professional development

Celebrating grads & another great year

Urvashi Jain, Chanel Chauvet, and Alessandra Cunha enjoy refreshments while Winston, our cookie-jar-bulldog mascot, looks on

Just before University of Georgia School of Law students entered the Spring 2017 exam period, we at the law school’s Dean Rusk International Law Center took a moment to thank and congratulate the many students with whom we work.

As listed below, nearly 50 of them will earn JD or LLM  degrees later this month. We were delighted to celebrate their achievements.

The reception also recognized our Center Fellow and our many Student Ambassadors. Members of the 1L, 2L, 3L, and LLM classes, they assist with administrative duties, events, and research. Indeed, they act as true ambassadors by spreading the word about Center’s activities throughout the year.

Graduating Student Ambassador Alessandro Raimondo receives Center mug from Associate Dean Diane Marie Amann

Also recognized were the many students who have taken part in initiatives like the Global Externship, summer study abroad, the Legal Spanish Study Group, Southeast Model African Union, Louis B. Sohn Professional Development fellowships, Atlanta International Arbitration Society reporting, the March 2017 IntLawGrrls conference, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Thanks and congratulations to all!

Class of 2017

Caitlin Amick Jessup moot
Philicia Armbrister LLM
Tomiisin Atewologun LLM
Reed Bennett Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Chad Berger Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Rachel Bishop Jessup moot
Nicholas Booth Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Ann Carroll GIP/GEO externship
Emily Cox Vis moot
Jennifer Cross Student Ambassador
Alessandra Cunha Student Ambassador, Legal Spanish Study Group
Janis Dabbs GIP/GEO externship
Tiffany Donohue GIP/GEO externship
Pedro Dorado Dean Rusk International Law Center Fellow, leader of Legal Spanish Study Group
Brad Dumbacher GIP/GEO externship
Johann Ebongom LLM, Southeast Model African Union, Sohn Professional Development Fellow, AtlAS rapporteur
Ronald Fields Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Javier Gonzalez LLM
Katie Griffis GIP/GEO externship
Cassidy Grunninger GIP/GEO externship, Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Ahsan Habib LLM
Adrian Hanea LLM
Urvashi Jain LLM, IntLawGrrls conference presenter
Morgan Johnson GIP/GEO externship
Faith Khalik Student Ambassador
Carson Masters GIP/GEO externship
Valerie Mills LLM, Student Ambassador
Hamed Moradi Roodposhti LLM
Kristin Murphey Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Nelly Ndounteng LLM, Southeast Model African Union, Sohn Professional Development Fellow
Brenny Nguyen GIP/GEO externship
Amber O’Connell GIP/GEO externship, Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Lawrence Oise LLM
Gilbert Oladeinbo LLM
Noj Oyeyipo LLM
Waltrice Patterson GIP/GEO externship
Alyssa Pickett GIP/GEO externship, Student Ambassador
Robert Poole Jessup moot
Alessandro Raimondo Student Ambassador
Hannah Sells GIP/GEO externship, Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Emily Shannon Brussels-Geneva study abroad
Richie Steinberg GIP/GEO externship
Eric Sterling Student Ambassador
Ximena Vasquez Student Ambassador
Sarah Willis Student Ambassador
Jonah Zhang Student Ambassador, GIP/GEO externship

Class of 2018

Jeremy Akin Student Ambassador
Megan Alpert GEO externship, AtlAS rapporteur
Taryn Arbeiter Student Ambassador, Legal Spanish Study Group
Victoria Barker Student Ambassador, Vis moot, GEO externship, Sohn Professional Development Fellow, IntLawGrrls conference presenter (also, incoming Editor-in-Chief, Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law)
Danielle Berenson Student Ambassador, Legal Spanish Study Group
Holly Boggs Jessup moot
Chanel Chauvet Student Ambassador, IntLawGrrls conference presenter, Southeast Model African Union, Sohn Professional Development Fellow
Margaret Christie Legal Spanish Study Group
Preston Cox GEO externship
Davon Dennis Student Ambassador
Ruibo Dong Student Ambassador
Danielle Glover Student Ambassador
Karen Hays Student Ambassador
Maria Kachniarz Student Ambassador, Vis moot
Jared Magnuson Vis moot
Decker McMorris GEO externship
Deborah Nogueira Yates Student Ambassador, Sohn Professional Development Fellow, Legal Spanish Study Group
Claire Provano Student Ambassador, GEO externship
Elizabeth Rawlings Legal Spanish Study Group
Caroline Savini Jessup moot
Carson Stepanek GEO externship
Jamila Toussaint Student Ambassador
Wheaton Webb Vis moot
Hannah Williams Sohn Professional Development Fellow, GEO externship, IntLawGrrls conference presenter (also, International Law Society President)
Yun Yang Student Ambassador

Class of 2019

Shummi Chowdhury Student Ambassador, Southeast Model African Union
Brian Griffin Student Ambassador, AtlAS rapporteur, Legal Spanish Study Group
Amanda Hoefer Southeast Model African Union
Bailey Hutchison Student Ambassador
Lyddy O’Brien Sohn Professional Development Fellow
Matthew Poletti Legal Spanish Study Group
Rebecca Wackym Southeast Model African Union

From left, Laura Kagel, Britney Hardweare, Mandy Dixon, Valerie Mills, Hamed Moradi Roodposhti, Urvashi Jain, Noj Oyeyipo, Javier Gonzalez, Kathleen Doty, Ahsan Habib, Diane Marie Amann, Adrian Hanea

Washington week: Our Louis B. Sohn Fellows’ tour of D.C. monuments

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Gathering before the D.C. memorial to Atlanta-based Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: from left, Lyddy O’Brien, Chanel Chauvet, Nelly Sandra Ndounteng, Taryn Arbeiter, Kathleen A. Doty, Johann Ebongom, and Eric Health

During the 2017 American Society of International Law Annual Meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C., members of our University of Georgia School of Law community took a break from volunteering to spend an evening touring the monuments on the National Mall.

On the tour were Georgia Law students who traveled from our Athens campus thanks to Louis B. Sohn Professional Development Fellowship grants awarded by the law school’s Dean Rusk International Law Center; they are: 1L Lyddy O’Brien, 2L Chanel Chauvet, and LLM candidates Johann Ebongom and Nelly Sandra Ndounteng. Chanel took part in the Annual Meeting as the recipient of a scholarship from the Blacks in ASIL Task Force, and the other Sohn Fellows volunteered at the annual meeting. They were joined in D.C. by another Annual Meeting volunteer, 2L Taryn Arbeiter, who is completing a full-time externship at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as part of Georgia Law’s D.C. Semester in Practice initiative.

Pick 2.jpgLeading the monuments tour were Kathleen A. Doty, Director of Global Practice Preparation at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, and Eric Heath, who earned his Georgia Law J.D. degree in 2015 and now practices in D.C. as a Legislative Staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition to MLK, the group visited the Lincoln, Korean War, and Roosevelt memorials. Afterwards, they shared a meal before returning to the ASIL events.

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LLMs’ behind-scenes courthouse tour

photo-6_2A group of our Georgia Law LL.M. students walked downtown to the Athens Clarke-County courthouse yesterday to visit with several of our law school alums.

Assistant District Attorney Paige Otwell (JD’88) welcomed the group, which included her mentee in the LL.M. Class of 2017, Nelly Sandra Ndounteng.

Associate Magistrate Judge Ben Makin (JD’04) explained his role in the judicial system and discussed subjects ranging from arrest warrants and jail bonds to small claims court.

Ryan Hope (JD’00), who serves as Chief Assistant Solicitor  in the county’s Office of the Solicitor General, told the students how he became interested in the court system through his work at the public defender clinic in law school. In his remarks he touched on Clarke County’s accountability courts, such as DUI court, which integrate treatment and “quick, limited punishments” with the goal of reducing recidivism.

The Honorable Ethelyn N. Simpson (JD’90), Chief Judge of the State Court, related how her early experience clerking for Superior Court judges allowed her to see “a lot of good lawyers and a lot of bad lawyers,” preparing her for an unexpected career on the bench. Her enthusiasm about “the greatest job” was infectious.

After meeting with the alumni, the LL.M. students were escorted into the courtroom to view victim testimony in an ongoing trial. For the students, who come from Cameroon, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran, Ghana, and the Bahamas, the experience was informative and rewarding. Special thanks to ADA Otwell and Dean Rusk International Law Center Student Ambassador Deborah Nogueira-Yates, a member of the Georgia Law J.D. Class of 2018 who earned her LL.M. here last May, for organizing the visit!

(Pictured above: front row, from left, Philicia Armbrister, Gilbert Oladeinbo, Valerie Mills, Nelly Ndounteng, and Assistant District Attorney Paige Otwell; top row, Noj Oyeyipo, Johann Ebongom, Javier Gonzalez, Laura Kagel (Director of International Professional Education), and Hamed Moradi Roodposhti)

International law alive and well in Atlanta

Last week was a busy one for international law in Atlanta.

On Thursday evening, the Young Arbitrators Group for the Atlanta International Arbitration Society (AtlAS) and the International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrators Forum (ICC YAF) presented an excellent event on international law practice in Atlanta. As announced, it featured four attorneys serving as in-house counsel at major corporations, including:

  • Gary Bunce, Assistant General Counsel, Delta Airlines
  • Carolyn Dinberg, VP and Associate General Counsel, InterContinental Hotels Group
  • Eugenia Milinelli, Counsel, JAS Freight Forwarding
  • Nicole Levy, Executive Director and Senior Legal Counsel, AT&TKing and Spalding

Attended by many young members of AtlAS, ICC YAF, and the broader Atlanta legal community, the evening presented an interesting conversation about the use of international arbitration by large corporations, and provided insight into the career tracks of the panelists. The panelists offered advice to young attorneys, such as the importance of acquiring language skills, and the reception afterwards at the office of King & Spalding provided a valuable networking opportunity.

Then, on Friday morning, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta hosted a breakfast with Ambassador Charles Rivkin, who currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. Amb RivkinAmbassador Rivkin spoke about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that was signed on February 4, 2016 in New Zealand, but has yet to be approved by Congress. Ambassador Rivkin stressed the ways the TPP would benefit Atlanta businesses, in particular those exporters of: transportation equipment; non-electrical machinery; computer and electronic products; chemicals; processed foods; electrical equipment, appliances and components; the agricultural sector generally. He further stressed that the the TPP is unique and good for U.S. businesses because it sets rules for state-owned enterprises, has a chapter dedicated to small and medium sized businesses, and addresses intellectual property and data flow, labor standards, and the environment. His remarks inspired a lively conversation with the audience, who represented a cross-section of the Atlanta business community.