2018-2019 Cohort
ASK, Nickolas
Nickolas Ask is originally from Oslo, Norway. He will receive a joint JD/LLM from Fordham University School of Law and Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas in 2019. While in law school, Nickolas has gained experience at Wikborg Rein, a Norwegian law firm, as well as at the United Nations' ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. He holds a Bachelor of Political Science from City University of New York-Hunter College.
Tomas BARRON ZAMBRANO
Born in San Cristóbal, Venezuela. Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, cum laude, from the University of Florida. On exchange from Fordham University School of Law in New York, New York. Dechert LLP New York Summer Associate in 2018 (Trials, Investigations, and Securities practice group), incoming Associate in Fall 2019. Research assistant to Professors Robin A. Lenhardt and Tanya K. Hernandez. 2018 Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court Regional Champion, Best Memorial Award, and 2018 Tendy Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition Finalist.
BYRNE, Henry
Henry Byrne was born and raised in the Chicago Suburbs. He graduated with a B.S. from Loyola University Chicago. After college, he attended the Marine Corp’s Officer Candidate School at Quantico Virginia and was commissioned upon completion. Currently, he attends Chicago Kent College of Law. He will serve as a Judge Advocate Officer upon graduation from law school.
KIERNAN, Patrick
KIRST, Niels
Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, Niels pursued his bachelor’s degree in philosophy & Economics at the University of Heidelberg. This combination is what continues to motivate him, as economics and politics influence the legal field to a great extent. After internships in Shanghai, Brussels and Rome, Niels decided to specialize in European law, since he wants to positively shape the role of Europe in the world of today and tomorrow. He successfully completed a Master 1 in International and European law at the University of Toulouse. Currently, he is following the LL.M. program in European law of the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.
Throughout his studies, he was part of many professional organisations, among which Geneva Model United Nations, Assas Legal Innovation society and the Assas Common Law society. He likes to engage with the public and organized several legal debates about Brexit and the European Union at the University of Toulouse. Niels enjoys thinking outside of the box and combines ideas from different disciplines, namely economics and law. During his academic and practical career, he experienced different cultural environments, these experiences strengthened his belief in liberty and equality, everybody should have the chance to achieve their true potential. Niels speaks German, English, French, and Italian.
KLAIBER, David
David was born and raised in a small village close to Munich, Germany. He began his law studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich and studied there for two years. Via the LMU he participated in the ERASMUS program of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for one year. Back in Germany, David changed university and studied at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU) from now on, where he also successfully graduated in law.
Two years of legal traineeship at the Berlin Appellate Court followed, which included a three-month study visit at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, located in Vienna. David also worked for the German Federal Justice Ministry – section European Law – during his legal traineeship. His focus though was and is on Asylum and Human Rights. As a lawyer in this field, David worked for one and a half years in a law firm in Berlin after he successfully passed his bar exams. Because of the ever-closer entanglement between national Asylum and Human Rights with European Law, David decided to apply for the LL.M. in European Law at University Paris II – Panthéon Assas, where he is currently studying.
KOVACS, Josephine
Josephine Kovacs grew up in Portland, Oregon in an immigrant household. She traveled between Oregon and Hungary often, before moving to New York City for college. She was shaped by this geographical pull from the west coast and east coast, as well as Europe. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Human Rights from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2016, focusing on human rights violations within the US prison industrial complex. During her time there she was awarded the Forest Foundation Fellowship, which allowed her to work with Justice at Work, a legal non-profit helping low-wage immigrant workers in Boston, Massachusetts.
Josephine is currently a third-year law student at Boston University School of Law, with an expected Juris Doctor and LL.M. in European Law from University Paris II - Panthéon-Assas in May 2019. During her time at BU, she was a member of the International Law Journal where she wrote about the interplay between fertility tourism, statelessness, and human rights. She has worked at the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project representing prisoners in misconduct hearings and at a mid-sized civil litigation firm in Portland, Oregon as a summer associate. She plans to return to Portland, Oregon to take advantage of the great outdoors and hopes to retain her global view of the law. She loves hiking and yoga.
LAURSEN, Mads Helsted
Born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Mads graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in law. During his fifth semester, Mads participated in an exchange program at Maastricht University, European Law School, focusing on comparative studies in the field of contract, property and constitutional law. While writing his dissertation on mortgages and creditor´s rights he interned at the Permanent Danish Representation to the EU, Justice and Home Affairs Section, in Brussels.
Upon returning to Denmark, Mads commenced a master’s degree at the University of Copenhagen while at the same time working as a legal assistant at the Danish Ministry of Justice (Department of Civil Law). Mads is currently pursuing a LL.M. degree in European Law at the Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II and is set to graduate from a second master’s degree at the University of Copenhagen in 2019. Throughout his academic career, Mads has been particularly engaged in the European Law Student Association, acting as Director and later Vice President for the Student Trainee Exchange Program.
LEISURE, Patrick
Patrick Leisure is a full-time law student at Boston University School of Law and is set to graduate in the spring of 2019 with a JD. He has dual nationality with the United States and the Czech Republic and was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. He attended the College of William and Mary for his undergraduate degree where he studied Economics and History. He studied abroad in South Africa and the UK. In the interim between undergrad and law school, Patrick interned at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Geneva, Switzerland and lived in Rome, Italy for a year where he worked as a teacher. He spent his past summer working at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, the Netherlands. Patrick Loves to travel, be outdoors, and play all sports.
MCKENNA, Andrew Jon
Andrew Jon McKenna will graduate with a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in the spring of 2019. He attended the University of Utah are received bachelor’s degrees in Middle Eastern studies and International Studies with a minor in political science and a certificate of criminology and corrections.
MENDELSOHN, Jonah
Originally, from German and the United States, he grew up in the UK – where he completed international baccalaureate and studied History at the University of Cambridge before graduating from Queen Mary, University of London with a senior status law degree. He has longstanding interests in human rights law, public policy, and the interconnections between law and society - most recently completing a highly commended dissertation on the convergence of human rights law and labour law, since the 1970s. Jonah has completed several mini-pupillages, including at Monkton Chambers, and have interned at several human rights organisations (including Memorial in Moscow), a law firm in Germany, and most recently in Airbus’s Litigation Department. He would like to qualify as either a solicitor or barrister in the UK, practice law in a highly international and European sphere or working in international institutions in the longer-term future. Jonah speaks German, French, English, and Russian and have played football and run cross-country to high levels at both school and university.
MENSAH, Jeiel
Jay was born outside of Accra, Ghana. He grew up in Ghana as well as in the United States. Jay graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Before attending law school, he worked at various refugee-centred NGOs in the Middle East and Africa writing about economic development and armed conflict. In addition to attending the LL.M in European Law at Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas, Jay is a JD law student at Boston University School of Law. In Boston, he was an intern for the Massachusetts Attorney General's White Collar Crime Division of the Criminal Bureau. He volunteered his time at Boston University's Human Rights Clinic. He most recently worked at the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel of the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Illinois in tax-exempt and non-profit law before attending the LL.M in European Law. Jay will sit for the New York Bar.
MIRAUSKAITE, Dovilé
Dovilė Mirauskaitė was born and raised in Lithuania. She received her bachelor’s degree in law and Penitentiary Activities in 2017 from Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania; specifically focused her Bachelor thesis on the application of incentives and penalties for prisoners serving a sentence. During her last year of law studies, she started a second bachelor’s degree in English for Specific Purposes and the Second Foreign Language (French). During her philology school career, she was the Students Representative and a Member of Board of the Faculty of Politics and Management. During her law school career, she participated in long-term projects such as The Opportunities Academy, organized by Lithuanian Young Lawyers Division, and SORAINEN Student Academy. The previous project was organised by the internationally recognized SORAINEN law firm, which has many times been recognized as ‘European Law Firm of the Year’ and ‘Baltic Law Firm of the Year’. It gave her opportunity not only to do a legal internship but also to take part in four-countries moot court and regional memo assignment. Although, Dovilė has international experience in studying and working abroad. As a third-year law student, she moved to Prague, Czech Republic, for an Exchange program in Law and Jurisprudence at Charles University in Prague. Moreover, during that year she did an internship in the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Czech Republic, where she gained political experience. Thus, all of this led her to the current situation, and she is pursuing an LL.M. degree in European Law at Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University.
REILLY, Piers
Piers Reilly recently graduated with a Law degree from BPP university, England. During his bachelor’s degree, he was president of the mooting society for two years, engaged in various pro bono activities, and participated in youth outreach programs. Piers has also undertaken several internships in London at international law firms and has interned at an Irish law firm specialising in EU law. Currently, he is writing his thesis on the topic of labour law and how changes in the labour market impacts human rights.
SAMONTE, Mary Charmel
Mary Charmel Samonte is originally from the Philippines but now lives in New York City. Her professional background is in healthcare with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the East and a clinical Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Michigan. She opened a cardiac rehab practice in New York where she witnessed how patients struggled with the legal complexities of insurance coverage and access to affordable health care. This inspired her to pursue a law degree at Fordham University School of Law with the intention of specializing in health law. She spent the summer of her first year in law school at Oxford University for a comparative trial advocacy program where she was briefly exposed to international human rights law. This motivated her to apply to the Fordham Law School and the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas J.D./LL.M. double degree international exchange program. Now on her last year of law school, she is completing the LL.M. in European Law in Paris and intends to advocate for human rights and particularly promote health as a human right.
STERN, Joseph
Joseph Stern is an American attorney from Los Angeles, California. He has always had a passion for justice and wanted to be a lawyer before he could even spell the title correctly. Joseph studied Business and International Relations pre-law at the University of Southern California and developed what he learned in the classroom by working for organizations such as the Democratic National Committee and United Nations before deciding to return to school to earn his Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School in 2018. Joseph is thrilled to be part of the Pantheon Assas LLM Program and hopes it will better prepare him for a career in European Commercial Law.