They came from around the globe to enroll in the Law School’s two new master’s programs. Eighteen lawyers, businesspeople, and government officials comprise the inaugural classes, nine seeking LLMs in Corporate Governance and Practice (CG&P), and the other nine seeking LLMs in Law, Science, and Technology (LS&T). For the next year, these students, along with 12 other foreign lawyers and scholars in the advanced degree Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS), will be studying at the Law School. Here’s an introduction to a few of the new arrivals.

MAXIMILLIANO ORAZI, ARGENTINA, LS&T 

The in-house counsel for Cisco Systems Argentina, he also has worked as a senior associate in the law firm Allende & Brea in Buenos Aires and taught IT contract at Catholic University of Argentina. “This is the first LLM to specialize in technology that I had seen,” he says. “In my career, it’s been mostly instincts and practice. Now I can stop the ball for a second and look back and get the academic background and perspective.”

ANASTASIA GAYDARZHINSKAYA, RUSSIA, CG&P 

A lawyer in Moscow for a New York-based firm, she had previously served as the communications manager for World Bank programs at the International Finance Corporation in Moscow.

JOHANES BUERGI, SWITZERLAND, CG&P

A clerk for the district courts in Erlach and Sannen-Gstaad, he has also worked as a lawyer with Walder Wyss and Partners in Zurich and was a lecturer in commercial law at the University of Bern Law School. 

CHANTAL GENERMONT, FRANCE, CG&P

A tax and corporate attorney with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton in Paris, she also has co-directed and co written a French television sitcom. 

DOMINIC AYINE, GHANA, SPILS

A University of Ghana Law Professor, he has defended 30,000 squatters who face eviction from public lands in Accra. “I hope to convince some Stanford Law students who are interested in public interest law to come over and work with us,” he says. 

GABRIELA FALCÃO VIEIRA, BRAZIL, CG&P

A corporate lawyer with eight years’ experience and an adjunct professor of corporate law at Candido Mendes University in Rio de Janeiro, she is fluent in six languages. “This is the perfect moment to be discussing corporate governance issues because of Enron and WorldCom,” she says. “Brazil has a completely different legal system than the US, but steps the US takes to address this crisis are likely to be a model for the rest of the world.”

ADI ARON GILAT, ISRAEL, SPILS

A lawyer with the Israel Union of Environmental Defense, she says: The United States is ten light years ahead of Israel in environmental law. Israeli lawyers see the American legal system as a model, so it was a natural choice to come here.”

VINEET SUBRAMANI, INDIA, LS&T

A lawyer in Mumbai, he specializes in telecommunications and finance. He founded the Legal Services Support Team, an organization that provides legal assistance to NGOs. 

 BAURZHAN KONISBAEV, KAZAKHSTAN, LS&T

A corporate lawyer in Almaty for a New York-based firm, he represents multinational companies in deals in the Eurasian republics. 

MIN KE, CHINA, LS&T

A legal manager for Microsoft China, she also was in-house counsel for China National Cereals. Her first job was as a soybean trader.

JUNICHI TOBIMATSU, JAPAN, CG&P

A mergers and acquisitions lawyer, he was a member of the bankruptcy legislation research team that contributed to the writing of the Japanese Corporate Rehabilitation Law of 1999. He was also the captain of the University of Tokyo’s nationally ranked ballroom dancing team.

SOMEE LEE, SEOUL, LS&T

A PhD candidate in law in Seoul, she translated Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, into Korean. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, a Confucian scholar and the founder of a telecommunications company.

MIA KRISTINA GARLICK, AUSTRALIA, LS&T

An IP and IT lawyer for four years in Sydney, she has written numerous articles on copyright law in a digital context.