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Maria Alejandra joined the JSD program at Cornell Law School in 2021. Maria is from Colombia and specializes in human rights and public international law. She obtained her LL.M with Distinction at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2020. She also holds an LLB and a BA in International Relations from Universidad del Norte (Colombia).
Before joining Cornell, Maria was an associate and practiced law at a law firm for three years. She held different research positions in which she conducted projects in human rights, transitional justice, peace, and post-conflict studies. Maria received the Young Researcher Fellowship from the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation in 2017. During this fellowship, she explored the role of the land restitution jurisdiction on the evolution of property rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia. She is currently a member of a tight-knit foundation where she provides legal counsel to communities in northern rural Colombia.
Her current research explores the relationship between case law, human rights, and climate change. She seeks to unfold the hidden effects of climate litigation in the plight of climate change, especially how a human rights-based approach to climate litigation has reshaped climate NGOs’ behavior and their impact on the international arena.
Cornell Law School Graduate Fellowship (2021)
COLFUTURO’s Scholarship-Loan Program Beneficiary to study the LLM at the LSE (2019)
Silver Medal for Academic Excellence (BA in International Relations) (September 2016)
Silver Medal for Academic Excellence (LLB) Universidad del Norte (March 2016)
Latin America Scholarships: Undergraduate Students – Santander Universities Award. Exchange Program at Tecnologico de Monterrey, campus Monterrey, Mexico (Fall 2015)
First National Competition of Academic Writings in Honor of Professor Luis Alberto Gomez Araujo. First Place (May 2015)
International Law & Climate Change
International Human Rights Law
Public International Law
Transitional Justice
Peace & Conflict Studies
Daniel Haefke joined the J.S.D. program at Cornell Law School in 2020. He specializes in comparative constitutional law and his dissertation explores the German constitutional fixation on dignity.
Daniel obtained his LL.M. at Cornell Law School as a nominated candidate (tuition-waived nomination by the Humboldt University of Berlin). He previously studied law at the Humboldt University in Berlin where he passed the First State Examination. Before joining Cornell Law School, Daniel worked as a research assistant at White & Case LLP and as a tutor at Humboldt University. As a law student, he worked with the Refugee Law Clinic e.V. as a pro bono legal advisor for refugees and migrants.
Daniel’s dissertation analyses the German fixation on the notion of human dignity in its constitutional self-understanding and discourse from a comparative perspective.
Mitchel Lasser (chair)
Zhenni Li joined the J.S.D. program at Cornell Law School in August 2018. Zhenni is from China and she specializes in public international law. During the J.S.D. Program, Zhenni completed the Judicial Fellowship Program at the International Court of Justice as a Judicial Fellow for H.E. Judge XUE Hanqin in The Hague, the Netherlands (Sep. 2020 – Aug. 2021). She received the Berger Summer Fellowship for her participation in the 71st Session of the United Nations International Law Commission (29 April to 7 June and 8 July to 9 Aug. 2019) in Geneva, Switzerland as a research assistant for H.E. Dr. HUANG Huikang. She has also worked as a teaching assistant for Professor Muna Ndulo and Professor Elizabeth Brundige. Before joining the J.S.D. Program, Zhenni was an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands (Aug. 2017–Aug. 2018). She clerked for the then Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at the Constitutional Court of South Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa (Jan. 2017–June 2017). She also worked as a legal intern at the Trial Chambers of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands (Oct. 2016–Dec. 2016).
A Theory of International Constitutionalism
Muna B. Ndulo (Chair)
Jens David Ohlin
Aziz F. Rana
“System Criminality and International Responsibility: Back to Canonical Questions”, Wisconsin International Law Journal, 36 no. 3 (2019)
“International Intertemporal Law”, California Western International Law Journal, 48 no. 2 (2018)
Email: zl463@cornel.edu
Santiago Mollis is a J.S.D. candidate from Argentina, specializing in philosophy of criminal law and political theory. Santiago obtained his LL.M. at Cornell Law as a Fulbright-Argentine Ministry of Education scholar.
He also holds a law degree from Universidad de San Andrés (Magna Cum Laude). Before joining Cornell, Santiago clerked for the Public Prosecutor’s Office within the Federal Criminal Appellate Court in Buenos Aires. He also served as a teaching assistant at the Universidad de Palermo. Santiago has served on the editorial boards of several law journals in Argentina.
Sam joined the JSD program at Cornell Law School in August 2015. He previously graduated from the LL.M program at Cornell in May 2015 as an Institute of African Development Fellow, and a recipient of the Schlesinger Fellowship of Cornell Law School. During his LL.M, he was awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award (2015). He also holds an LL.B from the University of Nairobi
Prior to joining CLS, he clerked for the Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court in Kenya, Hon. Dr. Willy Mutunga, and was a guest lecturer in Ethics and the Constitution at the Ethics and Integrity Institute (Kenya). His interests are primarily in international development law and transformative constitutionalism.
Sam’s dissertation focuses on the impact of litigation strategy in the enforcement on socio-economic rights in South Africa. He investigates the promise of socio-economic rights- the so called “development rights”- and looks at the potentially negative effects of the centrality of litigation in the normativization of these rights.
Cesar is a Cornell Law School J.S.D. candidate from Colombia specializing in criminal procedure, criminal law, comparative law, philosophy of law and legal anthropology.
Before attending Cornell, Cesar worked as a lawyer in the law firm Miguel Cordoba Abogados S.A.S. Prior to his appointment at the firm, he aided for one years as a legislative assistant in the Colombian Congress. He also served as a clinical professor and as adjunct professor of evidence in the criminal procedure at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Cesar obtained his LL.M. from Cornell Law School in 2019. In 2018, he served as the LL.M. Representative for the Mock Trial Association, the Alternative Dispute Resolution association and the National Lawyers Guild, Cornell Law Chapter. Cesar obtained his Bachelor of Law from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. He obtained an excellence award for his thesis “Abbreviate Criminal Procedure in Colombia: A Possibility to Prosecute Minor Crimes.”
Email: csr227@cornell.edu
Ana Ruival joined the J.S.D. program in 2019. She specializes in antitrust law in digital platform markets. Ana obtained her LL.M. at Cornell Law as a Fulbright scholar.
Ana holds a law degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and a master’s in Law and Economics from Torcuato Di Tella University. Before joining Cornell Law School, Ana worked in the Argentinean Competition Commission as an analyst specializing in complex cases mainly in telecommunication markets. She also worked as an analyst in CIPPEC, one of Argentina’s most renowned think tanks that specializes in the implementation of public policies. As a J.S.D. student, Ana received the Berger Summer Fellowship to contribute with the World Bank’s Digital Development Program in projects related to competition in digital platforms markets, and telecommunication policy in developing economies.
Kai Wang, from China, is a J.S.D. candidate at Cornell Law School. His research interests include data privacy law, tort law, international criminal law, comparative law, and empirical legal studies. He is interested in researching how international legal instruments can be elaborated to further develop a more comprehensive legal framework for handling data.
He earned his LL.B. from Shanghai University and his LL.M. from Cornell Law School. Prior to his doctoral studies, he was an intern for legal affairs at the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). He currently serves as an editor of the Cornell International Law Journal.
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