Michigan Journal of International Law

Louisa Marion

Louisa developed an interest in international law and development while growing up in Japan, Bahrain, Thailand, Australia, and Hong Kong. As an undergraduate at Stanford University, she earned a B.A. in International Relations, with a focus on human rights. She also studied French law and politics at Stanford in Paris, earning a French minor. Following undergrad, Louisa worked as a Program Director at the Institute for the Study and Development of Legal Systems, a San Francisco non-profit dedicated to international legal development. There she worked with judiciaries in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, India, and the United States to design intellectual property regimes, mediation systems, and other legal reforms. This work culminated in 2007, when she spent six months working for the High Court of Karnataka, in Bangalore, India, to institutionalize at mediation program at the Bangalore city courts. Louisa is particularly interested in international dispute resolution, international humanitarian law, and human rights. Last summer she externed for Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg at the Northern District of California and at Baker Botts, Hong Kong. This coming summer she will be working as a summer associate at Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C.

Rajesh Bandla

Rajesh Bandla attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Business Administration. During his time at Michigan, Rajesh spent his summers working at a securities research firm in New York City. After college, Rajesh moved to Chicago to work at Huron Consulting Group. While at Huron, Rajesh worked on a consulting engagement with one of London’s “Magic Circle” Law Firms, helping to guide the firm through several contract negotiations, including the restructuring of a global IT services contract. Rajesh’s work at Huron took him to England, Italy, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. Rajesh spent the summer of 2008 working for a federal judge at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is working at the New York office of Proskauer Rose during the summer of 2009.

Rajesh is from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, the only major city in the continental U.S. whose residents can drive south to enter Canada.

Luke H. Pelican

Luke grew up in Ann Arbor, MI and studied political science at Michigan State University. Following Michigan State, Luke spent time working in Washington DC for a non-profit, and later returned to Michigan for law school. Luke is a rising 3L and spent his 1L summer in the DC area working for another non-profit. Luke is interested in international development, national security law, and public international law, and considers himself an avid film buff. Upon graduation, he plans to pursue a career in civil service.

David Fautsch

David Fautsch is a dual degree student in law and public policy. In addition to his work with MJIL, David has been active in both moot court and trial advocacy. Before coming to Michigan, David taught middle school math in the South Bronx, and earned a masters degree in education as a member of Teach for America. A 2005 graduate of Loras College, David spent his college years competing in tennis and mock trial, as well as working on human rights issues in South Africa and India. David’s academic interests include civil litigation, international economic issues (especially law and development), and comparative constitutionalism. In the summer of 2008, David worked for the Hon. Michael J. Melloy on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and the law firm of Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn. In the summer of 2009, David will work at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Hayley Nyeholt

Hayley Nyeholt is a rising 3L hailing from Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. She graduated with High Honors and Distinction from the University of Michigan in 2005, where she earned her B.A. in English with a minor in Philosophy. Prior to attending law school, Hayley co-founded a nonprofit that focused on international tropical forest policy. She has participated in numerous meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the first Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. Hayley is interested in national and international environmental law and policy, and is the current co-chair of the Environmental Law Society. In the summer of 2008, Hayley worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. This summer, she will be at Perkins Coie in Seattle, WA.

Richard L. Thompson

Richard Thompson hails from Kansas City, MO, and is currently at the Ross Business School in his third year of the JD/MBA program. He earned a B.A. from Tulane University in 2005 with a double major in French and English and a minor in Philosophy. During his junior year, he studied French literature and culture at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. After graduation, he served as a Fulbright English teaching assistant at a public high school in East Java, Indonesia. Before beginning law school, he worked with the American Civil Liberties Union in Kansas City, MO, to preserve religious freedom, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Lima, Peru, to combat corruption and international crime. Last summer, he interned with the International Development Law Organization’s Microfinance Project in Rome, Italy, to train legal professionals on the regulatory framework for microfinance in Eastern Europe. This summer, he will work with the Rural Development Fund in Kyrgyzstan to develop socially responsible, sustainable business plans that target the base of the economic pyramid through a William Davidson Institute fellowship.

Charles Wang

Charles Wang is a 3L graduating in December 2009. Originally from Sugar Land, TX, he has visited several countries both in Europe and Asia. Charles enjoys discussing politics and reading about the histories of World War II and the Roman Empire. Charles graduated from The University of Texas-Austin in 2005 with a Masters in Professional Accounting and a Bachelors in Business Administration (Accounting, Minor: Finance). After graduating from Texas, he practiced as a C.P.A. in Washington, D.C. for a “Big 4” accounting firm’s Structured Finance Group. At the Law School, he was an officer of the Federalist Society, and he is a co-founder and co-chair of the Michigan Law Texans group. In the summer of 2008, Charles worked for Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. in Houston. In the summer of 2009, Charles will be working at both Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. and Baker Botts L.L.P. in Houston, TX.

Erin Glavich

Erin Glavich is a proud Southern Californian who likes to new places and new things. She graduated with High Honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science. She spent her junior year of college in Bordeaux, France where she gained a fine appreciation of French language and viniculture. Between law school and college, she spent two years with the Federal Emergency Management Agency working on the Hurricane Katrina and Northridge Earthquake recovery projects. In law school, she is active in International Law Society, Students for Legal Opportunities in Africa, and Student Network for Asylum and Refugee Law. She spent her 1L summer in rural Sierra Leone working for Timap for Justice, a grassroots social justice organization.

Benjamin Klein

Benjamin Klein hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to law school, he attended the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc.), studying international relations and comparative politics. His postgraduate research concentrated on
how governments, international organizations and non-state actors can work together to regulate and prevent ethnopolitical conflict. During the summer of 2008, he interned with a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and then worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division (Domestic Security Section) in Washington, D.C. He is returning to Washington for the summer of 2009 to work at Morgan Lewis.

Jehan Pernas

Jehan Pernas spent various years of her life in Spain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and California. She graduated from UCLA with a dual degree in History and Classical Civilizations, and took two years off to work at a Santa Monica law firm so she could finance her traveling. In the summer of 2008, she interned at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. She will be working for Debevoise & Plimpton in New York during the summer of 2009.

Lauren M. Strandbergh

Lauren Strandbergh grew up in Michigan. Staying close to home, she attended the University of Michigan and majored in English Literature and Medieval and Early Modern Studies. After spending four years indulging in Jane Austen and tales of Arthurian knights, she decided to attend law school. Lauren was a summer intern for the Honorable William C. Whitbeck at the Michigan Court of Appeals in Lansing. She will be working for the University of Michigan Health System’s legal department in summer 2009. She enjoys chocolate, gardening, and a good book.

Eliza T. Davis

Eliza is from New York City. She received a B.A. in History and a minor in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Throughout college she focused her studies on military history and international relations. Eliza spent a semester studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia. After graduation she worked as a paralegal for two years before attending law school. Eliza spent the summer of 2008 interning in the Chambers at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and will be working at the Minneapolis office of Dorsey & Whitney during the summer of 2009.

Joseph Y. Wang

Joseph Wang grew up in the Boston area where he attended High School with Mindy Kaling (The Office) and Ali Folland (To Die For). Lacking such acting talent, he studied Classics and minored in Music Performance at Princeton University (A.B. 2001), where he developed a deep fascination with legal history and love of interdisciplinary cooperation. Following graduation, Joseph taught Latin in New Jersey before matriculating at Oxford (MPhil. 2006), where he rowed for Keble College, sang at Queen’s and Magdalen, and wrote about Athenian jury trials and the legal amnesty following the Peloponnesian War. Now a rising 3L, Joseph is the Speakers Chair (and chef) of the Christian Legal Society, a member of the Law School Sesquicentennial Steering committee, and a Law School blogger. He is a research assistant to professors at the Business and Law Schools. Joseph can be seen on stage every holiday season singing with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Whitney L. Becker

Whitney Becker is a 3L from Chappaqua, NY. She earned a B.S.J. from Northwestern University with a double major in Journalism and International Studies. While at Northwestern, Whitney’s interests in newspapers and politics led her to intern for the Austin American-Statesman, The National Press Foundation and the House Judiciary Committee. She also spent her time playing Ultimate Frisbee for Gung-Ho, Northwestern’s women’s club team. In 2005, Whitney studied public health at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and malnutrition in local townships. In 2008, Whitney worked for Lovells LLP in Chicago, and she will be a 2009 summer associate in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Katie Conlin

Katie Conlin completed her undergraduate studies at the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota, where she earned a B.A. in Peace Studies. During her undergraduate career, Katie had opportunities to study in Cuba for a January term and in southwest China for a semester, and also toured in England and Wales with the Campus Singers. After undergrad, Katie volunteered for a year in Massachusetts through Americorps at a bilingual charter school (Spanish/English), and then worked as a Program Coordinator for an organization called Global Volunteers, through which she participated in service programs in India and Mexico. Just before beginning law school, Katie worked as a Policy Associate with the Minnesota Catholic Conference. Katie worked for the Federal Defender’s Office of Minnesota in the summer of 2008 and will be working at Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis in the summer of 2009.

Raphaëlle Monty

Raphaëlle Monty grew up in France and the United States. She received a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in political science, with a focus in human rights and international relations. During this time, she spent a year in London and a summer in Cape Town. Raphaëlle is an avid war-criminal hunter and this calling has taken her to the Office of Special Investigations at the U.S. Department of Justice and various non-profit organizations. As a 1L, Raphaëlle was an intern in the Law and Security program at Human Rights First in New York. This was followed by a semester-long externship in Geneva at Track Impunity Always – the Swiss Association against Impunity. During summer 2009, she will be an intern at the AIRE Centre in London.

Alexis Grant

Alexis Grant is a (proud) fifth-generation Coloradan and grew up in Denver. She received a B.A. from Colgate University, where she majored in environmental economics, and minored in art. During college, she spent a semester in Florence, Italy through New York University, and studied the European Union monetary system and art history. Prior to law school, she lived in Washington, DC and worked as a legal assistant for the international trade section at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP. Alexis returned to Akin Gump as a law clerk during her summer after 1L year, where she worked on various matters regarding export controls, antidumping, and customs. She will return to Akin Gump as a summer associate in summer 2009.

Annica Sunner

Annica Sunner received a B.A. in international relations from Tufts University in 2006. While at Tufts, she spent six months in Santiago, Chile studying at La Universidad de Chile and working for a national NGO to advance the political interests and legal protections of small-scale agricultural workers. Before entering law school, Annica worked in Boston as a teacher at an alternative high school for teenage parents and as a waitress at a wine bar where she got an informal education in oenology. During the summer of 2008, she worked for the Michigan Clinical Law Program. During the 2008-2009 academic year, Annica spent one semester working for the U.N. Development Program in Geneva, Switzerland, fusing her background in international relations with her study of law. Annica will be working at Nixon Peabody in New York during the summer of 2009.

This photograph is of Annica in the University of Michigan Law School quad, at age 8, when she first decided she wanted to attend law school here.

Vlad V. Lobatchev

Born on a precipice of a global change that would later be called the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the second half of 20th century, Vlad’s life has been anything but boring ever since. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, his mother rushed to take him on a sightseeing trip all across the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States before any changes made travel difficult. After that, Vlad had gained an insatiable appetite for international exposure. At the age of 15, Vlad found his way to Canada and from there, eventually to the United States. Vlad’s interests lie in infrastructure development and high-tech research. His undergraduate background is in spatial sciences – basically everything that has to deal with positioning, cartography and reconnaissance. Prior to entering law school, Vlad worked in a consulting firm providing geo-spatial advice to the government forestry sector in Canada.