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In January, the College of Law welcomed a new cohort of seven international students enrolled in the Master of Laws (LL.M.) program.

“Despite the continued barriers and uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this new spring cohort includes foreign lawyers representing the legal systems of six countries,” says Assistant Dean of International Programs Andrew S. Horsfall L’10. “These students come from very diverse backgrounds and expanses and have wide-ranging professional interests.”

The College of Law’s new LL.M. chohort includes, from left to right, Christian Oko, Ahmad Riaz, Francisco De la Parra Villanueva, Noel Omeji, Dessi-Ann Yetman and Lotta Lampela. Not pictured is Savior Welu.

The LL.M. cohort will maintain its wide reach across time zones and locations with students from Ethiopia, Finland, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan. These new students will join the 34 returning LL.M. students who began their studies this past fall and spring along with four S.J.D. students, and five visiting scholars.

In addition, the LL.M. students and visiting scholars will receive advising support from International Programs Academic Coordinator Kate Shannon and LL.M. student mentors Marisol Estrada Cruz, Mazaher Kaila, Anthony Levitskiy, Carlos Negron and Tia Thevenin.

The LL.M. Spring 2022 cohort includes:

• Francisco De la Parra Villanueva (Mexico) completed his LL.B. at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in 2021. As an undergraduate, he participated in two clinics: the Sustainable Development and Environmental Law Clinic and the Clinic for the Improvement of Labor Justice. De la Parra also held several internships that focused on corporate and banking law.
• Lotta Lampela (Finland) holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Oulu University and a LL.M. in international law from Helsinki University. She was the chief superintendent of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service and an intelligence advisor for the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre. Before recently moving to the U.S., Lampela served as a policy advisor for the Delegation of the European Union to the International Organizations in Vienna, where she represented the EU and its member states at the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. She plans to enroll in courses that will prepare her for the New York State bar exam.
• Christian Oko (Nigeria) received a LL.B. from the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 2019. Since graduating, he has worked as a legal consultant for the Sunset Football Club and an intern at the Nigerian Football Association, where he focused on alternative dispute resolution. Oko plans to enroll in courses that will prepare him for the New York State bar exam.
• Noel Omeji (Nigeria) completed his LL.B. at Kogi State University in 2014 and graduated from the Nigerian Law School in 2016. He also completed a LL.M. in private and commercial law at Bayero University. He has been a prosecutor with the Nigerian Police Force since 2017. Omeji will study tax law, ADR and coursework that will prepare him for the New York State bar exam.
• Ahmad Riaz (Pakistan) holds a LL.B. from the University of Punjab, Lahore. Since graduating in 2015, he has worked as a legal associate at a private law firm. He intends to study family law, criminal procedure and civil procedure.
• Savior Welu (Ethiopia) holds a LL.B. from Mekelle University and a LL.M. in public international law from Addis Ababa University. As an undergraduate, he interned at the Mekelle University Legal Aid Center, where he drafted pleadings on criminal and civil cases. Most recently, Welu has served as a law lecturer at Aksum University in Ethiopia, where he teaches international law, refugee law, African Union and human rights law, and business law.
• Dessi-Ann Yetman (Jamaica) obtained her LL.B. from the University of the West Indies in 2018. She plans to study family law and immigration law.

Additionally, the College of Law has welcomed six visiting researchers for Spring 2022. They include:

• Carlos Higino Ribeiro de Alencar (Brazil) works as a tax auditor for Brazil’s Internal Revenue Service under its Ministry of Economics. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. through a joint degree program with the University of Brasilia and the University of Paris, Paris 1, at the Sorbonne. During his visit, he is pursuing comparative research on the evolution of anti-corruption legislation using the American model and other sources under the guidance of Professor Antonio Gidi.
• Natalia Chernicharo Guimaraes (Brazil) teaches civil procedure at University of Juiz de Fora. She is researching comparative civil procedure and class actions under the guidance of Professor Gidi.
• Satoshi Kawashima (Japan) teaches at Okayama University of Science and Kanagawa University’s Graduate School of Law. During his visit, he will pursue the study and research of U.S. disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act under the supervision of Professor Arlene Kanter.
• Kihan Lee (South Korea) teaches at Dankook University’s Faculty of Law. He is also chair of the Korea Social Service Policy Institute. He will engage in the study and research of comparative environmental regulation, with specific focus on the United States and South Korea, and economic and legal efforts to combat climate change under the guidance of Professor David Driesen.
• Levan Nanobashvili (Georgia) is a Fulbright Teaching Scholar and a practicing intellectual property lawyer in Georgia. He plans to engage in the study and research of intellectual property law, internet law and the teaching methods and pedagogy of these subjects under the guidance of Professor Shubha Ghosh.
• Patricia Pizzol (Brazil) teaches class actions and civil procedure at Pontificia Universidade Catolica de São Paulo. She will undertake a comparative study of class actions and methods of standardizing judicial decisions under the guidance of Professor Gidi.