LL.M. STUDENTS
Our outstanding students bring a rich array of experience, legal knowledge and cultures to USC Law. They come from countries all over the world such as Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Thailand.
The experience and knowledge that these students bring from their home countries are outstanding. Some are practicing lawyers with years of experience at prestigious law firms. Some students are judges whose rulings impact the laws of their home countries. Others are prominent legal and business professionals representing a wide spectrum of industries and specializations. Despite their different backgrounds, they enrich USC Law through their diversity of perspectives.
Sample Student Profiles 2007 - 2008 LL.M. Program
Italy
Massimo Amoruso received his law degree in 2005 from the University of Turin, after discussion of the thesis "Takeover Defenses in the U.S. and the EU: a Comparative Analysis". Since graduation, he has worked for Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners law firm in Rome, completing a mandatory two-year traineeship while working in the project finance department of the firm where he is involved in major public projects such as the construction of power plants and aqueducts and re-qualification of large metropolitan areas. Also, both before and after graduation, he served as an expert on EU and constitutional law for the Province of Turin in the ambits of the planned revision of EU Treaties.
Saudi Arabia
Bader Mohammed Balghonaim joined the established Capital Market Authority "CMA" in Saudi Arabia in November 2004 as the third member of their Legal Department. There he was involved in preparing, reviewing and publishing a number of implemented rules and instructions released by the CMA. Before this position,he interned at Al Jomaih Holding Company, a Limited Liability Company in Saudi Arabia,where he worked as an aid to the chief legal counsel. He engaged in reviewing and preparing several contracts and agreements. Mr. Balghonaim earned his Bachelor of Laws degree at King Saud University in Riyadh in 2004. He subsequently participated in two securities regulation intensive training courses, a summer program for international financial law administrated by Euro Money Legal Training in August 2005 in Oxford, United Kingdom, and the “Violation and Exploitation in the Capital Market” program administrated by the Balanced Scope Center in March 2007 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
India
Sangeetha Chitradurga obtained her undergraduate law degree in 2004 from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bangalore, India, a prestigious university known as the Harvard of the east. During her undergraduate years she had the opportunity to intern with some of the leading intellectual property and corporate law firms in India like Dua Associates, Nishith Desai & Associates and AZB & Associates, where she realized that her interest lies in intellectual property law. She was also an intern under the former Attorney General of India, Mr. Parasaran, and as a judicial clerk with Justice P. Viswanath Shetty at the Karnataka High Court. Ms. Chitradurga is also a licensed member of the Bar Council of Karnataka, India. While interning, she got to explore diverse areas of law ranging from contract law, corporate law, IPR to laws governing business processing outsourcing industries and also has experience in drafting lease agreements. After graduating from USC Ms. Chitradurga intends to take the California Bar exam and pursue a career as a successful attorney in the field of IP law.
France
Samantha Dupuch received her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University Paris 1–La Sorbonne, where her focus was on international business law. After she graduated, she studied at the University of California-Berkeley for a summer session. In 2004, she worked for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help prepare the budget law for the following year. In 2007, Ms. Dupuch received her Master’s degree in English and American business law from the University Paris 1–La Sorbonne. The same year, she participated at the International Moot Arbitration organized by Science Po in Paris, France. She is planning to take the New York Bar exam after the LL.M. program.
Brazil
Daniela Schaun Jalil received her LL.B. degree in 2002 from the Universidade Candido Mendes-Centro-Rio de Janeiro. Since then, she has been a licensed member of the Brazilian Bar Association. From 2004 to 2006, she was an attorney at a boutique law firm based in Sao Paulo, where she specialized in trademark and copyright registration, licensing, and protection. Prior to 2004, she practiced law in Rio de Janeiro for several years at a couple of boutique law firms and at the media company, Globo Som Livre, where she attained direct experience in civil, labor, commercial/business, and intellectual property law. Ms. Jalil's knowledge and experience in intellectual property allowed her to serve, from 2004 to 2006, as a member of the Sao Paulo Bar Association's Special Commission on Intellectual Property. During her career she has often served as an expert witness and a guest lecturer, and has published various articles and one book on intellectual property. She is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Thailand
Chirapohn Khagathong earned her Bachelor of Laws degree from Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand in 1991 and has been a licensed member of the Thai Bar Association since 1995. From 1992 to 1994, she worked as a legal officer at the Office of the Council of State, where her main responsibility was to consider and prepare draft legislation. She was also assigned to oversee training for and conduct the development of government officials at the Office of the Council of State with regard to legal work and legislative drafting. She now works for the Court of Justice, where she has presided over both civil and criminal cases since 1996. She is presently a Judge of the Dusit Municiple Court of Thailand.
Korea
Munsu Kim has been a licensed member of the Korean and Seoul Bar Associations since 2003. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Seoul National University and his MBA degree from the USC Marshall School of Business with concentrations in finance and real estate, where he was listed on the Dean’s list during all semesters and was selected for membership in Beta Gamma Sigma at graduation. Mr. Kim was an attorney at Kawoo International Law Partners and focused on mergers & acquisitions, international transactions, and real estate development. He also ran his own law firm for two years before working at Kawoo.
Canada
Geoffrey Lamoureux obtained his advanced-standing law degree from Queen Mary, University of London in 2006 and holds honors in a bachelor's degree in political studies from Queen's University in his native Canada. In addition to English, Mr. Lamoureux speaks French, German, Italian and Spanish. He recently completed a legal internship at Geragos & Geragos, P.C. in Los Angeles during the summer of 2007 and has done pro bono work with Reed Smith, LLP and Clifford Chance, LLP in London. In addition to the United Kingdom and Canada, Mr. Lamoureux has studied in Switzerland, Australia and Italy. He obtained his first master's degree in law from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 2007. In his free time he enjoys downhill skiing, which he instructed for five years.
Japan
Takuei Nakayama joins the M.C.L. Program from the Japanese Government. He worked for the National Police Agency of Japan, where he was involved in drafting statutes and government decrees. Most recently, he worked for two years on the revision project of a criminal detention system. Mr. Nakayama also has experience as a criminal investigator for the Aichi Prefecture Police. He earned his B.A. degree from the University of Tokyo in 2002 and his LL.M. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007.
Germany
Peter Steinwachs is a true cosmopolitan. He is fluent in five languages (German, English, Japanese, French and Latin) and was raised in a multicultural environment, spending a lot of time abroad. He earned his law degree at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. He was also awarded the sole opportunity for a full scholarship to study abroad at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan for one year where his focus was on corporate law. Peter Steinwachs taught classes on German and Japanese law at the Johannes Gutenberg-University for almost seven years and worked in the Corporate and Private Equity Departments of Clifford Chance in Frankfurt, Germany upon completion of his studies. Prior to commencing the LL.M. program, he worked for the Law Offices of Gilchrist & Rutter in Santa Monica, engaging in corporate and real estate transactions.
Japan
Shintaro Suzuki was a Law Lecturer at Nagoya University in Japan before joining the LL.M. program at USC as a Fulbright Scholar. He received his LL.B. and LL.M. degrees from Nagoya University, where he studied philosophy of law, bioethics and medical law. There he was supervised by Professor Yasutomo Morigiwa, Professor of Law and Philosophy and Vice-President of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR). Mr. Suzuki’s primary research objective is to develop new interpretations of selected legal concepts, the proliferation of which might induce further social acceptance of organ transplantation. He has published articles on the ethical, legal and social issues of organ transplantation in Japan. From 2004 to 2007, he also served as a member of a grant-aided project of Nagoya Law School to develop innovative educational methods in the fledging Japanese J.D. program.
Taiwan
Yang-Hung Wei is a member of the Taipei Bar Association and is a Taiwanese lawyer focusing on financial banking and white-collar crime defense. His major clients including AIG Credit Card (Taiwan) Co., AIG Finance (Taiwan) Co. and the high-level managers of several IT companies listed in Taiwan. He obtained his LL.B. degree from National Taiwan University in June 1997, and then he served as a lieutenant of the Army and the court clerk of the Military Court of Kinmen Defense Command from October 1997 to June 1999. After completing his military service, he was admitted to Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan to conduct research on the issues of comparative economic criminal law. Mr. Wei finished his dissertation of “Property Protection of Criminal Law – Comparisons with American Law”, and obtained his LL.M. degree in June 2004. In October 2004, he joined Lin and Partners Attorneys-at-Law as an associate attorney and started practicing as a lawyer in July 2007.
