LLM

Georgia Law LL.M. students visit U.S. Court of Appeals for 11th Circuit and Baker Donelson law firm in Atlanta

University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) candidates participated this month in a professional development trip to Atlanta, where they observed judicial proceedings and received legal briefings.

The first stop was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (above), where the students observed oral arguments in two cases. The group then met with Eleventh Circuit Judge Julie E. Carnes, at Georgia Law alumna. In addition to touring her chambers, they learned about the rich history of the Elbert Parr Tuttle Federal Courthouse, including the judge’s personal connection with the building: her father worked there when the building housed a post office, before he himself became an attorney and judge.  She also spoke about her career path, and answered questions from the students. 

The next stop was the Atlanta office of the Baker Donelson law firm. There, students had lunch and listened to presentations from a panel of  attorneys – among them Georgia Law alumni Maximilian Hans-Walter Werner Oehlschlaegel (LL.M. 2021) and Emmanuel Kyei (LL.M. 2020, J.D. 2022), both of whom practice corporate law.  Other lawyers on the panel included Gary A. Barnes, Sebastian Meis, Robert N. Johnson, Clint Crosby, Vivien F. Peaden, and Felix Faerber. Discussions ranged from the nature of various practice areas to ways to prepare for law firm practice. 

This year’s LL.M. class is profiled here. More information on the Georgia Law LL.M. curriculum, which is administered by our Dean Rusk International Law Center, is available here.

Welcoming newest class of Master of Laws (LL.M.) students to Georgia Law

With the Fall 2022 semester in full swing, we at the Dean Rusk International Law Center are proud to welcome another class of talented lawyers, now studying for our University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree.

The group of 23 hail from 15 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, India, Iran, Nigeria, Panama, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Among them are a judge and lawyers specializing in a wide range of fields, including corporate transactional law, employment law, international trade, arbitration, antitrust law, and information privacy.

Some of them are pictured above, standing on the steps of Dean Rusk Hall. Left to right, they are: top row, Vladyslav Rudzinskyi, John Omotunde, Jasur Ziyautdinov, Abdulganiyu Mustapha; middle row, Tatyana Popovkina, Ngoc Quynh Vu, Anastasia Popkova, Alexandra Lampe, Khatia Zukhubaia, Rawdha Hidri, Sarthak Goel; and bottom, Saideh Ghasemi Moghadam, Manaswini Reddy Mogiligundla, Gloria Correa, Oleksandra Iordanova, Olha Kaliuzhna, Rocío Buosi, Jeremias Brusau, Mahmoud Mohamed, and Binh Nguyen. LL.M. students not pictured are Divine Atsegbua, Alexandre Laranjeira, and Abdullah Talha Tosun.

This Class of 2023 joins a tradition that began at the University of Georgia School of Law in the early 1970s, when a Belgian lawyer became the first foreign-trained practitioner to earn a Georgia Law LL.M. degree. In the ensuing four decades, the law school and its Dean Rusk International Law Center have produced nearly 600 LL.M. graduates, with ties to nearly 100 countries and every continent in the world.

Side by side with J.D. candidates, LL.M.s follow a flexible curriculum tailored to their own career goals – goals that may include preparation to sit for a U.S. bar examination, or pursuit of a concentration affording advancement in their home country’s legal profession or academic institutions.

The application for the LL.M. Class of 2024 is now open; for information or to apply for LL.M. studies, see here.

Georgia Law enters partnership with India’s Jindal Global Law School

The University of Georgia School of Law has just signed an agreement launching a partnership, to be administered by our Dean Rusk International Law Center, with the O.P. Jindal Global (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University) Law School in Sonipat, India.

Partnership activities are set to begin with a semester-long, bilateral student exchange in Fall 2023. To be added over time are faculty exchanges, collaborative research programs, seminars and workshops, and outreach initiatives.

Also in the planning stages are several dual-degree offerings for Jindal Global Law School students, including a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree or a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree, obtained through study at Georgia Law, in addition to degrees earned in India.

Launched in 2009, O.P. Jindal Global University is a nonprofit global university established by the government of the Indian State of Haryana, and recognized by India’s University Grants Commission. The QS World University Rankings named it India’s top private university the last three years in a row

The new partnership joins others already under way here at Georgia Law, with institutions including Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel, and KU Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium.

Welcoming newest class of Master of Laws (LL.M.) students to Georgia Law

With the Fall 2021 semester in full swing, we at the Dean Rusk International Law Center are proud to welcome another class of talented lawyers, now studying for our University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree.

The group of 16 hail from 12 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Germany, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Among them are judges, government attorneys, public interest lawyers, corporate attorneys, and seasoned litigators. Some of them are pictured above; from left, Franzisca Heinze, Julieta Sánchez Flor, Veronika Grubenko, Supreme Unukegwo, Agustina Figueroa Imfeld, and Ciro Pazmino.

This Class of 2022 joins a tradition that began at the University of Georgia School of Law in the early 1970s, when a Belgian lawyer became the first foreign-trained practitioner to earn a Georgia Law LL.M. degree. In the ensuing four decades, the law school and its Dean Rusk International Law Center have produced nearly 600 LL.M. graduates, with ties to nearly 100 countries and every continent in the world.

Side by side with J.D. candidates, LL.M.s follow a flexible curriculum tailored to their own career goals – goals that may include preparation to sit for a U.S. bar examination, or pursuit of a concentration affording advancement in their home country’s legal profession or academic institutions.

The application for the LL.M. Class of 2023 is now open; for information or to apply for LL.M. studies, see here.

Prospective LLM students in Latin America, Europe: Learn about Georgia Law at EducationUSA virtual tours

In the coming weeks, the University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rusk International Law Center will be reaching out to law students and lawyers in Latin America and Europe who are interested in pursuing a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree.

Dr. Laura Kagel, the Center’s Associate Director for International Professional Education, will participate in the EducationUSA LL.M. Info Webinar Series in the Americas, sponsored by EducationUSA, a State Department-supported global network, at 6 p.m. EDT this Monday, October 26. Prospective applicants from Latin America can register here.

Kagel also will share an overview of Georgia Law’s LL.M. curriculum, admissions process, and scholarship funding at the 2020 Education USA European LL.M. Virtual Tour. Registration for the virtual LL.M. fairs takes place at the European LL.M. Virtual Tour website. The dates and times for specific countries and regions are below:

  • Germany and Norway: 17:00 CET, November 2
  • Turkey and Hungary: 16:30-19:00 CET, November 10
  • Croatia, Italy and Spain: 18:00-20:30 CET, November 11
  • Open Session (Europe & Eurasia): 18:00-20:00 CET, November 12

The University of Georgia School of Law LL.M. application is available online at LSAC.

For more information about the Georgia Law LL.M. curriculum, interested graduates may contact Dr. Kagel at LLM@uga.edu.

LLM alumna meets prospective students in Argentina

Last week our alumna Martina Lourdes Rojo (LLM ’04), a law professor in the faculty of judicial sciences at the Universidad del Salvador in Argentina, met with prospective LLM students in Buenos Aires.

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EducationUSA is the US Department of State’s global network of educational advising centers that promotes the more than 4,700 accredited U.S. colleges and universities. Find the nearest advising center.

Part of a university fair sponsored by Education USA, an arm of the U.S. Department of State, the day offered an opportunity discuss the career benefits and special advantages of earning the Master of Law, or LL.M., degree at Georgia Law.

Students who missed it should feel free to email LLM@uga.edu to hear more about the flexible degree program. We are currently accepting applications and look forward to hearing from you!

 

Center’s Laura Kagel meets with prospective LLMs in Mexico

portada_esLaw students in Guadalajara, Mexico will have the opportunity to talk with a Dean Rusk International Law Center staffer about pursuing a degree at here at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Laura Tate Kagel, the Center’s Associate Director of International Professional Education, will give a presentation for students this evening, Friday, October 18, at 7:00 p.m. about the LL.M. degree at the University of Georgia.

She has spent the day at the Expo CEEAD (Centro de Estudios sobre la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje del Derecho), speaking with prospective students about the career benefits and special advantages of earning the Master of Law, or LL.M., degree at Georgia Law. (See prior posts about our current LL.M. students, as well as our hundreds of LL.M. alums, here.)

If you’d like to learn more about the LL.M. degree, please email LLM@uga.edu. EXPO CEEAD information is available here.

Introducing our LL.M. Class of 2020

LLMs 2019-20_forweb

From left, top row:  Arif Iqbal; Esra Aydinoz; Emmanuel Kyei; Gordon Oduor; Kingsley Opia-Enwemuche; Jessica Atatigho; Romario Lee; Cindy Hawkins Rada. Bottom row: Florence Nalukwago; Tahmineh Madani; Rayan Yassin; Hiance Castro; Jie Zhang; Mahbub Islam; Shiyang Liu; Maisha Tahsin. Not pictured: Ashish Joshi, Amir Tanhaei

We are proud to introduce the University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) Class of 2020.

The group of 18 includes lawyers from 14 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including: Bangladesh, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey, and Uganda.

They join a tradition that began at the University of Georgia School of Law in the early 1970s, when a Belgian lawyer became the first foreign-trained practitioner to earn a Georgia Law LL.M. degree. In the ensuing four decades, the law school and its Dean Rusk International Law Center have produced over 500 LL.M. graduates, with ties to 75 countries and every continent in the world.

Side by side with J.D. candidates, LL.M.s follow a flexible curriculum tailored to their own career goals – goals that may include preparation to sit for a U.S. bar examination, or pursuit of a concentration affording advancement in their home country’s legal profession or academic institutions.

The application for the LL.M. class of 2021 is now open; for information or to apply for LL.M. studies, see here.

Update from Nigeria: attorney Chukwudi Ofili, LLM Class of 2018, reflects on his post-graduation year

This is one in a series of posts by University of Georgia School of Law LLM students, writing on their participation in our LLM degree and about their post-graduate experiences. Author of this post is alumnus Chukwudi Ofili, a member of the Class of 2018.

Chudi photoIt has been an eventful year for me. In January 2018, during my last semester at the University of Georgia, I began a corporate in-house counsel externship – an experiential learning opportunity open to qualified Georgia Law LLM students – at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta There, I had the opportunity to work on issues such as cybersecurity, imports, and Office of Foreign Assets Control compliance.

Following graduation, I took the New York bar examination in July.  When I learned that I had passed, I was in London, participating in the highly selective International Lawyers For Africa (ILFA) 2018 Flagship Secondment Programme (IFSP), which each year places lawyers from various African jurisdictions at highly reputed international law firms and corporations for a period of three months. I was placed with Trinity International LLP, a niche project and corporate finance firm focusing on energy, infrastructure, resources, and industry. During my secondment, I worked on some international transactions, with focus on financing power and infrastructure projects across the African continent.

Chudi speechIFSP was an enriching and exciting experience. It included training programs and networking events that introduced the participants to some of the brightest minds in the international legal market, in diverse practice areas. In particular, the networking opportunities were immense and may not be replicated in our lives on such a scale. I was pleased to selected to deliver the valedictory address for the London IFSP cohort at the ILFA Gala Night, which marked the end of the program.

I am now happy to be back in Nigeria at Bloomfield Law Practice, in the Corporate, Securities, and Finance practice group. I was recently interviewed for an article in THISDAY Newspaper Nigeria Legal Personality of the Week. In the interview, I expressed my hopes for good prospects in 2019. The year is already off to a good start: I’ve just completed a co-authored article,  Recognition and Enforcement of Cross-Border Insolvency; Nigeria in Perspective.

I came to Georgia Law after working with my firm, Bloomfield Law Practice, having graduated with first-class honors from Babcock University in Nigeria. At Georgia Law, I was the recipient of a prestigious graduate research assistantship, and participated in the Business Law Society.

I will always recommend the Georgia Law LLM curriculum, as it is tailored to each student’s career goals; for example, preparing to sit for a U.S. bar exam, or pursuing a concentration. Plus, students come to find out that Athens (which is just about an hour away from Atlanta) is a lovely place for studies, with friendly people.

Honored again to be honored for excellence in international law

Delighted to share the news that the just-released 2020 US News rankings place our international law curriculum here at the University of Georgia School of Law at No. 19 in the United States.

By our count, this marks the 5th time in recent years we’ve been among the top 20 or so US law schools for international law.

The achievement is due in no small part to the enthusiastic support and hard work of everyone affiliated with Georgia Law’s 40-plus-year-old Dean Rusk International Law Center. As chronicled at this Exchange of Notes blog and our Center website, these include:

► Superb members of the law faculty, including: Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, an international arbitration expert; our Center’s Faculty Co-Directors and Director, respectively, Professors Diane Marie Amann, an expert in security governance fields including the laws of war and international criminal justice, Harlan G. Cohen, an expert in global governance and foreign relations law, and and Kathleen A. Doty, a specialist in arms control and the global Women, Peace & Security agenda; Professors Christopher M. Bruner, a comparative corporate governance scholar, Anne Burnett, foreign and international law librarian, Jason A. Cade, an immigration expert, Melissa J. Durkee, whose expertise includes international and transnational law, Lori A. Ringhand, a scholar of comparative constitutional law, current U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Scholar at the University of Aberdeen, and recent visitor to Israel’s Bar-Ilan University as part of our faculty exchange there, Kent Barnett, Sonja West, and Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, who have presented overseas on administrative law, media law, and civil procedure, respectively, Walter Hellerstein, a world-renowned tax specialist, Nathan S. Chapman, a scholar of due process and extraterritoriality Michael L. Wells, a European Union scholar;

► Talented students pursuing JD, MSL, and LLM degrees, including: the dozen or so who work with us as Dean Rusk International Law Center Student Ambassadors; the staffers and editors of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law who produce one of the country’s oldest student journals, and who led our March 2018 conference, “The International Criminal Court & the Community of Nations”; the advocates on our Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court teams; participants in our full-semester NATO Externship in Belgium and in our Global Externships and Global Governance Summer School; and the student leaders of our International Law Society;

► Superb Center staff like Laura Tate Kagel, Amanda J. Shaw, Mandy Dixon, and Christian Lee;

► Visiting scholars like Professor Yanying Zhang of China’s Shandong University, Dr. SeongEun Kim of Korea’s Konkuk University, and Jiang Xi of China’s Jilin University of Finance and Economics;

► Academics, practitioners, and policymakers, from all over the world, who have contributed to our events – conferences and lectures, as well as our International Law Colloquium and Consular Series;

► Graduates who excel as partners in international commercial law firms, as heads of public law entities like the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, as in-house counsel at leading multinational enterprises, and as diplomats and public servants – and who give back through mentoring and other support;

► Our valued partnerships, with Georgia Law student organizations; with institutions like the Leuven Centre for Global Governance at Belgium’s University of Leuven; with organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross, the American Society of International Law, the American Branch of the International Law Association, Global Atlanta, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, the Atlanta International Arbitration Society, and the Planethood Foundation; with professional groups including the Georgia Asian and Pacific American Bar Association and the Vietnamese American Bar Association; with university units like the School of Public & International Affairs, the Department of Comparative Literature, the African Studies Institute, the Institute for Native American Studies, the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Institute, and the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts.

With thanks to all, we look forward to continue strengthening our initiatives in international, comparative, transnational, and foreign relations law – not least, in the preparation of Georgia Law students to practice in our 21st C. globalized legal profession.