Samantha Franks graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Missouri with degrees in Political Science and English. Prior to law school, she received an MSC in International Conflict Prevention from Durham University in the United Kingdom as a Fulbright postgraduate scholar and worked as a Fellow at the American Constitution Society. In law school, she has competed as an oralist in the Jessup Moot Court Competition, served as the Programming Officer of the Women’s Law Student Association, and chaired the Student Funded Fellowships Auction. She is currently an extern for the UNHR Geneva program, helping to represent Moldova before the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. Samantha spent her first summer in Belgrade, Serbia, doing international arbitration work at Mikijelj Jankovic & Bogdanovic. She will spend her second summer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw in Washington, D.C.

Sara Watson graduated from Grinnell College with a double major in Economics and Political Science and a concentration in Latin American Studies. Prior to law school, she worked in executive compensation consulting. At Michigan Law, she works as a Senior Judge and serves as an Advisor to the Jessup International Moot Court team. She spent her 1L summer as a judicial extern for Judge Sara Ellis in the Northern District of Illinois and will be spending her 2L summer at Cleary Gottlieb in New York.

Reem El-Mehalawi graduated from the University of Houston with degrees in Economics and Journalism. During her 1L summer, she worked at the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic where she represented taxpayers in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. She plans to spend her 2L summer at Thompson & Knight in Houston. At Michigan Law, she has been involved with the Syrian Accountability Project and MENALSA.

Emma was born and raised in Beijing and came to the U.S. for school in 2011. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 with a major in sport management and a minor in political science. She has worked with the 2022 Beijing Olympics Bidding Committee, the International Association of Athletics Federations, and the International Volleyball Federation during undergrad on international sports governance issues. At Michigan Law, Emma was a researcher for the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, served as the president of Asia Law Society, and on the board of Reproductive Rights & Justice. She is also a student-attorney for the Michigan Law Human Trafficking Clinic. Emma spent her 1L summer interning for a non-profit organization, Campaign for Accountability, in Washington DC. For her 2L summer, she will be a summer associate at Simpson Thacher’s Washington DC office. 

Farshad Rahimi Dizgovin is a Michigan Grotius Fellow and an S.J.D. student at the University of Michigan Law School. Farshad got his first degree in law from the University of Tabriz (Iran) in 2013. There he co-authored a treaty on international sale contracts, which is a standard reference book for master and Ph.D. students in Iran. The second edition of the book was published in 2016. Thereafter, he acquired a Master's degree in International Business Transactions from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, where he was awarded a prestigious "global scholarship." In 2017, Farshad obtained his second master from the University of Michigan Law School, specializing in international investment and financial law. At Michigan, he was granted a famous Michigan Grotius Fellowship covering his tuition and living expenses. Farshad has worked in both government and private sectors. He has worked for almost a year in the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran as a legal counsel. He has also been a legal counsel at Parthian Investment Advisors where he was focused on projects in the capital market and international finance. At the same time, Farshad worked in Sabeti & Khatami law firm as a legal associate where he was engaged in complicated cases dealing with, among others, damages claim, doing due diligence in the context of foreign direct investment, and corporate-related issues. He has extensively published in top tiers domestic and international law reviews, such as Virginia Journal of International Law, American Society of International Law Insights, Florida Journal of International Law, Uniform Law Review (Oxford), and the Cambridge Journal of International Law (online). His most recent paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Securities Quarterly (Iran), which is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of the capital market in Iran. He will be spending his summer at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle in Washington DC.

Ellen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dickinson College in 2013 with a double major in French and International Studies. Prior to coming to Michigan, she worked in the International Practice of the BGR Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm in Washington, DC where she helped the Practice represent foreign governments and foreign corporations before Congress and various federal agencies. At Michigan, she is on the board of the Michigan International Law Moot Court Association and the National Security Law Society, and participated in the Michigan Geneva Externship Program, where she was placed at the Secretariat of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. During her 1L summer, Ellen interned at the Coast Guard Board for Correction of Military Records at the Washington headquarters of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and will spend her 2L summer at Mayer Brown LLP's Washington, DC office.

Alessandro was born and raised in Italy, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Venice. He studied abroad twice, in Belgium and California, and participated in the 2017 Harvard Summer School. He earned a master’s degree in Management from the University of Manchester Business School (UK). After his first year of law school, he spent the summer in The Hague, as an intern in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (formerly International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia). Alessandro will be spending his second semester of 2L in Geneva, as an extern at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. He will spend his 2L summer working for Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York.

Cora graduated from the College of Charleston, with a bachelor’s degree in History and Sociology. Cora spent her 1L summer at Legal Aid of Cambodia researching indigenous land rights and is currently externing in South Africa advocating for refugees and migrants. She plans to spend her 2L summer at the International Law Commission in Geneva. At Michigan, Cora has been involved with the Syrian Accountability Project, OPIS, and as a student attorney with the Human Trafficking Clinic.

Katherine holds a BA First Class Honors in European Languages (French, Spanish, and Italian) and an MA with Distinction in Translation and Interpreting from The University of Salford in Manchester, England, as well as an M1 in Intercultural Communications from the Institut de Traducteurs, d'Interprètes et de Relations Internationales in Strasbourg, France. Before law school, Katherine worked as a conference interpreter in Europe and North Africa. In 2015, having spent a decade in Europe, Katherine returned to the United States and settled in Washington, D.C. In Washington, Katherine worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. Katherine spent her 1L summer interning for the Honorable Thomas Ludington at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Northern Division, and will be spending her 2L summer as a Summer Associate at Warner Norcross & Judd in Midland, Michigan.

Vineet is from Concord, MA and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and a minor in Business Administration. At the Law School, Vineet was the Treasurer of the Law School Student Senate and the Vice President of the South Asian Law Student Association in 2019. He also serves as a student attorney at the International Transactions Clinic and will be joining the University of Michigan Social Venture Fund as an associate in the fall. In the past five years, Vineet has spent summers working at the United Nations Association in Boston, the Clinton campaign in 2016, and at CommScope, a leading telecommunications technology company based in North Carolina. Vineet spent his 1L summer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. and will spend his 2L summer at Proskauer Rose LLP in Boston, MA.

Mackenzie Martin graduated from Boston College with degrees in International Studies and Ethics and International Social Justice and a concentration in Just War and Conflict Resolution. Prior to law school, she worked as an ESL teacher. At Michigan Law, she works as the Events Chair of Human Rights Advocate. She spent her 1L summer at Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic at Michigan Law and will be spending her 2L summer at Milbank in New York.

Cameron Mullins graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, with a double major in History and Spanish. Prior to coming to law school, Cameron worked as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Neiva, Colombia and as an Auxiliar de Conversacion in Galicia, Spain. He spent his 1L Summer interning for the Hon. Bruce McGiverin of the district court of Puerto Rico, and will be working at DLA Piper’s office in Santiago, Chile for his 2L summer.

Amanda is currently pursuing a joint JD and MPP. Before beginning grad school, Amanda lived in Jordan for a year, where she researched civil society perceptions opinions of USAID and developed an intimate familiarity with the various coffee shops in and around the Webdeh area of Amman. Before that, Amanda served as a Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteer in Morocco, where she taught English and Model UN and mastered the art of negotiating taxi fares. Amanda loves connecting with others who are passionate about Arabic and French, learning about different cultures, and debating about pretty much anything. Amanda’s primary professional interests lie in the nexus between international law and socioeconomic development, and if you take her out for MJIL mentoring coffee she just might bring you a brownie in exchange.

Tom is a Michigan Grotius Fellow and an S.J.D. candidate at the University of Michigan Law School. At present, he is the Director of the Human Rights Education and Promotion Office of the Commission of Human Rights of the Philippines and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He also lectures at the Far Eastern University Institute of Law in the Philippines. Tom graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines and a Juris Doctor degree (second honors) from the Ateneo de Manila University Law School in the Philippines. He earned his Master of Laws degree in 2017 from Michigan as a DeWitt Scholar and received The Jon Henry Kouba Prize for Best Student Paper (International Peace and Security Winner) and a Certificate of Merit for Impact of Human Rights on International Law from Professor Bruno Simma. Aside from teaching, prior to coming to Michigan, he has worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Philippine government. He is a recipient of the DILA Prize for Young Scholars from the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia for his work on the interface of international law in the Philippine court and the S. James Anaya Award for Excellence in International Legal Scholarship from the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. His works, among others, are published in the Berkeley Journal of International Law (forthcoming), Forced Migration Review, Refuge, Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, Michigan Journal of International Law (online), Asian Journal of International Law, Ateneo Law Journal, Philippine Law Journal, Quilted Sightings, and the Asian Yearbook of International Law.

Laura Boniface graduated from Kenyon College with a bachelor's degree in history. For the next three years, Laura worked at a consulting firm in Washington, DC on a team that specialized in class action lawsuits. At Michigan, Laura is involved in several different pro bono projects, and she is also a research assistant for a business professor at Ross. During her 1L summer, Laura returned to DC to work for the DOJ in the Office of Vaccine Litigation. Laura will also be spending her second summer working for the federal government.

Edward Cullen graduated from Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service with a major in International Politics concentrating in International Security. Prior to law school, he worked as a paralegal in Washington DC. He spent his 1L summer interning for the Department of Justice in the National Courts section, and will be spending his 2L summer at Baker Botts in Washington DC.

Karin serves as a Note Editor for MJIL Volume 42. Outside of MJIL, she is a graduate research assistant at the Center on Finance, Law, and Policy, and works on the Central Bank of the Future Project. Previously, Karin worked at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. This summer, she will be at Paul Hastings, Washington, D.C..

Jonathan Blaha graduated from the University of Michigan School of Education in 2012. Prior to law school, he served as a Logistics Officer in the United States Army. While in the Army, he developed his interest in international law planning and executing the movement of military equipment across Europe, working at the intersection of treaty requirements, host nation laws, and E.U. regulations. During his 1L summer, Jonathan worked at the Warsaw, Poland office of Miller-Canfield-Babicki, and Chelchowski. At Michigan, he has been the president of the Michigan European Law Organization and an oralist on the Jessup Moot Court team.

Kay graduated from the University of Toronto in 2018 with a Bachelor in Applied Science and Engineering. She was born in China, grew up in Canada, and spent two summers in Germany as an engineering researcher and as a legal intern. At Michigan, Kay is a student attorney at the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic, and the Managing Executive Editor of the Michigan Technology Law Review. She will spend her 2L summer at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.