Master of Laws

Georgia Law LL.M. student Michael Faleye receives scholarship from Education African Scholars Global Connect

University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) student Michael Faleye was selected as a recipient of the Personal Travel Allowance Scholarship from Education African Scholars Global Connect. This organization is dedicated to supporting African students pursuing higher education abroad and to impact their home and host communities. They provide resources and support to help students secure admission and scholarships, and they encourage students to use their education and skills to contribute to the development and nation-building efforts of their home countries.

Below is Education African Scholars Global Connect’s vision statement:

Our vision is to become the leading resource for African youths seeking higher education abroad and to inspire a new generation of leaders and change-makers in Africa. We believe that investing in the education and development of African youths is the key to a brighter future for the continent, and we are dedicated to helping students achieve their full potential and make a lasting impact on their communities and nations.

Michael, who is from Nigeria, earned his law degree with honors at the University of Lagos and completed his legal training at the Nigerian Law School. As a student, he was actively involved in student parliamentary politics as senate president of the Law Students Society. After being called to the Nigerian bar in 2019, he began his legal career in Lagos at Wole Olanipekun & Co., a leading litigation law firm, and then practiced at Fides and Fiducia LP, a full-service law firm, from which he was placed on secondment to Eroton Exploration and Production Company Ltd/Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Ltd. In 2022, he transitioned to an in-house position with one of Africa’s premier financial institutions, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc. Michael’s expertise encompasses commercial law, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) and holds certifications in EU privacy law (GDPR) compliance and Intellectual Property “Copyright X” from Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center. His goal is to work in the areas of business law that revolve around mergers & acquisitions, venture capital, and privacy law.

The Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at the University of Georgia School of Law offers foreign law graduates opportunities to learn about the U.S. legal system, deepen knowledge of an area of specialization, and explore new legal interests at one of the nation’s top law schools. The ten-month program provides individualized support through the Dean Rusk International Law Center and prepares international students for a globalized legal market. Applications are open now for the class of 2026. More information about applying to the program can be found here.

Georgia Law LL.M. student completes senator term with 36th Student Government Association

University of Georgia School of Law LL.M. student Varinia Mina Bogliotti recently completed her term as a Senator for the 36th Student Government Association Administration. Bogliotti represented the law school throughout the academic year alongside undergraduate and graduate students from UGA’s 18 colleges and schools.

As an SGA senator, Bogliotti co-sponsored several proclamations and co-authored a bill creating a new Senate committee focusing on evolving and time-specific matters in each administration.

Reflecting on her year-long term as a Senator, Bogliotti stated:

It was an enriching experience that has significantly impacted my life and broadened my perspective. The opportunity to work with a diverse team of senators was invaluable. The diversity brought a wealth of ideas and skills to the table, which greatly enhanced the goals of the Senate. The senators’ resilience, warmth, and optimism were truly inspiring, as was the tangible impact of our work.

For more information about the LL.M. program and to apply, please visit our website.

Georgia Law LL.M. students place second overall at 11th International Commercial and Investment Arbitration Moot

Members of the University of Georgia School of Law LL.M. Class of 2024 earned first runner up at the 11th International Commercial & Investment Arbitration Moot Competition hosted by American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. this month.

Forming the team at the competition were the three students: Cornelius Bulanov, Agostina Calamari, and Savelii Elizarov. Coaching the team was 2L Gloria María Correa, who completed her LL.M. in 2023 and is now in the J.D. program, as well as Georgia Law’s Dean, Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, whose specialty is international arbitration. They were accompanied to the competition by Mandy Dixon, the International Professional Education Manager at the Dean Rusk International Law Center.

Each team participated in two rounds the first day, and the Georgia Law team advanced to the semifinals on the second day. The semifinals consisted of 6 teams, and Georgia Law was one of two that advanced to the final round. In the final round, they faced the University of Pittsburgh and finished as the runners up. 

In reflecting on the biggest takeaway from the experience, Elizarov stated:

I believe that my participation in this competition provided me with invaluable experience in international arbitration. Of course, gaining knowledge and improving public speaking skills were significant takeaways, it was also crucially important to meet new people, including professionals with many years of experience in this field, as well as fellow students who are just beginning their journey in this area.

Bulanov discussed their continuation of Georgia Law’s excellence in advocacy teams:

It has been an incredible journey from a totally inexperienced moot team to a proud finalist. Furthermore, it was a very special feeling to be able to represent the law school in a competition. We are constantly informed about the great successes that the Georgia Law moot teams regularly celebrate. This was a special motivation to also successfully complete the competition. The fact that it worked out this way makes me proud.

Calamari reflected on the experience in terms of it being an opportunity to learn more about international arbitration:

[W]e had the chance to spend three days with some of the most renowned professionals in international commercial arbitration. We performed in front of them and received their feedback while measuring us against LL.M. peers from other universities. It was such a rewarding experience that also allowed me to experience and understand another niche for international lawyers here in the U.S. 

Georgia Law’s Master of Laws (LL.M.) curriculum offers U.S. legal education to lawyers trained overseas. For more information about the curriculum, which is administered by the law school’s Dean Rusk International Law Center, is available here.

Center director Quinn featured in Global Atlanta article

Dean Rusk International Law Center director Sarah Quinn was recently featured in Global Atlanta regarding her new leadership position at the University of Georgia School of Law. The article titled “New Dean Rusk Center Director: How UGA Prepares Georgia’s Future International Lawyers” was written by Leigh Villegas.

In the article, Quinn discusses the Center’s focus on providing Georgia Law students with opportunities to globalize their legal education. She highlights the Center’s student-facing programming, including Global Governance Summer School, Global Externships Overseas, the NATO Externship, and semester-long exchanges with institutional partner O.P. Jindal Global University’s Jindal Global Law School. Explaining how the Center encourages all J.D. students to consider participating in these programs, Quinn states:

“We underscore to our students just how globalized the practice of law is— even [students] aspiring to work domestically can benefit from taking an international law course or gaining work experience abroad.”

Quinn provides information about the Center’s initiatives for foreign-educated law students and professionals, ranging from the 10-month Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree to the Visiting Researcher initiative. She notes that the Center’s events throughout the academic year, including the annual Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law conference, offer opportunities for participation, particularly from alumni/ae and from interested professionals.

The article can be accessed in its entirety here. Global Atlanta is one of the Center’s institutional partners.

Quinn was named the permanent director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center after leading the unit for seven months on an interim basis. Quinn, who joined the School of Law in 2019, previously served as the associate director for global practice preparation. She was instrumental in developing the school’s partnership with India’s Jindal Global University, establishing the Graduate Certificate in International Law and transitioning the Global Governance Summer School into a credit-bearing program. Prior to joining the law school, Quinn worked with the UGA Office of Global Engagement and the U.S. Peace Corps in addition to serving as a director for the American School Language Institute in Morocco. She earned her B.A., B.F.A. and M.I.P. from UGA and her ED.M. from Harvard University.

LL.M. student N’Guessan Kouame contributes to World Bank report

University of Georgia School of Law LL.M. student, N’guessan “Clément” Kouame, contributed to the most recent World Bank Report for Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) released on March 2. He served as a panelist contributor for Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, reviewing the legal framework and landscape of the country regarding the improvement of women’s rights and women’s empowerment.

Women, Business and the Law (WBL) is a World Bank Group project collecting data on the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity. Since 2009, WBL has been enhancing the study of gender equality and informing discussions on improving women’s economic opportunities and empowerment. This is the second year in a row that Kouame will contribute to the WBL’s annual report. He provides sources, laws, and regulations to corroborate his answers and make recommendations and comments.

From the report’s overview:

Women, Business and the Law 2024 is the tenth in a series of annual studies measuring the enabling environment for women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies.

This edition of the report updates the Women, Business and the Law 1.0 index of eight indicators, structured around women’s interactions with the law as they begin, progress through, and end their careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

Women, Business and the Law 2.0 sets a new frontier for measuring the environment for women’s economic inclusion across three pillars: legal frameworks, measuring laws; supportive frameworks, measuring policy mechanisms to implement laws; expert opinions, shedding light on experts’ perception of women’s outcomes.

Women, Business and the Law 2.0 also introduces two new indicators: Safety, measuring frameworks addressing violence against women, and Childcare, measuring frameworks for the availability, affordability and quality of childcare.

Data in Women, Business and the Law 2024 are current as of October 1, 2023. By examining laws and policy mechanisms affecting the economic decisions women make as they go through different stages of their working lives, as well as the opinions of experts on the legal environment for women’s economic inclusion, Women, Business and the Law makes a contribution to policy discussions about the state of women’s economic opportunities.

American Branch of the International Law Association shares reflections of Georgia Law LL.M. student Bohdan Krivuts

University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) student Bohdan Krivuts was recently featured in the American Branch of the International Law Association‘s blog. Krivuts, who served as one of ABILA’s Student Ambassadors for their 2023 International Law Weekend (ILW), writes about the panel discussion, “Global AI Regulation (Mis)Alignment Challenge.”

Moderated by Thomas Streinz and featuring panelists Adele Barzelay, Nathalie Smuha, and Yirong Sun, the panel addressed Artificial Intelligence, specifically the challenges and importance of regulatory schemes that address the risks associated with AI. 

As stated by Krivuts:

“…the uncontrolled usage of AI technologies poses numerous risks to users, governments, and society at large. However, when subjected to appropriate regulations, the use of AI may be beneficial. In today’s world, we can observe how AI technologies have already permeated various aspects of our lives, much like the invention of the internet reshaped the course of human progress decades ago. Therefore, to ensure the effective, and more importantly, safe utilization of AI technologies, international organizations and foreign nations should collaborate in the development of comprehensive AI regulations.”

Krivuts attended ABILA’s ILW along with 7 other Georgia Law students through the support of Louis B. Sohn Professional Development stipends, detailed in a prior post (here). Krivuts’ full blog post can be accessed here. 

Georgia Law LL.M. Students Take Professional Development Trip

Earlier this month, the University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) class of 2025 traveled to Atlanta for a professional development trip organized by the Dean Rusk International Law Center’s director of international professional education, Dr. Laura Tate Kagel, and Mandy Dixon, international professional education manager.

The students began their day by visiting the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, where they observed a sentencing hearing. They were hosted by the Honorable Leigh Martin May (J.D., ’98), who answered questions about the hearing, the federal judiciary, and her career path. 

The group of foreign lawyers then visited the law offices of Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP, where over lunch they heard about a variety of practice areas. Teri Simmons (J.D., ’89), a partner and chair of the firm’s International Immigration & Global Mobility practice and an adjunct professor of law at UGA, and her team members Matt Ohm (LL.M., ’14) and Dorothea Hockel, discussed the role of lawyers in helping foreign businesses bring their operations to the U.S. Glenn Hendrix a partner in AGG’s Healthcare Group, familiarized the visiting foreign lawyers with international arbitration practice and related the origins of Atlanta’s arbitration center, AtlAS. Jeffery Y. Lewis (J.D., ’82), discussed his work as a partner in AGG’s Litigation Practice and contrasted it with international arbitration. And Michael Burke, a partner in the Corporate and Finance Practice, shared his thoughts about issues facing lawyers in the international corporate arena.

Professional development trips are among many opportunities offered to Georgia Law LL.M. students to foster career connections and gain insight into potential career paths. 

To read about one of our past professional development trips for LL.M. students, click here (2019). 

To learn more about the LL.M. program, click here.

Dixon named International Professional Education Manager at the Dean Rusk International Law Center

Mandy Dixon is the new International Professional Education Manager at the University of Georgia School of Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center. She assumed the new position on November 20.

Since November 2016, Dixon has served as the Center’s International Professional Education Assistant. Her portfolio included: processing and preparing incoming applications for the Master of Laws (LL.M.) program, assisting incoming international students with university requirements, coordinating the logistics for both the Visiting Research Scholars (VRS) and international judicial trainings initiatives, and assisting with event planning at the Center (including conferences, speakers, and trainings).

As International Professional Education Manager, Dixon will serve as the lead of the International Professional Education (IPE) portfolio. Specifically, she will now manage the recruitment and admissions process for the LL.M. program and will provide oversight for the VRS and international judicial trainings initiatives.

Before joining the Center, Dixon worked for nine years at Mozley Finlayson & Loggins, LLP in Atlanta as a Human Resources and Bookkeeping Assistant. She also worked as a Paralegal and Legal Assistant at Warshauer Thornton & Easom, P.C., and Lokey, Mobley and Doyle, Attorneys at Law, respectively. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of the Redcoat Marching Band for four years. In her free time, Dixon enjoys playing the bluegrass banjo, learning about history, and engaging in genealogical research.

Eduardo Conghos (LL.M., ’98), speaks about Argentinian environmental law at UGA Law

Director of GreenCo SA and National University of the South professor Eduardo Conghos (LL.M., ’98) spoke to students at the University of Georgia School of Law last week about environmental law in Argentina and the effects of “constitutional greening” in Latin America. The conversation was moderated by Adam D. Orford, Assistant Professor of Law.

Conghos provided students with historic context for environmental legal developments in Latin America, tracing the global period of “constitutional greening” that stretched from the 1970s through the 90s. Over these two decades, 14 of the 20 countries in Latin America encoded environmental considerations and protections into law. Some common characteristics included protection of natural resources, wildlife, and protected natural areas; a right to the environment; and a right to public participation in environmental processes. Despite these strong constitutional protections for the environment, Conghos noted that the lack of statutory laws created tension between judicial rulings in favor of environmental protection and consistent implementation and oversight of environmental regulations. He used the 2007 Argentinian Supreme Court decision, Mendoza, Beatriz Silvia et al. v. National Government et al. about damages (damages derived from the environmental pollution of the Matanza Riachuelo River) and the rulings that followed it to illustrate this conflict. Students asked Conghos about the reality of the private sector being able to adapt to new environmental regulations and whether arbitration would be the appropriate way to address some of these issues.

Conghos is an environmental lawyer, consultant, and professor based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is currently the Director of GreenCo S.A., an environmental consulting business that provides services to both public and private institutions. Conghos is also professor at the National University of the South in Buenos Aires, where he has worked in several faculty positions since 1999. His specialties include environmental legislation and environmental training, skills that he has honed over several decades of experience in both the public and private sectors in Argentina. Dr. Conghos received his LL.M. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1998, as well as postgraduate degrees from the University of Salamanca, the National University of the South, the University of San Andres, and Buenos Aires University.

Alexander Campbell King Law Library hosts annual gathering for international students

Last Friday, international students at UGA Law gathered for an annual reception hosted by the Alexander Campbell King Law Library. International students in the J.D. program, Master of Laws (LL.M.) students, and exchange students from O.P. Jindal Global University Law School (JGLS) were invited to this social gathering to meet with each other and Law Library staff. This year, several LL.M. alumni/ae were in attendance, in addition to staff from the Dean Rusk International Law Center, the Center’s two Visiting Research Scholars, members of the Center’s Faculty Committee, and law faculty who teach classes for LL.M. students.

This event began in 2018 when Access Services Manager Marie Mize and Access Services Associate Szilvia Somodi proposed that the Law Library host a reception for the LL.M. students in order to introduce them to the law library staff and to talk about the library’s services. They and Foreign & International Law Librarian Anne Burnett planned the reception, which was first held September 11, 2018.

Over the years, this event has evolved in response to both students’ needs external circumstances. The event date was adjusted to accommodate the acculturative stress patterns of international students, who, Law Library staff learned, tend to experience homesickness around this time of the year. During the 2020-21 academic year, the Law Library held two virtual receptions in the fall and spring semesters to build community despite not being able to gather in person. In lieu of catered refreshments, Somodi and Mize assembled goodie bags that were made available for pickup in the Law Library for the week surrounding the virtual events.

Beginning in 2022, the Law Library expanded the event to include all international students in the J.D. program and Visiting Research Scholars. This year, the first two exchange students from UGA Law’s partnership with JGLS joined, in addition to several LL.M. alumni/ae. Somodi and Mize continue to be crucial to the planning and execution of the event, with the broader support of the library’s Student Engagement Team.

This event shines a spotlight on the relationship between the Law Library and UGA Law’s community of international students, emphasizing that they are welcome and encouraged to use the library’s facilities and services— and that the Law Library staff is glad they are here.