Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholars
Academic Year 2009-2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Academic Year 2008-2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sonja Pelikan
forthcoming
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Academic Year 2007-2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Academic Year 2006-2007
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 2005-2006
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.