of Law, Peru, in 2003, and he was also admitted to the Peruvian Bar. He graduated first in his class and his thesis, “The Andean Community: Andean Development Corporation (Comparison with the European Investment Bank of the European Union)” received a grade of 20 (in a 1 to 20 grading system) summa cum laude. He was awarded with the “Prize for Academic Excellence in Law” in 2002 by the Ministry of Justice of Peru and the National Superintendence of the Public Registries.
He began his legal practice in 2001 as an assistant in the legal department of Petróleos del Perú, a public corporation in charge of refining and distribution of oil in Perú. In 2003 he joined Rubio, Leguía, Normand y Asociados, a very prestigious Peruvian law firm based in Lima, where he practiced in the Corporate Law and Finance and Capital Markets areas.
In March 2004, he began working at the National Superintendence of Tax Administration (SUNAT), the Peruvian equivalent to the IRS, as a Professional Auditor in the Claims Division where he analyzed claims submitted by tax payers and issued Resolutions to solve them, advised tax payers and individuals working in other areas of SUNAT about the interpretation of tax norms and was the lawyer for SUNAT in the tax processes seen in the Tax Court of Appeals and Judicial Power. He is coauthor of the book “Manual of Tax Procedures and Processes”, published in October 2007.
His area of concentration at NYU Law is International Tax. Other areas of interest for him are commercial law and international transactions. He enjoys soccer and played on the team that represented Peru in the 10th and 11th Pan American Maccabi Games, held in Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires.
Ms. Jing Chen
Ms. Jing Chen graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 2001 from China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. She ranked at the top her class and received numerous scholarships and honors for her outstanding academic performance from her university. In 2001 she joined Fangda Partners, a leading Chinese law firm, and she passed the Chinese Bar Exam in 2002. From 2004 to 2005 she obtained a M. Jur. from University of Oxford in the U.K.. After graduating from University of Oxford, she worked in the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP as an associate. Her practice is focused on cross-boarder mergers and acquisitions and project finance transactions.
In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship, she also received the John L. Vogelstein Scholarship for the Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business, a summer program organized by NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business.
Mr. Louis Culot
Louis Culot graduated summa cum laude from the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, in 2007, spending the last six months of his studies in Argentina (Universidad de Buenos Aires). Upon graduation, he was admitted as a member of the Brussels Bar and joined an American corporate law firm. In 2008, he obtained a Masters in Philosophy magna cum laude from the Université catholique de Louvain and started courses at NYU Stern Business School, then at NYU Law School. Throughout his studies, he maintained a high commitment to student organizations including philanthropic and drama projects together with active involvement in student representation and cultural animation. His LL.M. studies at NYU Law will be dedicated to business law and legal philosophy. He is also a Belgian American Educational Foundation Fellow.
Ms. Xiaojie Dong
Xiaojie Dong was awarded the LLB degree from China University of Political Science and Law, ranked first in the College of Criminal Law. Each year, she received a scholarship from the University. In August 2006 she was sponsored by Paterson Educational Trust to participate in the summer school of Oxford, participated in a Space Law Moot Court competition in Sydney. She also volunteered in teaching English in the community. Her academic interest lies in death penalty and animal law.
Mr. Guy Eizenberg
Guy Eizenberg studied law at Bar Ilan University, Israel, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2006 (the degree was awarded in 2007) ranked first in a class of 150 students. While attending Bar Ilan University, he was a member of the editorial staff of Bar Ilan Law Review and worked as both a teaching and research assistant in the area of corporate law, insolvency law, banking law and Law & Society.
Upon graduation, he interned at Herzog, Fox and Neeman Law Office in the corporate and securities department and after he was admitted to the Israeli Bar in 2007 he worked as an associate at Ephraim Abramson & Co. specializing in corporate law, securities law and commercial litigation. He is interested in corporate and securities law as well as in public international law with an emphasis on law and security and war against terror. His L.L.M concentration will be in General Studies.
He was a swimming coach in the swimming department of Maccabi Rishon LeZion for 12 years and was involved for 8 summers in Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, as an agent of the Jewish Agency, where in addition to running the waterfront he was involved in general formal and informal education activities.
Ms. Cristina Ferraro
Cristina Ferraro received her law degree summa cum laude from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in September 2005, graduating first in her class. During her studies Cristina worked as a legal trainee at Miranda & Amado Abogados, a leading Peruvian law firm. Upon graduation, she joined the Firm as an Associate Lawyer, practicing mainly in the fields of corporate law, securities, foreign investment, energy (electricity and oil), banking, antitrust regulation, and dispute resolution (administrative disputes, national and international arbitration). For the last two years, she has been working with the Institute for Liberty and Democracy; a non-profit organization based in Lima and presided by economist Hernando De Soto, dedicated to assisting governments in the implementation of legal reforms that provide citizens the necessary legal tools to participate in local and international markets. She participated as part of the legal team in the Project for the Incorporation of Entrepreneurial Assets to Formality in Mexico.
Mr. Jorge Jraige
Jorge Jraige graduated summa cum laude from Universidad de los Andes ("ULA") in Venezuela where he was ranked first among 262 students in his graduating class. Upon graduation he was granted a Governor's Award for academic excellence. He completed a Tax Law specialization at Universidad Central de Venezuela (“UCV”) and thereafter at Universidad de Salamanca (Spain). He also obtained a Master of Science in Business Tax Management with honorific distinction, at Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela). He worked as a Research Assistant of the First Superior Tax Court. After completing his assistanceship he worked as Semi-Senior Associate at Romero-Muci & Asociados (Deloitte Venezuela) until he joined the Tax Department of Baker & McKenzie Caracas. His NYU Law LL.M. concentration is in International Taxation.
Mr. Thomas Lang
Thomas Lang graduated from the Philipps-University Marburg School of Law in the top 0.5% of his class in 2007, ranked fourth among all graduates in his federal state (Hessen). During his legal studies, he concentrated on corporation law, trade law and labor law as well as intellectual property law and media law. He was awarded scholarships for outstanding academic achievement and he studied for one year at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, graduating with the Certificate of Higher Education in Common Law.
After his graduation, he worked as academic research assistant at the Chair for Comparative Law at Philipps-University Marburg School of Law. At the same time, he researched his Doctoral Thesis, which focused on matters of intellectual property law and antitrust law. In 2008, Thomas earned his doctorate Summa Cum Laude. His NYU Law LL.M. concentration is Trade Regulation with a focus on intellectual property law.
Mr. Adrian Magallanes
Adrián Magallanes graduated from the Escuela Libre Derecho (Mexico) in 2006 with high honors for academic merits and for an outstanding thesis defense, which was further published by the Argentine Center for International Studies. According to the Dean, his global point average of 9.6/10 ranks top 1% among all graduates in the 96-year history of the School.
Being a law student, in the year 2002 he joined the law firm Von Wobeser y Sierra, S.C., where he worked part time in the litigation and international arbitration department. Upon graduation, he was named associate in the firm and acted as counsel for national and multinational companies in several ad hoc and institutional arbitration proceedings. In his practice, he has also consulted and litigated administrative and constitutional law cases.
He has been an assistant professor at Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico) and has published different law articles, including a co-authorship of a book titled “Legal Guide to doing Business in Mexico”, which has been published in Spanish and English, and is being translated into German.
He has been appointed Honorary Member of the Academic Excellence Program of the Anáhuac University (Mexico) and Global Advisory Board Member of the International Center for Dispute Resolution – Y&I. Moreover, he is member of several international arbitration associations and at the age of 25 he was invited as guest speaker before the Mexican Bar Association forum, a truly exceptional circumstance.
He has done postgraduate law studies at McGill Law Faculty and at Universidad Iberoamericana. He is now pursuing his LL.M. in General Studies.
Mr. Daniel Moeritz
Daniel Moeritz was born in Osnabrueck, Germany. After spending some time in electoral campaign management, he studied law at the University of Muenster, one of the country’s leading law schools. He first specialized in Roman law and labor law and worked as a student research assistant at the Institute for Legal History. After graduating first in his class, he decided to concentrate on corporation law with a special focus on corporate governance, law and economics, and comparative law. He moved to the University of Heidelberg’s renowned Institute for German and European Corporation and Business Law where he elaborated a doctoral thesis on directors’ liability. After finishing his doctoral work, he went on to work for the corporate department of one of Germany's market-leading law firms in Berlin.
He was awarded highly prestigious scholarships throughout his academic studies, including by the German National Academic Foundation and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He will concentrate in Corporate Law at NYU Law. He has also been awarded the ERP Scholarship of the German Ministry of Economy and Technology and the German National Academic Foundation as well as a scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service.
Mr. Stefano Montemaggi
Stefano Montemaggi obtained with high honors his degree in civil law at the University of Pisa (Facoltà di Giurisprudenza), in 2006, by defending a thesis about the legal consequences of a breach of EU antitrust laws on the contracts entered in a market, negatively affected by an illegal cartel. In 2007, he was admitted to the three-year Ph.D. program in private and contract law, organized by the prestigious Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Advanced Studies of Pisa. There he has carried out a research project on collaborative networks of firms, as an organizational strategy for medium-sized firms that face critical transition and, on the other hand, as a “legal infrastructure” for new firms to enhance innovative technologies. At the same time, he has joined a research project on European contract law at the European University Institute, in Florence. He is author of five articles focusing on Italian contract law and corporate law issues.
His NYU Law LL.M. concentration is Corporate Law.
Mr. Andreas Orator
Andreas Orator received a Masters Degree in law from the University of Vienna (2005) and in political science from Sciences Po Paris (2003). He was awarded several scholarships for outstanding academic achievement, worked in Austria’s oldest law firm and interned at the Constitutional Service of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria and at the Austrian Parliament.
Upon completion of his first law degree, he worked for the Directorate-General Competition of the European Commission before joining the Research Institute for European Affairs of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration as a researcher and lecturer for Professor Stefan Griller. He is about to finish his doctoral dissertation on democratic legitimacy of European agencies.
He is also a Fulbright scholar. His LL.M. concentration at NYU Law is International Legal Studies and he will work as a Research Associatefor Professor Mattias Kumm.
Ms. Sonja Pelikan
Mr. Jan Petrov
Jan Petrov graduated from the Charles University School of Law, Prague, Czech Republic, being one of the three students in his class of over 600 students who received the Penta Award for Excellent Study Results. At the same university, Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, he has also earned a Masters Degree (specialization in Finance, Financial Markets and Banking; with honors) and a Bachelors degree in economics. For two semesters, he was a visiting Socrates/Erasmus scholar at the Faculty of Law and Economics, University of Bonn, Germany.
He has authored two articles on tort and contract law and won the Czech-American Prize for Talented Students (co-organized by the J. W. Fulbright Committee, Masaryk University and the U.S. Embassy) for his subsequently published thesis on corporate directors' duties.
After his graduation in March 2007, he was appointed law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic. In March 2008, he also became a junior member of the Recodification Committee and of the Tort and Unjustified Enrichment Team, both dealing with the revision of the Draft Czech Civil Code.
In the addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt scholarship, he was awarded the Fulbright scholarship.
Mr. Arie Rosen
Arie Rosen completed his undergraduate studies in law magna cum laude and in philosophy summa cum laude atTel Aviv University. During his studies, he served as an Associate Editor of the Tel Aviv University Law Review. After attaining his LL.B., he began his one-year mandatory practical training in a leading Israeli law firm, S. Horowitz & Co., where he worked on complex civil litigation cases. He was admitted to the Israeli Bar in 2008. Concurrently with his work at S. Horowitz, he served as a Teaching Assistant at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law, in the Civil Litigation Workshop and in the course Introduction to Jurisprudence.
Ms. Stratigoula Sakellariou
Stratigoula Sakellariou graduated as valedictorian with a grade of ‘Excellent’ (First Class Honors) from the University of Athens and was ranked in the top 1 percent of her class. As a law student she actively participated in several organizations, such as the European Law Student Association Athens and the Hellenic League for Human Rights. During her undergraduate studies she was granted a four-year scholarship for her outstanding academic achievements. She was also awarded the Erasmus scholarship and was given the opportunity to study at the University of Salamanca, Spain, as an exchange student.
After completing her first law degree, Stratigoula obtained an LL.M in Private Law from the University of Athens with a grade of ‘Excellent’ (First Class Honors). Her program of study included Banking Law, Internet Law, European Consumer Law as well as Tort Law and Legal Interpretation.
She has worked for two years in one of the leading Greek law firms in the field of Corporate and Competition Law, first as a Trainee Lawyer and then as a Junior Associate. She is a member of the Athens Bar Association. Her LL.M. concentration at NYU Law is Trade Regulation. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship she is a holder of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation Grant.
Mr. Giulio Sandrelli
Giulio Sandrelli's LL.M. concentration at NYU Law will be in Corporation Law. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship he has been granted a Research Associate position in the corporate law field.
He graduated magna cum laude in 2004 from the L. Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, discussing a dissertation on statutory pre-emption rights in listed companies’ share issues. In 2006 he ranked first in the competition for admission to the three-year Ph.D. program in Law of Business and Commerce at Bocconi Univerisity and was granted a scholarship from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. In the context of the Ph.D. program, he is developing a field of research into the consequences of the use of equity derivatives on voting patterns and corporate governance in listed corporations.
Since his graduation, he had been working as Research and Teaching assistant at Bocconi University’s Department of Law. Since 2005 he has been tutoring the Securities and Financial Markets Law course and the Business Law course. He has also been involved in several domestic and international research projects, and has authored publications on corporate law matters. Since 2008, he has collaborated with Rivista delle Società, one of the most prominent Italian corporate law journals.
He was admitted to the Italian Bar in 2007. From 2004 to 2007 he worked as a Trainee and Junior Associate in the Corporate and Litigation Departments of Allen & Overy’s Milan branch. Since 2008 he has been an Associate at Marini Salsi & Associati, a boutique law firm specializing in M&A and corporate litigation matters. He is a native Italian speaker, and is fluent in English and French.
Ms. Liad Vertzhaizer
Liad Vertzhaizer received her LL.B., magna cum laude, from Tel-Aviv University in 2007. She was cited on the Faculty of Law Dean's List for outstanding academic achievements in each year she attended Law School. While attending Tel-Aviv University, she was a research assistant to Professor Yitzhak Hadari in the area of Real Estate Taxation, as well as a member of the editorial board of the Tel-Aviv University Law Review. During her third year of Law School, she participated in the Micro Business and Economic Justice Legal Clinic. Following her graduation from Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Acting Justice Uzi Vogelman at the Israeli Supreme Court. In June 2008 she was admitted to the Israeli Bar.
Ms. Jiahua Wu
Jiahua Wu received her LL.M and LL.B degrees from Fudan University School of Law at the top of her class. During her study, she was awarded various scholarships including the First Class Scholarship of Fudan. In addition, she was the top prize winner in the Baker & McKenzie Fudan International Legal Scholarship in 2004 and a Jones Day 2003 International Legal Fellowship recipient. As an initiative participant of academic activities, she was the editor-in-chief of the Law School journal and the co-author of several articles published in a number of leading legal journals in China.
For the last three years, she was a legal consultant at O'Melveny & Myers LLP Shanghai office. She was extensively involved in the areas of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions. She advised several PRC companies in their private equity investments and also assisted a number of PRC companies in the registration process of their IPOs on NYSE, NASDAQ or HKSE.
Ms. Xin Wu
Xin Wu obtained both her Bachelor and Master of Law from Peking University in 2000 and 2003 where she received a number of scholarships and honors for her academic accomplishments. Besides several papers and comments published on core legal journals, she translated Judge Richard A. Posner’s Frontiers of Legal Theory into Chinese in 2001, which served as one of the most influential books on introducing the new interdisciplinary approach to legal study to China. Due to her strong academic research abilities and accomplishments, she was elected to the Editorial Committee of Peking
University Law Review with honors. Upon her graduation in 2003, she worked with one of the “big four” state-owned banks dealing with a wide range of banking businesses. Her LL.M. concentration at NYU Law is General Studies.
Ms. Xiaojie Yi
Xiaojie Yi obtained her LL.B (with highest honor) and LL.M degrees from Peking University School of Law. She received numerous scholarships and honors for her excellent academic performance. She was honored Excellent Graduate of Peking University and Beijing Municipality. She has published several academic papers in Chinese reputed law journals, one of which won the first-prize research paper award by Chinese Securities Association.
Prior to joining New York University School of Law as an LL.M candidate in Corporate Law, Xiaojie Yi worked at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP for two years. She has passed Chinese Bar Examination.
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Academic Year 2007-08
Mr. Yasuhiro Chiba
Yasuhiro Chiba will be pursuing an LL.M. in General Studies at NYU. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 2003 from the University of Tokyo. After graduating from the University of Tokyo with high marks, he was admitted as a member of the Japanese bar in 2004. Mr. Chiba has been practicing law for two and a half years in Kumamoto, a city in the southwestern part of Japan, as a trial lawyer who mainly represents municipalities and companies. Although his main areas of practice are administrative law and corporate law, he has been involved in other fields, including bankruptcy and employment, with a philosophy of being a generalist. During his LL.M. studies at NYU, Mr. Chiba intends to pursue a wide variety of fields of law, such as corporate, bankruptcy, employment, Law and Economics, in order to obtain a broader knowledge, experience, and to acquire a capability to manage various legal problems. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship, Mr. Chiba received a scholarship from Heiwa Nakajima Foundation in Japan.
Ms. Connie Chu
Connie Chu obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree, magna cum laude, from the University of San Carlos and was named Most Outstanding Political Science Major. She graduated Class Salutatorian with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University where she received her Juris Doctor degree and was awarded the Silver Medal for Academic Excellence. She served as Managing Editor of the Ateneo Law Journal and was a member of the Ateneo team to the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. Connie ranked second out of 4,659 examinees in the 2002 Philippine Bar Exams and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.
After graduation, Connie joined Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles, one of the largest capital market firms in the Philippines. She has an extensive background in international securities offerings, corporate finance and M&A transactions in a wide range of industries including banks, telecommunications, power generation, transportation, food, and manufacturing. Connie taught Corporate Governance in the Far Eastern University Institute of Law, and Legal Research and Legal Writing at the Ateneo de Manila School of Law.
Mr. Ashish Chugh
Ashish Chugh graduated with a B.S.L.-LL.B from Symbiosis Society's Law College, Pune University, India in 2003. He secured the overall second rank amongst 900 candidates in the Pune University Merit List. As a student, he was entrusted with the dual responsibilities as the Moot Court Coordinator and Student Editor of the college law journal for two consecutive years.
Since graduation, Ashish has been called to become a member of the Delhi Bar Council and Indian Supreme Court Bar Association. In his four years at the Bar in the chambers of a distinguished Senior Advocate and former Solicitor-General of India, he has had the opportunity to be intricately involved as junior Counsel in several leading matters of constitutional importance, inter-state river water disputes, environmental law, corporate litigation apart from a few prolific domestic and international commercial arbitrations. He has always had a penchant for academic writing which is reflected by the publication of several articles pertaining to public law issues in prominent Indian law journals including the Supreme Court Cases, Indian Bar Review and All India Reporter.
Beginning fall 2007, Ashish will be pursuing an LL.M in General Studies at NYU School of Law principally focusing on International Commercial Arbitration, International Litigation and Comparative Constitutional Law, after which he plans to continue practice as a Counsel at the Indian Bar, teach part-time and in the future hopes to complete a commentary on Comparative Commonwealth Constitutional Law.
Mr. Francesco Dagnino
Francesco Dagnino was born in in 1980. He is an LL.M. candidate in Corporation Law at New York University, School of Law where he received the prestigious honour of being appointed "Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar". In 2007, he earned a Ph.D. in Company and Financial Markets Law from the University of Bologna, with a dissertation on the Treatment of Foreign and Pseudo-Foreign Corporations under European and Italian Law. During his Ph.D. he worked as an Assistant Professor to Professor Luca Enriques, and he has been involved in International Research Projects.
He was a Visiting Scholar in 2006 at the University of Hamburg, under the supervision of Professor Heribert Hirte and in 2005 at Columbia University School of Law, under the supervision of Professor Katharina Pistor.
He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Palermo, School of Law, in July in 2003 with a thesis on Hybrid Corporate Securities. During his 4 years of study he was awarded an ERASMUS scholarship in order to study abroad for one year at the University of Valencia, where he focused on EC Law and International Law.
His research activity focuses mainly on the field of Corporate Governance, Financial Regulation and Private International Company Law. He has authored numerous publications in business law reviews.
Mr. Dagnino was admitted to the Italian BAR Association in October 2006. In 2004 he worked in the M&A department at "Chiomenti Studio Legale", (one of the Italian leading International Law Firms), Rome office. He is also a legal consultant for "Dagnino Studio Legale", a boutique law firm specializing in Commercial Litigation, Financial Law and Taxation Law and one of the founders of "Italian Limited", the first Italian company to import the German model of forum shopping in Italy (formation of UK pseudo-foreign companies).
Francesco is an Italian native speaker. He is also fluent in English and Spanish.
Ms. Xin Deng
Xin Deng received her LL.B. with honors from Fudan University School of Law along with the distinction of graduating first in her class. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded multiple Fudan Scholarships including the first-class scholarship of Fudan University. In 2003, as the first exchange student from Fudan University to AIKOM Global Exchange Program, she was offered a full scholarship by the Association of International Education, Japan to study at University of Tokyo, where she received straight A's. She was also actively involved in student activities, serving as the President of Academic Department, League Committee & Student Union of Fudan Law School, and participating in various volunteer activities. Prior to joining New York University School of Law as an LL.M. candidate in International Taxation, Ms. Deng worked in the Tax Department of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPA Ltd. for three years and was awarded the Teamwork Star of Deloitte Eastern China in 2004.
Ms. Deng has passed the Chinese Bar Examination and is also a Certified Tax Agent in China.
Ms. Maria Carolina Gonzalez Hernandez
Maria Gonzalez Hernandez graduated summa cum laude from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (U.C.A.B.). Upon graduation she was granted an Academic Excellence Prize called "Caracciollo Parra Leon" for graduating first in the Class of 2005. The Prize was founded that year. During her senior year, she participated in the Latin American Model for the United Nations (LAMUN) held in Puebla, Mexico as a representative for the People's Republic of China in the English spoken Sustainable Development Committee.
After graduation she worked as an intern in the Judicial Risk Management Department of a Venezuelan bank called Banco Provincial where she practiced Business, Financial and Civil Procedure Law. After that Ms. Gonzalez Hernandez worked as an International Business Consultant for a financial consulting firm called Econoconsult Consultores y Asociados.
As for academic activities, she has been a Teaching Assistant for Professor Ramon Escovar Leon at U.C.A.B. for over two years in the Civil Procedure Law II course taught to senior law students, focusing her teaching on commercial arbitration.
In addition to the Arthur T Vanderbilt Scholarship Ms. Gonzalez Hernandez also received a Fulbright Scholarship.
Mr. Stephan Heckenthaler
Stephan Heckenthaler graduated from the University of Vienna School of Law within the top 2% of his class in 2003. During his legal studies, Stephan was awarded scholarships for outstanding academic achievement and studied for one year at the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium, focusing on international business law and European affairs. After his Master studies, Stephan was clerking for several months at Viennese Courts and concurrently worked on his doctoral thesis, which focused on corporate law matters. In 2005 Stephan received his Ph.D. summa cum laude. In 2007 Stephan passed the Austrian bar exam with highest distinction.
Stephan has three years of professional experience, primarily in the area of corporate, commercial and real estate law in Austria. Before working in Austria, Stephan gathered legal experience at The Hague at the Austrian Embassy, in Frankfurt with Clifford Chance and in Singapore with Haarmann Hemmelrath.
He has authored several published papers including on the areas of corporate and securities law affecting corporate regulation in Austria.
Ms. Julie Jorgensen
Julie Arnth Jorgensen graduated in 2001 from Copenhagen University at the top of her class. Since 2001 she has worked at Hjejle Gersted Mogensen Law Firm in Copenhagen handling a wide range of legal matters from international M&A to litigation and arbitration and everything in between. In November 2004 she qualified as Danish advocate and in October 2006 she was admitted to the bar of the Danish High Court. Normally requiring completion of two test cases, she was admitted having successfully completed only one test case.
She has maintained close links with her Alma Mater as an Adjunct Lecturer in International Commercial Arbitration and as member of a special Project Group in International Commercial Law under Professor Joseph Lookofsky, Copenhagen University. Since 2003 she has served as Adjunct Lecturer and "coach" for the Copenhagen University team competing in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
Ms. Carolina C. Landau
Carolina C. Landau received her Law degree from Pontificia Universidade Catolica - PUC (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), in December 2001, where she graduated among the top 5 of PUC's law students graduating that year, with an average grade of 9.6 out of 10. Carolina passed the Brazilian Bar Exam in April 2002.
She holds a Specialization in Corporate Law and Capital Markets from Fundacao Getulio Vargas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), for which she received Academic Honors and was named the best student in the class.
Carolina also holds a Post-Graduate degree in Business Law, with a focus on Corporate Law, Capital Markets and Tax Law, from Fundacao Getulio Vargas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), in which she received the maximum grade for her post-graduation paper (named "Sale of Control of Publicly-Held Companies According to the Brazilian Law").
After working for several years as an intern and as an associate at leading Brazilian Law Firms, where her main areas of practice included corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and financial restructurings and securities, she is now an LL.M. candidate in Corporate Law at New York University School of Law, where she will work as a Research Associate for Professor Stephen Choi.
Mr. Giovanni Fabio Licata
Giovanni Fabio Licata graduated summa cum laude from the University of Catania School of Law on April 2000. During Law School, he spent one spring semester (1998) at the University of Helsinki School of Law in the Socrates Intensive Program (an annual course on European law and justice supported by the European Commission).
After graduation, Giovanni received a Master in Administrative Justice (Scuola Superiore di Catania, 2002) and attended lectures on the regulations of real estate funds at the Italian Exchange (Borsa Italiana Academy, Milano, 2003).
Giovanni was admitted to the Bar in December 2003. Since he classified first for that year, obtaining the highest possible evaluations, among all the 1457 people standing for bar admission, he jointly received from the Catania Bar Association and the Italian Bar Association the prestigious Toga d’oro award.
Giovanni practices mainly in the field of Administrative, Regulatory and Competition Law, both in Rome and in Catania. He worked as an associate for a well known Italian law firm until the year 2004, acting afterwards as an independent consultant. Giovanni handled complex cases concerning local public services and has been involved in several privatization procedures of public owned company and municipal undertakings. He regularly advises companies and public administration about public procurements, public franchises, town planning, energy and water resources, and represents clients before Independent Authorities including the Administrative Jurisdiction. Recently, he contended over antitrust cases in the field of airport services and he is actually involved in one of Italy’s urban renewals.
Besides his professional activities Giovanni Fabio Licata also carried on a consistent academic career. He obtained a Ph.D. in Administrative Law (2006) from the University of Catania Faculty of Political Sciences and he has published in the field of Administrative Law, Competition Law, fiscal state aids and consumers' protection. He is actually developing research on the administrative issues of the antitrust international dimension and also about the relationships and interferences among (enacted) law, emergent law and the "administrative system" in civil law countries.
Giovanni enjoys several associations, and he is co-founder and presently vice-president of SME 2010 a non-profit organization committed to the promotion of the cultural, social and economics aspects of the emerging Mediterranean Free Trade Area.
Mr. Michael Joseph Sylvester Moran
From a rural farming background in the West of Ireland, Mr. Moran attended both primary and secondary school in his native County Roscommon. In 2003, Mr. Moran became a Bishop Hudson Scholar and Entrance Exhibitioner at Trinity College Dublin from where he subsequently graduated with a First Class Honors Degree in Law having read the University's four year professional degree course in Law.
In the course of his undergraduate studies Mr. Moran was consistently ranked within the top three positions in his class. In 2005, he obtained the Sweet and Maxwell Law Prize for coming First Place in the Annual Examinations, in 2006 he was awarded a Trinity College Book Prize for his First Class results and in 2007 received a Law Student’s Quarter Centenary Award. Winner in the Law Society of Ireland Law Reform Essay Competition 2007, Mr. Moran has authored a chapter in 'Law and Practice', a new book on law reform published by the Irish Law Society. Mr. Moran has also published work in the Trinity College Law Review, of which he himself is former Senior Editor and Intervarsity Officer.
Most recently, Mr. Moran has become Ireland's first Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar at New York University School of Law, where he is currently a Research Associate and completing a General Studies Masters Degree in Law. In addition, Mr. Moran has been awarded a Transitional Justice Scholarship by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), based at NYU, and has been in receipt of postgraduate funding.
Over the past seven years, Mr. Moran has gained extensive part-time employment experience having worked in the horticulture, agriculture and retail industries. Mr. Moran has also held the position of Dublin University Representative and Campus Manager for Herbert Smith-a leading international law firm based in London. In addition to completing a legal internship at Herbert Smith, Mr. Moran has also worked as an legal intern at the offices of international law firms; Gleiss Lutz Berlin, Arthur Cox Dublin and Matheson Ormsby Prentice Dublin. Mr. Moran is a member of An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland and a former Mentor and Peer Orientation Volunteer at Trinity College.
Following the completion of his Master's Degree, Mr. Moran hopes to continue his postgraduate legal study in Europe, intends to qualify as a solicitor and ultimately has aspirations to work in the area of Irish Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy.
Ms. Toni Moyes
Toni Moyes graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with first class Honours and a Bachelor of Arts with majors in History and Political Science from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 2004. She received the University of Canterbury Prize for Law 2004 and the University of Canterbury Law Review Prize 2005 for completing the top-ranked Honors dissertation of her graduating class.
Since graduating, Miss Moyes has been admitted to the New Zealand bar and worked for the corporate law firm Russell McVeagh, practicing principally in the area of mergers and acquisitions. She has previously held positions as a tutor at the University of Canterbury School of Law and with the New Zealand Crown Law Office.
In addition to the Vanderbilt Scholarship, Miss Moyes comes to NYU School of Law as a Fulbright Scholar, and a recipient of the William Georgetti Scholarship, Gordon Watson Scholarship and New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Prize for 2007. Her study interests are law and policy in relation to energy and climate change.
Mr. Maximilian Murawo
Maximilian Murawo graduated from the Free University of Berlin in February 2004, ranked 1st at his University and 4th among all Berlin graduates. During his legal studies he specialized in the field of corporate law. Moreover he served as deputy chair in the university group of the Christian Democratic Students Association. After his graduation he wrote his doctoral thesis, dealing with certain problems concerning the foundation process of German corporations. After earning the doctorate with honors in 2005, he began his two-year mandatory legal practical training in Berlin, during which he worked for two of Germany’s leading law firms (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Gleiss Lutz). He passed his Second State Examination in May 2007 among the top 5%. At NYU School of Law he is focusing on business and corporate law.
Ms. Lucia L. Navarro Santa Maria
Lucia L. Navarro graduated second in her class from the School of Law of the Universidad de Lima (Peru) in July 2003. She was a student representative before the Law School Council and thus, participated in several academic activities. Lucia started her legal practices during her third year of studies as an intern at a corporate law firm and the Peruvian Congress.
In 2002, Lucia joined Berninzon, Loret de Mola & Benavides Abogados, a top-tier Peruvian law firm, where she continued her practices in the corporate area. In 2004, after being successfully admitted to the Lima Bar, she became an associate of the firm specializing in corporate, commercial and financial law, mergers and acquisitions and foreign investment law.
Afterwards, Lucia joined Southern Peru Copper Corporation, Peruvian Branch, one of the top ten mining companies in the world, as in-house counsel. She advised the company on a broad spectrum of matters pertaining to corporate, commercial, mining and energy law; and was also involved in the company's social responsibility programs. While at Southern Peru Copper Corporation, Lucia pursued various specialized mining, environmental and energy law related courses.
Lucia is also a member of the Organization of Women in International Trade in Peru (OWIT), and actively participates in workshops committed to the development of women's industry.
Currently, Lucia is an LL.M. candidate for 2008, pursuing the Corporate Program at New York University School of Law as an Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar. Her main interests are business, financial, corporate, and mining law.
Mr. Francisco Nunez
Francisco R. Nuñez received his degree of Abogado from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2005. He ranked 5th in a class of over 2,800 students and his final grade average was 9.19 (in a 1 to 10 grading system). As a consequence of ranking 1st among over 200 students that received their diplomas at the December 2005 graduation ceremony, Francisco was appointed as the Law School standard-bearer. During 2006 Francisco pursued a Postgraduate Program in Advanced Corporate Law at the University of Buenos Aires.
In 2008 Francisco received his LL.M. degree in Corporation Law from New York University School of Law, where he was awarded the Arthur T. Vanderbilt scholarship.
Francisco acted for several semesters as assistant professor of Corporations at the University of Buenos Aires and as assistant professor of Corporate Law at the University of Palermo.
Francisco worked for more than 3 years and a half in the corporate department of a full-service law firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In September 2008 Francisco joined the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his practice focuses on cross-border corporate and financial transactions.
Francisco has been admitted to practice law by the Buenos Aires Bar.
Ms. Gabriela Olave
Gabriela Olave graduated summa cum laude and first in her class from the school of law at "Universidad Privada Boliviana", Bolivia in 2006. While attending school she was president of the law student council and she was a volunteer for a Habitat for Humanity project, building homes for underprivileged families in Bolivia.
Upon graduation she worked as an intern for "Moreno Baldivieso" a leading Bolivian law firm, where she worked in the areas of corporate law and civil procedure.
She is now a candidate for the LL.M Program in corporate law at New York University School of Law, where she will be specializing in International Business law and Intellectual Property.
Ms. Bingqing Pan
Bingqing Pan obtained her LL.B. and LL.M. degree, magna cum laude, from Peking University School of Law. She received fellowships from Peking University, American law firms and Beijing City many times based on her excellent academic performance. She was also selected as an exchange student for Columbia Law School. In addition, she worked as a consultant in the Legal Aid Association in Peking University providing pro-bono legal service for the underprivileged.
As a graduate student, she specialized in international economic law, she worked as the chief secretary of the PKU-Cornell WTO Submit Forum, editor of the Peking University International and Comparative Law Review, as well as the instructor of the Practical Arts and Science College of Peking University. She was also an interpreter and co-trainer for the National Judges College and the Ministry of Commerce of China. She had internships with Coudert Brothers L.L.P. and White & Case L.L.P.
Ms. Tanadee Pantumkomon
Tanadee Pantumkomon graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a first-class Honors degree and was ranked first in the Law School in 2005. After graduating, Tanadee worked at Baker & McKenzie, Thailand for one year and Linklaters, Thailand for four months. His work was in the area of Taxation and Banking law.
Ms. Nallini Puri
Nallini Puri graduated with a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) degree from the National Law School of India University in 2004 and was awarded a gold medal for University Third Rank as well as the Corporate and Business Laws gold medal. While at the National Law School, Nallini was part of the Council of Scholastic Excellence and was also appointed Teaching Assistant in Company Law.
Nallini went on to join Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., a leading Indian law firm, where she worked as an associate from 2004 to 2006 and was involved in various corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, foreign investment and public issues. India’s booming market provided the perfect space for her to develop an understanding of the practice of the law and in the time she spent at Amarchand & Mangaldas, Nallini grew to enjoy the excitement of practice in a developing economy coming to terms with its own destiny in a globalized world.
Nallini's experience of a legal system that was beginning to enthusiastically open up to and associate with international players made her want to venture out and truly understand such international linkages. In 2006, she was awarded the Felix Scholarship for a master's program in law at the University of Oxford, from which she graduated in July 2007. Commencing in August 2007, Nallini will attend the LL.M. program in Corporation Law at New York University School of Law, after which she intends to continue practicing in the field of corporate law. Nallini hopes that her academic experience will provide a sound foundation for her future forays into a legal world that is becoming more international by the minute and will help her become a better lawyer.
Ms. Andrea Ruettimann
Andrea Sabrina Ruettimann studied law at the Universities of Zurich and Lausanne, the second being located in the French part of Switzerland. In 2004 she graduated with honors from the University of Zurich within the top 1-2% of her class. Subsequently, Andrea joined Niederer Kraft & Frey, Zurich, one of the top law firms in Switzerland, as a legal trainee and attended an internship as legal assistant at the county court of Bülach, Switzerland. In 2006, after being successfully admitted to the bar of the Canton of Zurich, she rejoined Niederer Kraft & Frey as associate, where her main areas of practice included general corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, commercial arbitration, as well as banking and finance.
Andrea is interested in the interrelation of business law and economics, in particular in the fields of international business transactions, corporate finance and financial reporting and accounting.
At NYU Andrea will attend the LL.M. in Corporation Law with a special focus on finance. Furthermore, she will graduate with a joint program from NYU Stern School of Business with the Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business.
Mr. Christos Timagenis
Christos Timagenis graduated as valedictorian with a grade of "excellent" (“First Class Honors”) from the University of Athens School of Law. During his four years of study he was involved in various student organizations, notably as the Secretary General of European Law Student Association (ELSA-Greece) and was a Student representative at the Law Faculty General Board. He also had the opportunity to study for six months in France as an Erasmus exchange student at the University of Cergy-Pontoise.
After fulfilling his military service in the Greek Navy, Mr. Timagenis obtained an LL.M. degree in Commercial Law at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) where he was awarded the Lizette Bentwich Prize for academic achievement and was elected social secretary of the Trinity College Law Society. His program of study combined Banking and Financial Law, International Sales, International Commercial Litigation and his thesis was on the recent developments of the Doctrine of Kompetenz-Kompetenz in Commercial Arbitration under the English Arbitration Act 1996.
Mr. Timagenis is a member of the Piraeus Bar Association as a trainee Lawyer and before arriving at NYU he completed an internship in the US Capital Markets Group at the London office of Shearman & Sterling LLP.
During his studies at NYU, Mr. Timagenis will focus on Corporate and Capital Markets issues as well as International Litigation and Arbitration. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship he has received the Fulbright Scholarship for the academic year 2007-2008.
Mr. Alfredo Vargas
Alfredo I. Vargas S. obtained his law degree in 2005 at Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, in Caracas, Venezuela, where he graduated in the top 5 of his class. While attending law school he was part of the Law Student Council, and was also enrolled in a pro-bono work program for low income families in Caracas. He served as the professor's assistant to the Constitutional Law Course for three years for Professor Carlos Ayala Corao.
Alfredo started working during his second year of Law School at Cartera de Inversiones Venezolanas, a mayor business conglomerate in Caracas. He continued working there as a lawyer after finishing school.
His areas of practice are Banking and Financial Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities, International legal structures, Securitizations and General Corporate Law.
Alfredo is a Corporate LLM Candidate for 2008. He is also enrolled in the Advance Certificate in Law and Business at Stern School of Business at New York University. In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship he was awarded with the Vogelstein Scholarship by the New York University Pollack Center for Law and Business
Alfredo enjoys modern art, poetry, playing polo, fishing, running,and camping.
Ms. Zheru Zhao
Ms. Zheru Zhao received her LL.B. in July 2007 from China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), where she graduated first in the Faculty of International Law. She was awarded Scholarship for Academic Excellence every year, and won the Science & Innovation Prize for the first foreign language paper to appear in the Student Law Journal of CUPL. She provided pro-bono services in the Administrative Legal Clinic and volunteered to teach children of migrant workers in rural areas as a member of the Western Sunshine Program. In summer 2006, she took an internship with the Supreme People’s Court of China, responsible for appellate database maintenance and drafting judicial opinions for Justice.
In August 2007, Ms. Zhao will join NYU School of Law as an LL.M. candidate in General Law.
Ms. Regula Zimmermann
Regula Zimmermann graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Fribourg in July 2002, summa cum laude. After graduation from law school, she first worked as a clerk at the Social Insurance Department of the Supreme Court of Switzerland. Afterwards, she took up a legal internship in a law firm in Lucerne, as well as at the District Court of Lucerne After having passed the bar examination in the canton of Lucerne in October 2004, she joined Schweiger Attorneys-at-law in Zug as an associate attorney with a particular focus on corporate, intellectual property, and competition law. She is now an LL.M. candidate in General Studies at NYU School of Law, where her main areas of interest are banking, finance and corporate law.
Cara Zwibel
Cara Zwibel graduated from McGill University with an Honours degree in Political Science in 2001 and from Osgoode Hall Law School with a Bachelor of Laws in 2004. Cara was the recipient of a Harley D. Hallett Scholarship while at Osgoode and worked as a research assistant to Dean Peter Hogg. After graduating Cara articled at the Supreme Court of Canada working as a law clerk to the Honourable Mr. Justice Ian Binnie.
For the last two years Cara has worked as an Associate at the national Canadian law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, in the areas of health law, public law and commercial litigation.
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Academic Year 2006-07
Ms. Lourdes Gabriela Aguilar
Lourdes Gabriela Aguilar obtained her LL.B. in 1994 from the University of Lima School of Law, where she was the valedictorian and graduated first in her class. She also passed the Lima Bar Exam summa cum laude with the highest grade. She also holds a post graduate Certificate in Taxation from the same University.
After graduation, Ms. Aguilar served as a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Andean Community in matters such as tax and customs harmonization, free trade agreements and dumping and countervailing duties. She also participated in the negotiations among country experts of member countries, and in the drafting of proposed legislation in the aforementioned matters.
Later on, Ms. Aguilar joined Estudio Ferrero Abogados, a top law firm in Lima for two years. Then, in 1999, she took a job as Tax Senior at Andersen Legal, where she was promoted to Tax Manager. Her main areas of practice included local taxation, international taxation, customs and international trade. She kept the same position and responsibilities in Ernst & Young S. Civil de R. L., where she worked until 2006.
Ms. Aguilar will begin her studies in the NYU School of Law as a candidate for the Master of Laws in International Taxation. After completing her studies, she would like to pursue a career in law teaching and public service.
Mr. Pascal Berghe
Pascal Berghe received his law degree from the University of Liège (Belgium) in 2004, magna cum laude. During his studies at the University of Liège, he served as a student-assistant. In addition, he obtained in 2005 an LL.M. degree in European Law from the College of Europe, where he graduated first in his class. After having worked for one year as a competition lawyer in the Brussels office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, he is now an LL.M. candidate in Trade Regulation at New York University School of Law. His main areas of interest are competition, European and international law. At NYU, he will mainly focus on antitrust law.
Mr. Eric Blomme
Eric Blomme graduated in July 2006 at the University of Leuven Law School (Belgium). He was the only student in a class of 346 to receive his law degree summa cum laude. During his studies he co-organized the faculty moot court. He was also a Student-Researcher writing a paper on the state action doctrine in American and European antitrust law. For three consecutive years, he worked as a summer associate in various branches of law. His interests are antitrust law, corporate law, M&A and litigation. In addition to the Vanderbilt Scholarship, he obtained a Fulbright Grant.
Ms. Lei Cui
Lei Cui received her LL.B. and LL.M. from Peking University School of Law. She was a lead performer in the Chinese Classical Music Orchestra of Peking University when she was on campus. From 2000 to 2001, she was with the Youth Volunteer Program organized by the Youth League Central Committee of China, teaching English in a high school in the Tibet Plateau. During her graduate study in Peking University specializing in financial law, she was the editor of the Financial Law Forum. Ms. Cui won the Freshfields-Asian Wall Street Journal Legal Writing Contest Prizes in 2002 and 2003. Prior to her study at NYU School of Law as an LL.M. candidate in Corporation Law, Ms. Cui worked in the Beijing Office of an international law firm for two years, actively participating in IPO and M&A projects.
Mr. Roland Fischer
Roland Fischer graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Zurich in December 2001 with the distinction magna cum laude. In 2002, he worked as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich before joining the largest Swiss business law firm, Lenz & Staehelin, as a legal trainee. After having passed the bar examination in the canton of Zurich in June 2004, he rejoined Lenz & Staehelin as an associate attorney with a particular focus on bankruptcy law, mergers and acquisition and finance transactions.
Concurrently with working as an attorney, Roland Fischer is writing his doctoral thesis on license agreements in bankruptcy proceedings which is supervised by Professor Reto M. Hilty, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law and Professor of Law at the University of Zurich.
During his LL.M. studies in Corporations at NYU School of Law, Roland Fischer will lay specific emphasis on international business transactions and bankruptcy issues.
Ms. Han Han
Han Han obtained her LL.B. degree from Peking University, Beijing, China in July 2006. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded Peking University Awards for her academic performance every year. In the third year of her studies, she worked as a research associate and participated in the research program on the Chinese Administrative Licensing Act. Additionally, she provided pro-bono legal services to underprivileged persons in the Clinic Education and Legal Aid Center of Peking University. Throughout her final semester, she studied at the National University of Singapore as an exchange student and focused on regulating corporations and securities regulation.
During the LL.M. studies at NYU School of Law, she will specialize in Corporation Law as an Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar. Besides law school study, Han Han will pursue the Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business (APCLB) provided by NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business, having been awarded the Vogelstein Scholarship.
Mr. Tsuyoshi Ito
Tsuyoshi Ito is an LL.M. candidate in Corporation Law. He received his Bachelor of Law degree from University of Tokyo in Japan, graduating with high marks in 1999. After admission to the bar in Japan in 2000, he joined Nishimura & Partners, which is one of the largest and most internationalized law firms in Japan. As an associate, he was involved in many financial transactions, especially the establishment of private equity funds and non-recourse or limited-recourse loan transactions. He studied tax law as well, and represented taxpayers in several tax disputes.
Mr. Boris (Shih-Hsiang) Lee
Boris (Shih-Hsiang) Lee is an LL.M. candidate in Trade Regulation with a concentration in Intellectual Property. He received his Bachelor's degree in law from the National Taiwan University School of Law, ranking at the top of his class. Furthermore, he is a current Master of Laws candidate in the Institute of Technology Law of National Chiao-Tung University (ITL), one of the pioneering graduate academic institutes dedicated to intellectual property law research in his home country. Mr. Lee has been practicing law in Taiwan for more than five years. In 2003 he joined Taiwan International Patent & Law Office (TIPLO), a top IP law firm in Taiwan. His main areas of practice include patent litigation, copyright and trademark enforcement, IP licensing and unfair competition.
Mr. Mikhail Makhotin
Mikhail Makhotin graduated as a Specialist in Law from Law Faculty of St. Petersburg State University (2003), ranking first in his class. He is a winner of two All-Russian legal competitions in civil (including commercial) law, civil procedure and arbitration (Gold Medal in 2003 and Silver Medal in 2001), several regional competitions in legal studies. During the period of his studies Mikhail was awarded with several scholarships and certificates of honor (in particular, the Certificate of Honor of the President of the Russian Federation). Mikhail constantly participated in civil and commercial law sections of student scientific society and published articles in a number of Russian law reviews.
For the last three years Mikhail has been working on corporate merges and acquisitions projects in the St. Petersburg offices of Ernst & Young and of DLA Piper, both being among the strongest players on the regional legal market. In 2003-2004 Mikhail was a member of international team of lawyers who accomplished a corporate acquisition project, whose scope, structure and complexity were unprecedented for St. Petersburg legal practice. Mikhail has twice been double promoted during annual staff reviews for his contribution to the projects that he handled.
Having dealt with corporate law matters and problems of related fields of law, such as securities regulation and taxation, in practice, Mikhail is particularly interested in studying the respective matters and, therefore, he is a student at LL.M. program in Corporation Law.
Mr. Alexandre Merle
Alexandre Merle is a LL.M. candidate in Corporation Law. He received a Master degree in Business law in July 2003 with High Honors and an Advanced Post Master degree in Business law with Honors in July 2004 from the Université Panthéon Assas – Paris II, France. His thesis focused on "The information of the board members of French public companies." During those two years he was successively captain of the volleyball university team and vice president of the student government organization.
Alexandre was admitted to the Paris Bar in December 2005 and worked as an intern in the corporate department of prestigious law firms such as Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Herbert Smith LLP and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and in the legal department of the preeminent advisory investment bank Lazard Frères.
In addition to the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship Alexandre received a scholarship from White & Case LLP.
Ms. Lucy Robb
Lucy Robb graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 2001 and a Bachelor of Laws with first class honors in 2003. She was awarded the Rose Scott Prize for highest ranking female graduate. After graduation, she worked as the Legal Assistant on the Krajisnik defense team at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Throughout 2005, she was the Associate to the President of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
For the past two years, she has been a member of the Executive Boards of the International Commission of Jurists Australia and the Sydney Peace Foundation.
She now works as an Associate Lecturer in federal constitutional law at the University of Sydney.
Ms. Sonia Rodríguez García
Sonia Rodriguez was born in Bilbao (Spain) in 1980. She got her Law Degree and an additional specialty in Economics at Deusto University in 2003, graduating with the final mark of A with Honors and Final Award with Special Distinction.
During the law school, she took part in several summer courses in different universities both domestic and international, including her participation in the Socrates Intensive Program entitled Business Law about "Commercial Contracts" in the University Luiss Guido Carli of Rome (2001) and the intensive program, entitled The Information Society: The Legal Challenges, organized by the European Law Student Association E.L.S.A. in Munich (2002).
After her graduation, she joined the Spanish legal firm Cuatrecasas ("Iberian law firm of the year" by Chambers 2004-2005), where she has been collaborating in different areas of legal practice: corporate, taxation, antitrust, or litigation in Bilbao, Barcelona, Brussels and Madrid offices.
In 2006 she was awarded with a fellowship by the Spanish foundation Rafael del Pino to study an LL.M. in International Taxation at NYU. She is also studying the Advance Professional Certificate in Law and Business in the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business at Stern School of Business, with a scholarship by the John L. Vogelstein Program.
Mr. Navid Sato
Navid Sato is an LL.M. candidate in Trade Regulation with a concentration in International Trade. He is a Japanese Iranian lawyer who received his LL.B. and LL.M. in Private Law from Shahid Beheshti University (former National University) in Tehran, Iran. He was ranked 1st in his LL.M. class and received a highly prestigious award from the Dean of Shahid Beheshti University. He was ranked 10th in Nationwide Iranian Public Universities Entrance Exam for graduate studies (2002) among more than 10,000 participants and 1st in Nationwide Iranian Public Universities Entrance Exam for undergraduate studies among more than 600,000 participants (1998).
Mr. Sato also received an LL.M. in International Law in December 2005 from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, DC where he was awarded the Grossman Scholarship by Dean of the Washington College of Law, International Law Scholars Program (ILSP) Scholarship and Houtan Scholarship award.
Mr. Sato has extensively worked on issues pertinent to legal reform of the Iranian legal system mainly at the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis). Furthermore, he has experience working on privatization and foreign investment as a researcher in the Legal and Contract department of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization as well as the Legal and Contract Department of National Iranian Steel Company. Before coming to the U.S., he also worked at a small law firm focusing on international contracts.
His book, entitled Concluding of Electronic Contracts with National and International Perspectives, was published in summer 2005 by the High Council of Informatics in Iran.
At NYU School of Law, he is planning to focus on Global Administrative law and the World Trade Organization.
Ms. María Saulino
María Florencia Saulino graduated first in her class from the University of Buenos Aires School of Law, Argentina. She is now a candidate for the LL.M. in General Studies at New York University School of Law. Prior to starting her studies at NYU, she worked for a leading Argentinean law firm. As an associate at this firm she worked almost exclusively in the area of environmental and public law. She also worked as a teacher and research assistant at the Public Law department at the University of Buenos Aires. Her main scholarly interests are in Environmental and Administrative law.
Dr. Andrea Tina
Andrea Tina graduated summa
cum laude from University of Milan-Bicocca Law School in October 1999 and was awarded a fellowship from "Famiglia Legnanese" Foundation as one of the first students in his class. He was subsequently admitted to a Ph.D. in Commercial Law at Luigi Bocconi Commercial University, Milan (2000-2003), receiving a national fellowship from Ministry of Education, University and Research. During his research at Bocconi University Andrea was also invited as a John Olin Program fellow by Prof. J.R. Macey at Cornell University Law School (January-June 2002). He finally received his Ph.D. degree in May 2004, with a dissertation about Directors’ and Officers’ Exemption from Liability.
After having obtained an Assistant Professor of Commercial Law position at University of Milan in 2002, Andrea taught Corporate Law, Securities Law and Law of Independent Authorities (Independent Regulatory Commissions) and Financial Market Regulators classes at University of Milan Law School. He also taught a Corporate Law class at Italian Finance Ministry – Economy and Finance School of Milan and an European Corporate Law class at University of Bologna, Forlì seat.
Andrea was admitted to the Milan Bar in April 2003. He has published several articles on corporate law in Italian law reviews and he recently finished a book on Legal and Business Representations and Warranties in Mergers and Acquisitions (forthcoming).
Since 2003 Andrea is also a member of the Master in Financial Markets committee, University of Milan – Law School and of the European Corporate Governance Institute.
Mr. Gerald Trent
Gerald, who was born in Romania, raised and educated in Germany, and also educated in Australia and the U.S. in an extremely international environment with students from 75 different countries, holds the most prestigious degrees in business, finance, and law (J.D., M.B.A., M.B.L., LL.M.) from the finest universities around the world and five times in a row he received the utmost prestigious award for ‘Being Intellectually Highly Gifted’.
He studied finance at Harvard Business School and New York University Stern School of Business, and law at Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law - where he was appointed Research Associate to Prof. Marcel Kahan, a world-leading expert on Mergers & Acquisitions - and other elite schools in Europe and Australia.
In the U.S., Gerald also received the prestigious honor of being named Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar.
Prior to coming to the United States, he has worked as a Legal Consultant, Financial Advisor, and General Counsel on four different continents: in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.
Currently, he holds the positions of Chief Lawyer and Managing Director of Finance at Troystar Corporation, a New York City based Investment Firm, where he also serves as Member of the Executive Board.
Gerald, who was appointed Professor of Law & Business at the age of 29, speaks six languages: German (native), Romanian (native), English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
Holding the Personal Trainer A-License and being a highly awarded Martial Art Specialist, he is also a great sports enthusiast.
Ms. Yenfen Tzeng
Yenfen Tzeng received her LL.B., magna cum laude, from National Taiwan University, Taiwan, where she received the Presidential Award four times. She then completed an LL.M., also at National Taiwan University, with the distinction of graduating first in her class. During her study, she worked as a research assistant to several professors for different projects, including assisting in drafting the "Amendments to the Company Law." Following her graduation, Ms. Tzeng joined a leading business law firm in Taipei in 2004. As an associate at this firm, she worked extensively in the area of corporate law and capital market transactions. She participated in various cases such as reorganization and settlements of distressed companies, share exchanges involving financial holding companies and corporate finance transactions. Within the LL.M. program in Corporate Law at New York University School of Law, Ms. Tzeng will focus on corporate reorganizations, international business transactions and securities law.
Mr. Fie Xie
Fei Xie graduated from the Law School of Fudan University with a Master of Law Degree majoring in Civil and Commercial Law and East China University of Politics and Law with a Bachelor of Law Degree majoring in Economic Law. Fei is the author of over ten legal articles on reforming PRC company law, banking regulation and financial supervision. He is also the co-author of two law books regarding PRC business law and employment law. From 2000 to 2002, Fei participated in a research project sponsored by Shanghai Municipality on reforming the city's legal system to promote scientific research and technical innovation and worked as one of the core members of the project team. In the last three years, Fei worked as an in-house counsel in Shanghai for a Global Fortune 500 company, where his practice involved advising on PRC employment law, mobile telecommunication regulation, foreign investment, product liability and other business law issues.
Mr. Moran Yemini
Moran Yemini graduated from Tel-Aviv University, Israel, with bachelor degrees in Law (LL.B., 2002) and Communications (B.A., 2001), being cited on the Dean's List of both faculties and completing both degrees magna cum laude. Moran will soon also complete his graduate degree (M.A.) in Political Science from Tel-Aviv University, with a specialization in political communication.
Following his graduation from law school, Moran clerked for the Honorable Tova Strasberg-Cohen at the Israeli Supreme Court and worked as a law clerk at one of Israel's leading law firms, Herzog, Fox & Neeman. Shortly after his admission to the Israeli Bar in 2003 Moran returned to the Supreme Court, to serve as Justice Strasberg-Cohen's Assistant Legal Advisor until her retirement from the bench. Following that period, Moran rejoined Herzog, Fox & Neeman as an associate and continued to work as a member of the firm's Telecommunication and Media, Administrative Law and Litigation teams, until he joined NYU. In addition, Moran worked as a teaching assistant in the courses Law of Contract, Class Actions, Media Institutions and Communication Law. During the last year, he held the position of Adjunct Professor at Sapir Academic College, Israel, where he taught the course Communication Law. Moran is involved in public activities in several NGOs, including the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Movement for Fighting Poverty in Israel. He has recently been awarded a research scholarship from the Israeli Second Authority for Television and Radio, for the purpose of completing comparative research on the law pertaining to political advertising and campaign financing.
Dr. Andrea Zorzi
Andrea Zorzi graduated cum laude at the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1999, with a thesis in Company Law. In 2006 he completed his doctoral course in Business Law at the University of Brescia, Italy, with a dissertation on Dissolution of Companies. For his doctoral course he was awarded a merit-based three-year-long scholarship for tuition and stipend. He has worked as a research assistant to various professors at the University of Bologna and has published several notes and articles in leading Italian business law journals and two essays in miscellaneous volumes.
Mr. Zorzi is an attorney in Venice, Italy, where he has worked since graduation for Forlati Minelli Rizzi, a law firm specializing in bankruptcy and corporate litigation. He has also worked for the Italian Ministry of Economy in an EU-sponsored Twinning Project with the Czech Republic. In 2002 he was awarded the Ottolenghi Prize for the best article written by a young lawyer of the Venice bar.
Academic Year 2005-06
Mr. Theocharis Almpanidis
Theocharis Almpanidis graduated as valedictorian with a grade of “excellent” from the University of Athens Law School. He then completed a LL.M. at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, with the distinction magna cum laude. His thesis was on the Business Judgment Rule under the new German Corporations Act. Mr. Almpanidis was an intern in a law firm in Athens as well as in Commerzbank AG and Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland KGaA in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mr. Jeffrey Bakker
Jeffrey Bakker is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He holds Bachelor's degrees, with distinction, in mathematics, finance and law from the University of Alberta, and is now a candidate for the LL.M. in Corporation Law at New York University School of Law. For the two years prior to starting his studies at NYU, Mr. Bakker worked for a leading Canadian business law firm. As an associate at this firm he worked almost exclusively in the area of securities law where he obtained experience representing both issuers and underwriters in various corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions transactions.
Mr. Leo Borchardt
Leo Borchardt is an LL.M. candidate in Trade Regulation with a concentration in International Trade. He received his Master’s degree in law in September 2003 from the University of Graz School of Law, ranking 2nd in a class of 365, after only 7 of the usual 12.5 semesters of study. Furthermore, he holds a degree in accounting from the same institution. He also studied a semester as an Erasmus Scholar at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, France, dealing with international relations and European affairs. During his last year of legal studies in Graz, Leo concentrated on European law and governance. Besides, i.a. he served as research assistant, extensively advised a member of the Austrian Constitutional Convention, and held the post of President and CEO of a leading Austrian Catholic organization.
Currently he is a doctoral research student at the University of Graz School of Law focusing on transatlantic trade relations. At NYU School of Law Leo will mainly take courses in international economic law.
Ms. Jennifer Brudner
Jennifer Brudner received her B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Toronto, graduating with high distinction and the award of Best Degree from University College. She obtained her J.D. from the University of Toronto Law School, graduating with honours and the prize in Jurisprudence. Her main scholarly interests are in Legal Philosophy and Law and
Literature.
Mr. Alastair Cameron
Alastair Cameron received a first class LL.B. (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in 2002. In keeping with his concentration on constitutional law and public international law, he also completed a B.A. in public policy in 2000.
During his time at Victoria University of Wellington, Mr. Cameron tutored classes in Public Law, Legal Research and Writing, and Administrative Process. He also represented the University and New Zealand at a number of national and international law student negotiating competitions.
After graduating, Mr. Cameron worked for a short time in a small Wellington law firm specialising in public law. From there he took up a job as Advisor to Hon. Marian Hobbs, MP for Wellington Central and New Zealand Minister for the Environment, Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, and Associate Foreign Minister responsible for overseas development assistance. This job principally involved Mr. Cameron assisting the Minister to advance her policy priorities and to manage the associated political issues. He required a sound understanding of executive government and legislative procedures, and needed to work with a wide range of people, including advisors in other ministers' offices, departmental officials, the media, Parliamentary select committee staff and members of Parliament.
Mr. Cameron was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2005, and accepted a place in New York University School of Law's LL.M. program as an Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholar. His study objective is to focus on public international law and comparative constitutional law, combining the two areas by considering the impact of international law and governance on domestic constitutional and administrative arrangements. With a particular focus on environmental law, he also intends to examine how domestic governments can respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by globalization.
Mr. Vincent Carron
Vincent Carron graduated summa cum laude from the University of Fribourg School of Law, Switzerland, in October 1998. In 1998-2000, he worked as a research assistant under the Direction of Prof. Nicolas Michel, currently Under Secretary of the United Nations, and Dr. Evelyne Clerc on a Swiss National Science Foundation project about Public Procurement Remedies. In 2001 he worked as a teaching and research assistant at the Family and Roman Law Department at University of Fribourg. In 2002 he joined Schellenberg Wittmer, a top law firm in Switzerland as a trainee and joined the firm as an associate after his admission to the bar in 2004. His main areas of practice include commercial litigation, contracts, torts, insolvency, bankruptcy and public procurement. Mr. Carron has published in the topics of Family Law, Public procurement and Bankruptcy and is member of several associations, such as Swiss Public Procurement Association and Association for Business Law, Geneva. Mr. Carron also has obtained a professional piano teaching diploma in 1997 at Fribourg Music Academy.
Mr. Colin Grey
Colin Grey received his LL.B. in 2003 from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, graduating with the silver medal and the Dean's Key for excellence in extracurricular activities of an academic nature. Since graduation, he has worked at a major business law firm in Toronto and clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Mr. Grey is interested in immigration and refugee law and legal theory.
Ms. Christina Harris
Christina Harris holds bachelor degrees in law, building and architecture from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she graduated second in her law class. She was the first woman to receive the University Medal in building.
After graduating from law school, Ms. Harris worked as clerk to the Honorable Justice Ronald Sackville of the Federal Court of Australia. Since that time she has worked for Clayton Utz Lawyers, one of the largest law firms in Australia. She is a Senior Associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group of the firm, specializing in product liability law and class actions.
Ms. Nina Khouri
Nina Khouri has a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Scandinavian Studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She graduated in 2003, receiving the Auckland District Law Society Prize for the law student with the best overall academic record. Since then she has practiced as a lawyer specializing in litigation and alternative dispute resolution and tutored in legal philosophy at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law. She has also published two articles in the area of legal philosophy in leading New Zealand law journals. In addition to the Vanderbilt Scholarship she comes to NYU School of Law as a Fulbright Scholar and as a PEO International Peace Fund Scholar. Her particular research interests include alternative dispute resolution, international law and legal philosophy.
Ms. Taotao Ling
Taotao Ling is now studying in the LL.M. program at NYU School of Law. She received her LL.B. degree from Peking University School of Law, and received her Bachelor of Economics degree from Peking University, China Center for Economics Research, Beijing, China. She first worked as a part-time legal consultant at Shearman & Sterling LLP Beijing Office from 2002-2003. She was then selected the first student from Peking University to do an internship in the World Bank Group Headquarters in Washington DC. There she provided research assistance to the Knowledge Management Team of East Asia Region to identify best practices in impact evaluation of Development Policy Advisory Services and wrote synopses and memoranda on the Bank’s Analytical and Advisory Activities (AAA). Since the end of 2003 to 2005, she joined Commerce & Finance Law Offices in Beijing first as a legal consultant and the next year as a licensed PRC lawyer. She participated or lead big projects such as China Construction Bank (CCB)'s reorganization and IPO in Mainland China, Hong Kong and U.S., Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.'s H Shares Offering, and Deutsche Bank's Share Purchase with Beijing City Commercial Bank.
Mr. Piotr Milczarek
Piotr Milczarek is from Warsaw, Poland. After graduating from Warsaw University, he joined the leading Polish corporate law firm and has been a practicing lawyer with a sharp focus on Polish and EU competition laws.
In 2001 Mr. Milczarek was a member of international team of lawyers and economists working on a precedent setting merger control case involving Poland's two leading digital satellite television platforms. The case involved the use of efficiency defense and paved the way for a series of similar mergers across Europe. Following that case Mr. Milczarek co-wrote an extensive policy study for the Polish Competition Office on the admissibility of efficiency defense under Polish merger control rules. Maintaining the relationship with the Office, he later co-drafted two block exemption regulations, and helped write the Office’s guidelines on the notification criteria and procedure applied in merger control.
Mr. Milczarek's interests focus on antitrust policy as a sophisticated nexus of philosophical, economic, political and legal ideas. He received his Master's Degree in Law, summa cum laude, from Warsaw University in 2001, with a thesis focused on axiology of EU competition law. Since then, he has taught History of Political and Legal Ideas at his alma mater. He spent last year as a Visiting Researcher (Fulbright Fellow) at Columbia Law School, finalizing a doctoral dissertation in antitrust theory. Currently, he is in the process of obtaining his Doctor's Degree in Law from Warsaw University.
Ms. Mathilde Pardoux
Mathilde Pardoux graduated with high honors from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne in June 2004 in the top 5% of her class. She obtained a post graduate degree in conflict of laws and international commercial law from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne with high honors in the top 1% of her class the following year. She worked in the United Nations Information Center in Paris and as an in-house lawyer at THALES for a few months.
Mr. Elad Peled
Elad Peled obtained his LL.B., magna cum laude, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2003. He was included in the Dean's Honor List for each of the years of study. In 2000 Elad won the first prize in a lecture contest organized by the Hebrew University Law Faculty within the scope of the Jurisprudence course. During his third year of study Elad worked as a research assistant for Prof. Shimon Shetreet in the area of constitutional law. Additionally, he served as a member of the editorial board of Israel Law Review, the Hebrew University law review in English, and published a case note in one of its volumes. In the subsequent year Elad was a teaching assistant in Jurisprudence course. Following his graduation Elad worked for six months as a law clerk at one of the leading law firms in Israel, and clerked, for additional six months, for Justice Asher D. Grunis at the Israeli Supreme Court. In June 2004 Elad was admitted to the Israeli Bar, and shortly afterwards he became Justice Grunis's senior law clerk, a position held by him until June 2005.
Ms. Lotem Perry
Lotem Perry studied law at Haifa University, Israel, and graduated with the honor of summa cum laude. While attending Haifa University, Ms. Perry was a research assistant of Dr. Shulamit Almog in the areas of Children's Rights and Law & Culture, a teaching assistant in several courses, and a member of the editorial board of the Law and Government in Israel Review. Upon graduation, she became a clerk at one of the largest law firms in Israel, Balter, Guth, Aloni & Co, and later on a clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel for the Honorable Justice Dorit Beinisch. Within the LL.M. Program in General Studies at NYU School of Law, she is focusing on Education Law, especially in multicultural societies.
Ms. Surabhi Ranganathan
Surabhi Ranganathan graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law School of India University Bangalore, where she was placed in the top five ranks in her class. In her five years at the National Law School, Ms. Ranganathan has been a keen mooter, having been part of the first Indian team to win the Asia Pacific Round of the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot Court Competition (Sydney, 2004) and to represent the Asia Pacific Region at the World Finals (Vancouver, 2004). She has also been a finalist at two prestigious national moot court competitions.
Ms. Ranganathan is interested in the areas of International Law, and law and economics, particularly in their application to development-related concerns. She will be pursuing an LL.M. in General Studies at NYU School of Law combining courses from these two disciplines. Her interest in these areas arises from her previous internships and participation in several roundtable conferences and research projects in these two areas.
While publications in some leading Indian journals reflect her interest in academic writing, Ms. Ranganathan is also an avid reader of fiction and has been an enthusiastic participant in several literary and debating activities at the National Law School, including having represented the University as an adjudicator at the world Universities Debating Championships at Singapore in 2004.
Ms. Tali Reisenberger
Tali Reisenberger graduated Cum Laude, with distinction with Law and Hebrew, in the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she read her B.A. and LL.B. Throughout her studies she was placed on the Dean’s merit list, and was awarded over 10 academic prizes and 8 class medals. At law school she chaired a 120-member student society, which focused on teaching fundamental human rights and promoting basic legal education in over 25 community groups. In 2004 she joined the Nobel Peace prize nominated Treatment Action Campaign, where she initiated the Paralegal Training Program, in order to make legal advice more accessible to people who have had no access to it previously. This program saw trained law students visiting community centres and assisting individuals in their struggle to receive Social Assistance Grants and Anti-Retroviral medication. For her community leadership she was presented with the Award for most Outstanding Student Leader in a Student Organisation in 2004. Ms. Reisenberger has also worked as a Research Assistant to several professors, a Legal Writing Consultant, and since graduating, has been working in the Financing department at the London office of Slaughter and May.
Mr. Sanjay Wavde
Sanjay Wavde received his undergraduate law degree in May 2003, from the University of Sydney, Australia, where he graduated with first class honours and finished third in his graduating year. He is admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, and for the last three years has been practising taxation law in the Sydney office of the Australian based international law firm, Blake Dawson Waldron. His practice involved advising on all aspects of Australian corporate and international taxation, with a particular focus on corporate structuring, cross-border structured finance and financial products. At NYU School of Law, Sanjay will be studying for a LL.M. in Taxation, with an emphasis on U.S. corporate and international taxation, to complement his Australian experience. During the LL.M. he is also taking the opportunity to explore his interest in conflict of laws and antitrust.
Ms. An Winters
An Winters graduated magna cum laude from the Catholic University of Leuven in July 2005. During her five year period of study, she had the opportunity to study one year abroad at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne where she focused on European law. As a consequence of her participation in the European Law Moot Court Competition, she got acquainted with NYU School of Law, where the 2005 Regional Final was organized. Her group became the second best team. After finishing her LL.M. in General Studies at NYU School of Law, her intention is to work for either an international organization or an international law firm.
Ms. Nourit Zimerman
Nourit Zimerman received a Bachelor Degree in Law and the Humanities, magna cum laude, from the Hebrew University, Israel, in 2003. While attending Hebrew University Ms. Zimerman was involved in human rights activities in several NGOs, including the Association for Civil Rights. She worked in Tel Aviv University Center of Clinical Studies, as a program manager for the Street Law program in which law students teach law to at-risk youth. After graduating she became a clerk for Justice Ayala Procaccia of the Israeli Supreme Court. After her admission to the Israeli Bar, she continued working in the Supreme Court as Justice Procaccia's legal assistant, until she joined NYU School of Law. Ms. Zimerman is a Fulbright Scholar.