Thank you for reading the fall 2016 edition of Global Connections, the e-newsletter of the Office of International and Non-J.D. Programs at Fordham Law School!

 

Warm Welcome to Anthony Agolia and Alice BrightSky!

Join us in welcoming Anthony Agolia and Alice BrightSky to Fordham Law.

Anthony Agolia recently joined Fordham Law School as director of international and non-J.D. programs. In this role, Anthony will work closely with our LL.M., M.S.L., and S.J.D. students. Anthony comes to us from Briarcliffe College, where he served most recently as college dean and chief academic officer. He also has held the positions of associate dean of academic affairs and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies. Anthony practiced corporate and real estate law and has a pro bono practice specializing in representing clients in Special Immigrant Juvenile proceedings. Anthony is a member of the New York bar and holds degrees from James Madison University and Cardozo School of Law. We are delighted to have Anthony with us!

We also welcome Alice BrightSky to the Law School as senior director of compliance programs. In this capacity, she will be responsible for developing our compliance programs, including the LL.M. and M.S.L. degrees, and will work closely with the students in those programs. Alice comes to Fordham Law from GE Capital where most recently she served as compliance leader, leading the development, implementation, and management of GE Capital’s compliance programs for Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer compliance. Alice is a tremendous asset to our compliance programs.

 

Graduate Degree Programs Flourish

Our LL.M., M.S.L., and S.J.D. programs continue to thrive, with new innovations each semester. This semester, for instance, we organized small dinner parties for incoming students during orientation as a way to get to know each other. This also gave our program staff the opportunity to interact more informally with our new students.

We have also enhanced our academic support program with writing and oral English workshops, in addition to our more traditional academic enrichment sessions.

Our LL.M. program was recently recognized in the New York Law Journal’s 2016 reader rankings, which listed Fordham Law as #2 for both Best International Law LL.M. Program and Best IP Law LL.M. Program.

The Master of Laws program continues to draw outstanding students from around the world to Fordham Law School. This fall, we welcomed 125 students from 33 countries. These students joined our returning LL.M. students for a total of 190 Master of Laws students. An increasing number of LL.M. students have been taking advantage of our dual concentration option, which allows students to receive the LL.M. in any two (or more) of our eight areas of specialization.

During commencement exercises last May, the Law School awarded the Master of Laws degree to 149 graduates from 46 countries, including the first two recipients of the Master of Laws degree in fashion law. Awards went to the following students for excellence in their respective programs:

• Mark Highman – Banking, Corporate, and Finance Law
• Luke Semar – Corporate Compliance
• Anna Hellborg – Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law
• Costanza Posarelli – International Business and Trade Law
• Jadranka Jakovic – International Dispute Resolution
• Annelien Vink – International Law and Justice
• Shingo Hidaka – U.S. Law

We recently convened a career panel for LL.M. students featuring a few of our graduates who are working in New York City. Many thanks to our participants:

• Sri Alturi (India, LL.M. 2010) (New York Stock Exchange)
• Matthew Beaven (Spain, LL.M. 2011) (BBVA)
• Lily Belhadia (France, LL.M. 2016) (Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP)
• Mohannad El-Murtadi (Libya, LL.M. 2011) (Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP)
• Rosalia Martinez Rial (Argentina, LL.M. 2015) (White & Case LLP)
• Jordana Moldauer (Switzerland, LL.M. 2014) (Sony Music)

The Master of Studies in Law degree, offered in corporate compliance and fashion law, is now in its second semester. The Law School has welcomed a total of 29 students to the M.S.L. program. These students, both domestic and international, bring to the Law School a wealth of experience in their respective fields of study. All holders of a bachelor degree or equivalent from the U.S. or any other country are welcome to apply for admission to the M.S.L. program.

Our S.J.D. program welcomes four new candidates this year. Our newest doctoral students are listed below, along with their home countries, the working titles of their research projects, and the names of their dissertation supervisors:

• Yusra Alshanqityi (Saudi Arabia)?
  Foreign Workers in Gulf States: The Need for Reformation of the Sponsorship (Kafala) System – A Call for Collaborative Work Among Different Stakeholders?
  Supervisor: Professor Jennifer Gordon
• Helga Kristín Auðunsdóttir (Iceland)?
  Hedge Fund Activism: A Comparative Analysis
  ?Supervisor: Professor Sean Griffith
• Thomas Coggin (South Africa)?
  A Jurisprudence of the City? Rights-Based Claims to the City in India, South Africa, and Colombia
  Supervisor: Associate Dean Nestor Davidson
• Muhammet Karabiyik (Turkey)?
  Finalization of Awards under the International Arbitration Law of Turkey?
  Supervisor: Professor Thomas H. Lee

Read more about our doctoral candidates.

We are also delighted to announce that two of our doctoral candidates recently have successfully completed their doctoral work.

Vera Korzun (Belarus), who holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan, focused her doctoral work on various aspects of international commercial and investment treaty arbitration. Her research grew from her interest in international commercial arbitration of antitrust claims. Her work thus far has been published in the New York University Journal of International Law and the Fordham International Law Journal.

Zehra Kavame (Turkey) who holds her LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School, focuses her scholarly work on financial reporting and, in particular, the need for global harmonization of reporting standards. Zehra has an article in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law and another forthcoming in the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business.

Congratulations to Vera and Zehra and thanks to their respective faculty supervisors—Professor Thomas H. Lee and Professor Martin Gelter—for so deftly guiding them through their studies.

New Partnerships

We continue to expand our international partnerships. We have recently executed a student exchange agreement with O.P. Jindal Global University (India) and cooperation agreements with KAZGUU University (Kazakhstan) and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (China). We hope to welcome many outstanding students from these universities to our campus.

Non-Degree Programs

Our non-degree programs also continue to thrive. This past July we celebrated the tenth anniversary of our Summer Institute in NYC, which continues to draw scores of law students and practitioners to our campus each summer. Registration for next year's program, which will take place from July 3 through July 21, is already open. Registration is also open for the Winter Institute, which takes place in January, and offers the participants the opportunity to learn about the U.S. legal system side-by-side with incoming master students.

This past summer we also launched a new program, the Fordham University Pre-Law Institute, geared primarily toward those who are considering applying to a J.D. program. This program will again be offered next summer, and students may register for the credit or non-credit option.

International, Comparative, and Foreign Law Affinity Group

The Law School has recently launched the International Law Affinity Group, co-chaired by Raymond Dowd (J.D. 1991) and Alejandro Cremades (Spain, LL.M. 2009). The inaugural event will take place on January 23 and will include a mock interview program for graduate students as well as a networking reception. If you would like to volunteer to assist with the mock interview program, please email Ray Dowd.

Fordham Law Alumni Association

The international chapters of the Fordham Law Alumni Association (FLAA) remain active. Last June, the European chapter hosted an outstanding series of events in Milan, co-hosted by the Chiomenti law firm and Bocconi's law school. Dean Matthew Diller looks forward to the next European chapter event, to take place in Thessaloniki on June 16-17, 2016.

We also welcome Alex Brennan (Ireland, LL.M. 2003) as the new president of the European chapter, and thank Wolfgang Schoenig (Germany, LL.M. 2009) for his many years of outstanding service as the founding president of the chapter.

Dean Diller will also visit Asia early next year, making stops in China, Japan, and Korea. Details will be announced when available. Vera Bullock, assistant dean of advancement and assistant vice-president for external relations, will be visiting Dubai on November 8 and Tel Aviv on November 17.

In addition, Fordham University Provost Dr. Stephen Freedman will be hosting alumni receptions in Hong Kong on October 25, Beijing on October 27, and Shanghai on October 28 and welcomes all law graduates to attend.

Mark your calendars for the following spring 2017 receptions in East Asia:

• March 9 - Tokyo Chapter Reception
• March 10 - Seoul Chapter Reception
• March 13 - Beijing Chapter Reception
• March 15 - Shanghai Chapter Reception
• March 16 - Hong Kong Chapter Reception

We hope that many friends and alumni of Fordham Law will attend these events!

Student and Alumni News

Luis Arriaga, S.J. (Mexico, LL.M. 2012) received the Hidden Heroes Award from the Center for Reconciliation and Justice at Loyola Marymount University.

Levan Bodzashvili (Georgia), former visiting foreign scholar, was recently appointed acting secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia.

Vito Cozzoli (Italy), former visiting foreign scholar, has been named president of the Amerigo Association in Rome. Rosa Giovanna Barresi (Italy, LL.M. 2005) is a member of Amerigo's advisory board.

Javier T. Edwards (Chile, LL.M. 2011), recently co-founded EDN Abogados, which provides legal advice to its clients in the following areas of law: partnerships and corporations; labor and collective bargaining; taxation; financial and capital markets; foreign exchange, investment, and trade; family businesses; statutory compliance; and collection management and litigation.

Julia A. Garza (Mexico, LL.M. 2010) and Ravenna Tamoria (U.K., LL.M. 2010) recently launched the Global Center for Development Law and Policy, which "provide[s] an innovative forum for the constructive debate and exchange of emerging issues in development law and policy.

Emily Georgiades (Cyprus, LL.M. 2003) and George Giorgiades (Cyprus, LL.M. 2009) are co-founders of AltFinEsq.

Risa Horie (Japan, LL.M. 2016) now works in the global compliance department at LIXIL, a leading company in Japan's housing and building industry. LIXIL has been expanding internationally and has acquired a number of U.S. companies, including American Standard, GROHE, and the Permastellisa Group. Risa is responsible for implementing the firm's global compliance program.

Lenore Horton (U.S., LL.M. 2010) was named among the Top 10 Female Black Attorneys posted by Black Enterprise.

Reham Jambi (Saudi Arabia, LL.M. 2016) is a research associate at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Read her posts.

Esteban Maira (Chile, LL.M. 2017) was listed as an Associate to Watch for Real Estate in Chile by Latin-America Guide.

Ana Padilla (Mexico, LL.M. 2011) now is foreign legal associate at DICEX in Miami.

 

Please email your news to me for future editions of Global E-news.

Warm regards,   
 

Toni Jaeger-Fine
Assistant Dean