Student and Alumni Profiles
Pace Law School's superb international law faculty in New York and London - augmented by public and private law practitioners from international organizations and multinational law firms and corporations around the globe - provide Pace students with the legal skills and diverse experiences required for successful international practice.
The ability of Pace Law graduates to hit the ground running is reflected in the number and quality of the international law firms employing Pace graduates, including: Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP; Linklaters; Clifford Chance; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; the U.S. Court of International Trade and U.S. Department of State; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates; White & Case LLP; Holland & Knight LLP; Hunton & Williams LLP; Nixon Peabody LLP; and others - a list which grows each year.
FIGHTING TO ACHIEVE HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL PEOPLE
Hannah Cochrane was initially drawn to Pace Law School for its small class size and the strength of its Immigration Justice Clinic. Even though her primary interest was in immigration and refugee law, Pace kept opening doors to invaluable international law experiences.
Shortly after deciding to attend Pace, Hannah learned about the Human Rights in Action program. As soon as she learned about the program, she knew she wanted to spend a summer in an international criminal tribunal and was selected as one of Pace’s Human Rights in Action Program nominees to go to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Fifteen years after the Rwandan Genocide, she began interning with a judicial chamber charged with hearing the cases of those accused of perpetrating the genocide.
While abroad, Hannah was struck by variation in environmental degradation between neighboring countries and saw the toll climate change was taking on eastern Africa. These experiences helped develop her interest in international environmental law. While at Pace, Hannah was able to participate in the UN Environmental Diplomacy Practicum. As part of the Practicum, she worked with Vanuatu, a small South Pacific island threatened by climate change. While this experience didn’t put her on the environmental law path, it did open doors to the world of UN diplomacy in New York City.
In her final semester, Hannah decided to take an internship and was fortunate to find one with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). With FIDH, she was actively advocating for important human rights issues to the members of the Security Council behind closed doors. Her trial advocacy class ensured that she had prepped and prepared each person on the FIDH team just as a lawyer would prepare a witness going into trial. Along with these international experiences, she gained experience in domestic immigration and refugee law by participating in the school’s Immigration Clinic and working with the New York Bar Association’s City Bar Justice Center over the course of a summer.
Today, Hannah is combining her international law and immigration experience working with New Zealand’s Immigration and Protection Tribunal. It is an independent tribunal established by the Ministry of Justice to consider all immigration, deportation, refugee, and protection appeals in New Zealand. There she is serving as a Legal and Research Advisor where she provides research and legal advice to the judicial members of the Tribunal. Her primary focus is on the refugee and protection appeal cases where she researches international refugee law and common law countries precedent to be used in the Tribunal’s decisions. It was Hannah's experiences at Pace that made her exceptionally well qualified for this position.
PURSUING HER DUAL PASSIONS
Though Kathryn Ely arrived at Pace Law intending to pursue Environmental Law, her experience here “has opened me up to so much more,” she says.
Ely now expects to graduate in May 2012 with certificates in both International Law and Environmental Law. She is currently combining her two passions by taking a course on International Environmental Law. She says her dream job would be working for the State Department Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Though her focus was initially on the environment, Ely wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad and explore her options in International Law. During her first summer at Pace Law, she participated in the International Study Abroad Externship. She attended a two-week orientation in Hong Kong, where she studied the English Common Law system’s evolution in former English colonies and the adaptation that incorporated cultural and traditional elements into the established infrastructure.“It was very interesting to see how jurisprudence blossomed differently in so many countries that started with a common system. It was also thrilling to tour Hong Kong, and experience its’ vibrant culture and history,” she says.
For Ely’s work placement for the program, she interned for the Bar Council of Ireland in Dublin under the supervision of its current chairman, Michael Collins. She worked with several different barristers to gain exposure to and experience with areas of Irish law, including family, criminal, commercial property and constitutional law. She attended trial with the barristers daily to observe the progress and outcome of cases, as well as the differences between Irish and American jurisprudence, procedure and advocacy. “The breadth of my experience in court was so varied,” she says. “The pinnacle of my experience was the opportunity to observe a case argued before the Supreme Court of Ireland in the Four Courts building concerning Constitutional rights of the education of a child.”
Ely, who loves to travel, says, “The program gives you enough time to really enjoy the lifestyle of your host country and get the full experience of living in a foreign country. Overall the program was amazing, and not only would I fully encourage anyone interested, I would do it all over again any chance I could. I’m grateful for the opportunity afforded me and for everything it contributed to the person I am and the professional I am to become.”
This summer, Ely will participate in the D.C. Externship and hopes to work for the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Agriculture.
PERSPECTIVE IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
“Pace Law School taught me about the possibilities for practicing law that exist all around the world. It’s not enough to just know the law, but you have to know the context in which it operates. Whether it’s dealing with environmental problems that cross international borders or arbitrating a question of international commercial law, global issues require a global perspective. I think Pace offers great opportunities to develop an international perspective of the practice of law.”
For Matt Jokajtys ’11, a joint-degree student pursuing a JD/ Masters in Environmental Management with Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Pace Law School delivered not only a solid foundation but unique topics and paths to study within the law and boundless opportunities to pursue the law outside the classroom.
“Here, we have fantastic professors and a wide array of courses that specialize in unique topics. You can really make your own path at Pace, and you’re not locked into one track for studying law,” he says. Matt arrived at Pace Law School expecting to focus on environmental and land use issues but soon found himself drawn into the world of international law. “I never imagined that law students were able to travel abroad so much,” Matt notes, “but Pace has so many programs and opportunities that you can travel almost anywhere in the world to study law.”
Matt traveled to Vienna to compete in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot; interned at the United Nations in New York; attended the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark and Cancun, Mexico; and studied in London for a semester through the London Law Program. In London, he mooted against two barristers-in-training from the historical Gray’s Inn Court in London and interned with a top environmental law barrister.
Prior to his experiences, Matt “had never really travelled that much in Europe, and meeting and competing with so many law students from around the world was truly an exhilarating experience. It showed me that there was much more to studying law than simply hitting the books in the library—you had the chance to travel the world!”
A TRANSATLANTIC EDUCATION
“The London Law Program was the best part of my law school experience,” says Sara Anoushirvani, who completed a semester doing coursework at University College London’s Faculty of Laws (UCL) in 2009. “The Program gave me the opportunity to study international law topics with faculty from around the world and to intern with a highly accomplished Barrister specializing in public international law. This was an incredible learning experience that I could not have received in the United States.” This kind of comparative experience has been a centerpiece of Sara’s time at Pace. She spent the prior summer working for federal prosecutors in Washington D.C. Then, after completing her London coursework, Sara headed straight to The Hague where she interned for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Office of the President. “I had already developed a strong interest in international law during my undergraduate years,” notes Sara, “and I came to Pace hoping to take full advantage of its international programs. They have not disappointed.” During her third-year, Sara was a student attorney with Pace’s Immigration Justice Clinic (IJC). “The IJC is an excellent way to gain practical experience and insight into practicing law in the US while still being exposed to an international perspective.” In furtherance of her goal to become a human rights attorney, in the fall of 2011 Sara completed her LLM at UCL with Merit (Honors) in Public International Law with a specialization in Human Rights Law.
A CAREER IN INTERNATIONAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Jessica Bannon Vanto provides a perfect example of how Pace’s international programs can provide the foundation for an enriching career. In her case that has meant working for three of the top international arbitration practices in the world over the past ten years. “The international offerings at Pace not only prepared me for a career in international law and arbitration but were in fact directly responsible for the career opportunities that awaited me after graduation. After my first year at Pace, I participated in the Pace International Summer Internships Abroad Program, which took me to Vienna and Paris. Primarily as a result of those international experiences, I was able to join the international dispute resolution group at Debevoise & Plimpton, first as a summer associate and then as an associate. My experiences at Debevoise, in turn, qualified me for lateral moves, first to Hanotiau & van den Berg, an international arbitration boutique in Brussels, Belgium, and then to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's International Arbitration Group in New York.”
The benefits of Jessica’s Pace externship did not end there. “Two years after my internship, I returned to Vienna to compete in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Since then, I have returned every year to act as an arbitrator and to take advantage of the extensive professional development and networking opportunities for international arbitrators that the Moot has come to offer. Exactly ten years after participating in the International Summer Internship Abroad Program as a student, I returned to Vienna to lecture to the current Pace international interns.”
Most important of all, Jessica has found a career path that she finds satisfying. “International dispute resolution is very different from domestic litigation. It requires cultural sensitivity, language ability and other soft skills that are not as prominent in national litigation. Reconciling often vast differences between parties in a conflict situation is always a challenge for those of us in this field. It is also what I find so fascinating about my work.”
PREPARED FOR A GLOBAL PRACTICE
"After spending time abroad in Thailand teaching English at an international university, I knew I wanted to work in international law, but I wasn’t sure exactly which fields even existed,” notes Pace Law alumnus Christopher Bloch. When he arrived at Pace, Chris began consulting with members of the international law faculty, and quickly found himself interested in the field of international arbitration, a dispute resolution process commonly used to resolve international disputes outside the formal court system of any particular country.
Via Pace’s International Internships Abroad program, Chris received a summer placement in Sydney, Australia with Clayton Utz, a renowned Australian firm known for its particular strength in the field. “From that point,” he notes, “I was just hooked.” Back at Pace, Chris gained further hands-on experience as an intern for a federal court judge and as a researcher for the Pace Institute of International Commercial Law. All of these experiences helped prepare Chris for a coveted summer associate position at the Cologne, Germany office of leading international firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where Chris deepened his already impressive experience in international arbitration. “With the rise of the global economy, and the flattening of the globe, international arbitration is only becoming more prevalent and more important,” he says, “I want to keep working in this field, and Pace has definitely helped me make that plan a reality.” Upon graduating magna cum laude in May 2010 with Pace’s Certificate of Concentration in International Law, Chris returned to the Institute of International Commercial Law as a Staff Attorney and Research Scholar to assist on several projects involving international sales law and an international project on online dispute resolution for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”).
Currently, Chris works in Singapore for Michael Hwang Chambers, assisting one of the leading arbitrators in the world on cases involving parties from all over the globe. His work involves disputes arising out of international commercial contracts and bilateral investment treaties being heard under the rules of various international arbitration institutions including the ICC, SIAC, LCIA and PCA. He still believes that “the work I have done in Australia, Germany and now Singapore has all been directly affected by my time at Pace and all of the faculty members who helped me get to where I am today.”
ADVOCATE, ORGANIZER, TRAVELER
Pace Law School alumnus Matt Heibel ’07 began law school knowing that he would be a Judge Advocate with the US Air Force. “I came [to Pace] directly from college. I did ROTC at Notre Dame and owed four years of service to the Air Force.” Matt was granted an educational delay and put off his commitment to the Air Force for the three years it took him to receive his JD. Seeking a school with a strong international law program, Matt chose Pace and never looked back. “I wanted to go to a law school that had a semester abroad program – not just summer programs but a semester where I could study overseas – and I wanted a school that specialized in international law. Pace filled both of these goals for me.” Not one to let opportunity pass him by, Matt participated in Pace Law’s London Law Program, International Law Review, Human Rights in Action Program, immigration law clinic, and the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition, the first moot in the world to be based upon the ICC. Originally wanting a school where he could “study overseas,” Matt naturally enrolled in the London Program, which met all his expectations, but there was another program – unique to Pace Law School – that caught his eye. “My international experience was unexpectedly enhanced,” he says, “when I was selected to go to Tanzania for a summer to work with the UN at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.” While there, Matt worked for a prosecution team prosecuting six Rwandan defendants accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. He conducted legal research and helped prepare the cross examination of the main defendant—the first woman ever to be tried for genocide. In his final year at Pace, Matt was selected to work as a student-attorney with the Immigration Justice Clinic. “Students essentially handle their own cases and work with clients with only minimal involvement from the supervising professor. I learned so much about immigration law in just one semester.” Matt is currently serving with the US Air Force as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate at the Yokota Air Base in Japan. Once his commitment to the Air Force ends, Matt hopes “to continue working and practicing abroad, either with a non-governmental organization or an international organization like the UN.”
A COMMITMENT TO INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
Hana Heineken’s introduction to international law came during her time working in Tokyo for members of the Japanese Parliament. A recent graduate of Princeton University, Hana took on the daunting responsibility of organizing an international conference aimed at showing why Japan should ratify the international treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), a fledgling tribunal created to prosecute perpetrators of genocide and other serious international crimes, wherever they might reside. “Being fluent in Japanese, I had the opportunity to work with politicians, lawyers, and activists whose mission was to strengthen human rights institutions and end impunity. I realized not only the importance of law in protecting human rights but also the critical intersection of international and domestic criminal law.”
At Pace, Hana took full advantage of the Law School’s international programs and curriculum. As a Human Rights in Action intern, she spent a summer in Sierra Leone interning for the Special Court established there in cooperation with the United Nations to prosecute international criminal offenses committed during that country’s long civil war. As President of Pace’s International Law Society she has organized major events like Genocide Awareness Week and the Pace/ICLN ICC Moot Court Competition. The Pace Environmental Law Externship gave her the opportunity to spend a summer working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of International and Tribal Affairs, and the Pace Environmental Diplomacy Practicum facilitated her participation in the UN climate change negotiations. “It was a wonderful opportunity,” she notes, “and my coursework at Pace prepared me well for it.”
In 2011, Hana worked at the Center for International Environmental Law as a law fellow and then as a legal consultant. Her work focused primarily on climate change, hazardous waste, and international financial institutions, and positioned her well for her new role with the London-based international NGO Global Witness. Starting in 2012, Hana will assume the position of Assistant Policy Advisor on Forests, Land, and Climate based in the DC satellite office working as part of their Environmental Governance team. Hana will be working to address natural resource conflict by addressing corruption in developing countries and the international trade in minerals, timber, and carbon credits. Hana is very excited to be engaged in such cutting edge work. Whether confronting war crimes or protecting the environment, Hana remains committed to the pursuit of international justice.
FROM VIENNA TO HONG KONG TO THE US COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Damon Schwartz ’07 was attracted to Pace Law School’s nationally ranked environmental law program, and though he felt drawn to work on environmental issues since a very young age, his path diverged a bit once here.
After becoming involved in the school’s many extra-curricular environmental offerings early on in his Pace career, Damon turned his sights to the international program. As a 2L and 3L, Damon participated in the Vis and ICC moots; traveled to Hong Kong and then Australia during his second summer for an international law externship; and completed an international trade externship in his last semester with a Manhattan customs firm. Of all Damon’s activities while at Pace, the Vis Moot had the greatest impact. “The exposure to other cultures, law backgrounds, and personalities while competing really exposed me to the possibilities of practicing international commercial law.”
Now a judicial law clerk with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, Damon notes “the knowledge and experience I gained from Pace help me to handle the various tasks I am assigned, whether it be pure legal research or drafting opinions. Certain aspects of any legal employment must be learned on the job, but the ability to analyze a problem and prepare a written or verbal solution is universal and Pace prepared me well for that.”