About Us
Grotius, Vanderbilt, Kelsen & Hauser Scholars in International Law
On this webpage we list all of the current Grotius scholars and also current Vanderbilt and Hauser LLM scholars who are specializing in international law (For full lists of all Grotius, Vanderbilt and Kelsen Scholars, see the LLM Scholars webpage; for a full list of Hauser Scholars, see the Hauser Global Scholars webpage.)
Grotius Scholars Vanderbilt Scholars Kelsen Scholars Hauser Scholars
Grotius Scholars
The Grotius Scholarships are specifically designated for students who wish to specialize in International Legal Studies, whereas the Vanderbilt Scholarship is awarded to students in all other graduate LL.M. specialization.
Emma Dunlop
Australia
Emma Dunlop is a law graduate of the University of Sydney (Australia), where she obtained an LL.B with First Class Honors in 2009 (receiving the Nancy Gordon Smith Memorial Prize, awarded to the top five students in each graduating class). She received the Bachelor of Arts in 2006 with First Class Honors and the University Medal.
During her studies Emma was a coordinating editor of the Australian International Law Journal, and a student editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law. She worked as a research assistant to four law professors and volunteered at the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre. In 2008 Emma was a member of the University of Sydney's championship team in the Sir Harry Gibbs National Moot Competition, receiving prizes for best oralist in the General Rounds and Grand Final. In 2009 she undertook an internship at the International Law Department of the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and received a grant from the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law to work as a Trial Chamber intern within the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. She commenced work in the International Arbitration Team of the Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques in 2010.
Emma will pursue an LL.M at NYU in International Legal Studies.
María Alejandra Etchegorry
Argentina
María Alejandra Etchegorry graduated first in her class from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Law School in June 2006, and obtained a law degree with concentration on public international law and business law. She was presented with an award from the UBA Law School for having attained the best GPA of her class, and she received the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice award and an Honors Diploma from the UBA Law School.
As a law student, Ms. Etchegorry was editor-in-chief of the Lecciones y Ensayos, the UBA law review. She also participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition achieving remarkable results.
In 2005, Ms. Etchegorry worked as an intern for CIPPEC (Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth), one of Argentina’s largest NGOs, on a project aimed at monitoring utility regulatory agencies. Since 2006, she has worked for the Direction of International Affairs and Controversies at the Attorney General’s Office of the Argentine Republic as part of the team of lawyers who defend Argentina in cases before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Furthermore, Ms. Etchegorry has been involved in teaching activities since 2004. She first served as a Student Teaching Assistant of Public International Law at the UBA Law School, and then as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. In 2008, after sitting for a qualifying examination, she became a Second Teaching Assistant. In 2009, she was temporarily appointed as an Interim Assistant Professor. Ms. Etchegorry also coached the team of students that represented the UBA Law School in the 2009 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
In addition to the Hugo Grotius Scholarship, Ms. Etchegorry has received the Fulbright Scholarship. While at NYU, she will undertake an LL.M. in International Legal Studies.
Florencia Delia Lebensohn
Argentina
Florencia Delia Lebensohn was a top student at the University of Buenos Aires School of Law, where she graduated in 2008 with honors and awards. She was placed in the top 0,1 % of a class of over 2,600 students, and her final grade average was 9.59 (in a 1 to 10 grading system). As a consequence of ranking 1st among over 200 students who received their diplomas at the August 2008 graduation ceremony, Florencia was appointed as the Law School flag-bearer. Due to her academic achievements, she has been awarded the University of Buenos Aires Honors Diploma, the Buenos Aires City Bar Award for outstanding academic performance in 2008 (annually awarded to the best Buenos Aires’ law students), and the Chancellor of the University of Buenos Aires recognition for academic performance in 2009.
In 2007, Florencia was awarded a scholarship to study at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, for a semester as an exchange student. In addition, Florencia was selected to participate as a team member to represent the University of Buenos Aires at the International Chamber of Commerce Pre-Moot in Paris and the Sixteenth Annual Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot in Vienna. For the first time in the history of the Moot, in 2009, an Argentinean team moved on to the elimination rounds and was granted the Elimination Round Participating Team Award. Afterwards, Florencia joined the team of coaches for an International Arbitration Seminar which prepares students for the Willem Vis Moot.
Florencia has also been teaching Public International Law at the University of Buenos Aires since 2006, first as a student teaching assistant and, upon graduation, as an assistant lecturer. She has also taught Theory of the State during 2004 and 2005 at the same university as assistant professor.
Florencia has practiced law in one of the leading Argentine law firms, M&M Bomchil, for over two years as an associate attorney in its Regulatory, Administrative and International Arbitration Department.
She is a native Spanish speaker, is fluent in English, Portuguese and French and was admitted to the City of Buenos Aires Bar Association.
Olga Majitova
Belarus
Olga Majitova graduated with honours from the Belarusian State Economic University (Minsk, Belarus). She also received a bachelors degree in economics and obtained an LL.M.degree from the same university. She received an LL.M. degree in international and European law from the European Humanities University (Vilnius, Lithuania). During her second year of masters studies in Vilnius she joined a leading Baltic law firm, Raidla Lejins & Norcous and practised there as an associate for 2.5 years.
She also has a long history with the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C., as a participant in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, coaching a team in 2009 (octa-finalists), and co-coaching in 2010. She also coached the team for the 2010 Telders Internaitonal Law Moot Court (the Hague, Netherlands).
Olga's concentration at NYU Law will be in International Legal Studies.
Kirk G. Shannon
Canada
Kirk Shannon graduated with Great Distinction from the McGill University, Faculty of Law receiving a combined Bachelor of Civil law and Bachelor of Laws (B.C.L./LL.B). Prior to law school, Kirk worked in the field of international development in South America and Africa. While attending McGill, he was heavily involved with the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism where as a Junior Fellow, he helped organize the 2007 Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide. During law school, Kirk interned for judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal.
Since graduating from McGill, Kirk clerked for the Honourable Madame Justice Louise Charron of the Supreme Court of Canada, interned for the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch and worked in the litigation department of Clifford Chance US LLP in New York.
Kirk is fluent in both English and French and has been admitted to the bars of Quebec, Ontario and New York. He will be pursuing an LL.M in International Legal Studies.
Vanderbilt Scholars
with International Law specialization
Kelsen Scholars
with International Law specialization
Hauser Global Scholars
The Hauser Scholars Program was founded in 1995 as part of the Hauser Global Law School Program at the initiative of Rita Hauser (NYU 59') and the NYU School of Law. Since its inauguration, the Hauser Scholars Program has become the leading initiative pursuing the adaptation of legal education in the United States towards an increasingly global perspective. It reflects the Law School's conviction that the practice of law and legal research has escaped the bounds of any particular jurisdiction and that legal education can no longer ignore the interpenetration of legal systems. For more information on Hauser Scholars, visit the Hauser Global Law School Program website.
Juana Acosta
Colombia
Juana Acosta graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá, Colombia, in 2005. She obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree placing first in her graduating class. She got the ninth best score of the country on the ECAES test on Law (State’s undergraduate test of Knowledge of Law). In 2009, she obtained a Master’s in Human Rights and Democratization from the Externado University and Carlos III de Madrid University.
While attending law school, she received a number of scholarships and academic awards. She was selected to represent her Law School at the Models OAS in Mexico and Argentina, and was elected as President of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs by the participants of one of the Models. She won second place in the Inter-American moot court competition in Washington D.C. She was also selected for the Colombian fellow in Leadership for the Americas Congress in Fort Worth Texas.
As an undergraduate she worked as a District Adviser in the process of design and editing of the Police Code Law project; as a Legal Adviser in the International Organization for Migration and the Social Solidarity Network, and as an Adviser in the International Law Department at the Vice Presidency of Colombia. She also spent the summer of 2003 interning at the Center for Justice and International Law in Washington D.C. She also served as a research assistant to several professors.
Following graduation, Juana worked as a Junior Associate at Brigard & Urrutia Abogados Law Firm, one of the largest law firms in Colombia. She then returned to the public sector, first as an adviser for gender issues in the Presidency of Colombia at the Office for Women’s Human Rights, and then in the Ministry of Defense and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At these Ministries she managed the 15-lawyer Human Rights Litigation Group; designed and proposed international litigation strategies; managed the State’s written briefs and submissions and institutional technical and political meetings to prepare strategies; appeared on behalf of the State of Colombia in the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights hearings in Washington, D.C.; and acted as an agent on behalf of the State in the last case before the Inter-American Human Rights Court.
Her most recent work was as Consultant to the United Nations Population Fund, proposing a legal text for the regulation of the latest Gender-Based Violence Law in Colombia, regarding access to justice; and as Head of the International Law Department, at alumbra asesores Law Firm. She has been teaching at several Law Schools in Colombia, in International Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law courses. Currently, Juana is a Substitute Board of Directors member of the Colombian International Law Academy.
Juana is the coauthor of three books, and the author of several papers in indexed journals, in international law and human rights law issues.
At NYU, Juana will pursue an LL.M. in International Legal Studies.
Janice Bleazard
South Africa
Janice Bleazard, who is also a Fulbright Scholar, obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2008, graduating magna cum laude and first in her law class. Prior to attending law school, Janice obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History, and an Honours degree in Historical Studies with a focus on African history, also from UCT. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, Janice has been a top academic achiever, earning several academic awards. In 2007, Janice represented her university and country at the Jean-Pictet Competition in International Humanitarian Law, where her team reached the final round. The same year, she received an award from the Cape Bar Association for mooting at her university.
While at University, Janice worked for the Student HIV/AIDS Resistance Program, facilitating HIV/AIDS information workshops for schools and community groups; she served on the UCT Student Leaders’ Transformation Forum and chaired and co-founded the UCT History & Current Affairs Society. She also worked as a student advisor in the law school’s Legal Aid Clinic; and in 2008 she served as an executive committee member of Students for Social Justice, a student movement aimed at promoting constitutionalism and social justice in South Africa.
After completing her LL.B. degree, Janice worked as a research assistant to Professor Hugh Corder at UCT, and assisted in editing Global Administrative Law: Innovation and Development (2009) – a joint project between the law schools of UCT and NYU. She also interned at the Legal Resources Centre, a leading public interest legal practice in South Africa. From 2009 to 2010, she worked as a law clerk to Justice Thembile Skweyiya at the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
At NYU Janice will undertake an LL.M. in International Legal Studies, with a focus on Global Administrative Law.
Gabriela Kletzel
Argentina
Gabriela graduated summa cum laude from the University of Buenos Aires Law School. She received a number of academic awards and fellowships, including the Fulbright Scholarship.
After completing her first year as a law student, Gabriela started working for the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), one of Argentina’s leading human rights organizations. All through her eight years at CELS, she gained very meaningful experience in the application of international human rights standards by domestic courts, as well as on the litigation of precedent-setting human rights cases before international tribunals. Furthermore, she played a key role in the litigation of structural reform cases involving Economic, Social and Cultural rights and Civil and Political rights. Moreover, Gabriela set forth specific research on the development of adequate and effective remedies for the reparation of human rights violations.
In addition to direct litigation, she was responsible for the submission of amicus curiae briefs on cases before both national and international courts. She was also involved in the preparation of shadow reports to be presented before different United Nations Treaty Bodies. In this regard, for the past three years, one of her main lines of work was the coordination of CELS activities within the United Nations System for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. Because of this involvement, Gabriela had the opportunity to participate in several sessions of the UN´s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, including the chance to participate in the UNHRC’s first Universal Periodic Review of the human rights situation in Argentina. Moreover, in March 2010, she participated in the sessions of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), in New York.
Another very relevant experience for her was serving as the main researcher on the project “International standards on Access to Justice”, which provided her with the opportunity to work with members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the investigation “Access to justice as a guarantee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A review of the standards adopted by the Inter- American System of Human Rights”, which was then published as an official document by the IACHR.
In the academic arena, Gabriela has worked as an assistant professor in a regular course on International Human Rights Law at the University of Buenos Aires Law School. She has also had the opportunity to be part of the team of professors within the Human Rights Clinic that is jointly run by the University of Buenos AiresLaw School and CELS. Gabriela has published several papers in the field of human rights law.
Maria Cecilia Sicangco
Philippines
Maria Cecilia Sicangco obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) in 2007, graduating cum laude and salutatorian of her class. She was the recipient of the UP Class of 1971 Scholarship from 2004 to 2007, and, upon graduating, was likewise given the UP Class of 1972 Academic Excellence Award and the Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence. Prior to law school, Cecille obtained a Bachelor of Science double degree in Applied Economics and Accountancy, cum laude, from De La Salle University (DLSU). In recognition of her outstanding academic performance, she received the SyCip, Gorres, Velayo Award for Academic Excellence and the Joaquin Cunanan Gold Medal for Best Thesis from the College of Business and Economics of DLSU.
Cecille participated extensively in academic and co-curricular activities during her law studies. Notably, she represented UP in the 2005 Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition, the 2006 Jean-Pictet Competition on International Humanitarian Law, and the 2007 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Furthermore, as a research assistant in the Institute of Judicial Administration of the UP Law Center, she worked with respected legal luminaries – such as retired Justices of the Philippine Supreme Court – in producing literature for members of the Bar and the Bench. She then interned with the Office of Legal Aid (OLA), where, under the supervision of the OLA Director and the designated lawyer, she represented indigent clients in administrative, civil and criminal cases. In April 2007, she received a Citation for Distinguished Performance as a Law Intern from the OLA Director and the Dean of the UP College of Law.
Upon graduation, Cecille joined SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan, the largest full-service law firm in the Philippines. She assisted domestic and international clients in matters involving (i) arbitration and litigation, (ii) taxation, (iii) corporate restructuring, (iv) banking, finance and securities, (v) investments, mergers and acquisitions, and (vi) mining and natural resources law. Subsequently, Cecille took the opportunity to clerk for Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. After the latter’s retirement in May 2010, she then clerked for the succeeding Chief Justice, Renato C. Corona.
Cecille was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2008, and is also a member of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants. At NYU, she will pursue an LL.M. in International Legal Studies.
