NYU Legal Changemakers Incubator
Program Overview
NYU School of Law’s Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship piloted a new program for the 2025–2026 academic year: the Legal Changemakers Incubator.
This initiative was designed to support a select cohort of LLM students as they undertook legal projects that address timely societal/environmental issues in sustainable development, impact investing, or social entrepreneurship – e.g., proposed reforms or analyses of issues (e.g., access to funding) in global health (e.g., vaccines), food security, education, conservation, or infrastructure development. The projects were developed by teams of LLM students in partnership with seasoned legal professionals who served as mentors throughout the academic year.
2025-2026 Changemakers
- SheLeads Circles
Students:
- Sonal Rawat LLM '26
- Natalia Reinicke LLM '26
Mentors:
- Ritu Tariyal
- Cristina Perez
- Aligning Climate Policy with Investor Protection in International Investment Agreements and Investor State Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
Students:
- Xu Beijia LLM '26
- Siah Bing Ze LLM '26
- Yu Chun-Liang LLM '26
Mentors:
- Meti Zegeye
- Stephanie Altman
- Blockchain-Enhanced Leveraging of MSMEs' Intangible Assets
Students:
- Li Ziyun LLM '26
- Liu Yuhe LLM '26
- Lu Jing LLM '26
- Wu Keqi LLM '26
Mentors:
- Cristina Perez
- Ian Robertson
- Mark Hyland
- Jim McCurley
What Students Achieved Through Changemakers
- Worked on a project that is meaningful and personally relevant
- Developed expertise in a specialized area of law with practical global impact
- Built connections with seasoned legal professionals, the Grunin Center community, and the broader NYU Law community
- Created a deliverable to implement in home jurisdiction