Updated 1 May 2008

2007-2008 IIEL FELLOWS

The Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL) at Georgetown University Law Center is pleased to announce its 2007-2008 IIEL Fellows.  Each year, the IIEL invites a small number of outstanding students, visiting scholars and visiting researchers to be IIEL Fellows.  This year's Fellows come from 19 different countries. (See biographies below.)  The goal of the IIEL Fellows Program is to encourage scholarly research in the field of international economic law and to create a forum for discussion of these issues. Fellows are involved in several activities, including a weekly luncheon speaker series, which attracts well-known scholars, current and former government officials, practitioners and other experts to discuss prominent issues in international economic law. 

2007-2008 IIEL Student Fellows

Ms. Johanna Sánchez Acosta (Dominican Republic), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. H. Viviana Sanchez Alfaro (Peru), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Lilibeth Almonte (Philippines), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Natasha Danilova (Russia), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law  (Fall 2007)

Mr. Ali Ehsassi (Canada), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law  (Spring 2008)

Ms. Elizabeth Goergen (USA), J.D. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Renato Gomes (Brazil), S.J.D. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Matthew Hawkins (New Zealand), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Jacquiline Kinyili (Kenya), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Sean Kulkarni (USA), J.D. candidate, Georgetown Law  (Spring 2008)

Mr. Hyouk Woo Kwon (Korea), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Christophe Larouer (France), S.J.D. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Tanya Lat (Philippines), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Yamini Srivastava (India), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Christian Vidal (Mexico), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

2007-2008 IIEL Visiting Fellows

Ms. Juliana Salles Almeida (Brazil), PhD candidate, University of Chile

Mr. Pedro Roman M. Ariston (Philippines), Visiting Researcher, Georgetown Law

Mr. Yves Bonzon (Switzerland), PhD candidate, University of Lausanne

Ms. Jaratrus Chamratrithirong (Thailand), S.J.D. candidate, Duke University

Prof. David Collins (UK, Canada), Lecturer in Law, City University of London

Ms. Adriana Dantas (Brazil), PhD candidate, University of São Paulo

Ms. Andrea Ernst (Germany), PhD candidate, University of Heidelberg

Mr. R. Michael Gadbaw (USA), Visiting Researcher, Georgetown Law

Ms. Michelle Grando (Brazil), PhD candidate, University of Toronto

Mr. Mark Herlihy (USA), Visiting Researcher, Georgetown Law

Amb. Jennifer Hillman (USA), Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law

Prof. Werner Meng (Germany), Professor of Law, Univ.of Saarbruecken

Ms. Edna Ramirez Robles (Mexico), PhD candidate, Universidad Complutense, Madrid

Prof. Luca Rubini (Italy), Lecturer in Law, University of Leicester

Mr. Philipp Scheuermann (Germany), PhD candidate, University of Munich

Prof. Debra Steger (Canada), University of Ottawa Faculty of Law

Ms. Akiko Yanai (Japan), Japan External Trade Organization

Ms. Katia Yannaca-Small (Greece), Legal Advisor, OECD, Paris

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BIOGRAPHIES

2008-2009 Distinguished Visiting Fellow

R. Michael Gadbaw (USA), IIEL Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Mr. Gadbaw serves as Co-Chair of the US-China Legal Cooperation Fund, and he is a Board member of the National Bureau of Asia Research, Partners for Democratic Change, the World Affairs Council and the European Institute.  In February 2008, Mr. Gadbaw retired after seventeen years as Vice President and Senior Counsel for General Electric’s International Law & Policy group.  In that position, he was responsible for supporting the global operations of GE’s businesses, particularly in the areas of public policy, transaction advocacy, regulatory reform, global funding and compliance.  He served as Chairman of GE's International Practice Group and was the internal champion for GE policies on Improper Payments and International Trade Controls.  He continues to support GE’s corporate citizenship work and Public Policy Committee of the GE Foundation.  Mr. Gadbaw was founding Chairman of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (1994-2008), Chairman of the US-Malaysia Business Committee of the US ASEAN Business Council, founding Chairman of the India Interest Group; a Trustee of the U.S. Council for International Business; and a member and former Chairman of the U.S.-Egypt Presidents’ Council.

Before joining GE, Mr. Gadbaw was in private practice (1980-1990), initially as a partner is Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand and then as a partner at Dewey Ballantine where he helped form that firm’s international trade group.   Mr. Gadbaw began his legal career as Counsel in the General Counsel’s office in the U.S. Treasury Department and later served as Assistant and then Deputy General Counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

2007-2008 Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Ambassador Jennifer Hillman (USA), Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law

In December 2007, Jennifer Hillman was appointed as a member of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization for a four-year term.  Ambassador Hillman has been an adjunct professor at the Law Center since 2006.  In March 2007, she completed nine years of service as a Commissioner on the U.S. International Trade Commission.  She was originally appointed to the Commission in 1998 by President Clinton, and from June 2002 to June 2004 she served as Vice Chairman of the Commission.  Prior to her appointment to the USITC, she served as General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) from 1995-1997, and before that she served as USTR’s Chief Textile Negotiator with the rank of Ambassador.  Prior to joining USTR, Ambassador Hillman was the Legislative Director and Counsel to U.S. Senator Terry Sanford of North Carolina, responsible for international trade and international finance issues. She began her professional career as an international trade attorney in the Washington firm of Patton, Boggs, LLP.

2007-2008 IIEL Student Fellows

Johanna Sánchez Acosta (Dominican Republic), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Sánchez received her J.D.magna cum laude from the Pontifical Catholic University of Santo Domingo (PUCMM) in 2003. Since January 2005 she has served as Legal Counselor for International Economic and Political Affairs at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Washington, D.C.  Before joining the Diplomatic Service, Ms. Sánchez worked at the Department of Economic Affairs and Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic in the position of Analyst in International Commerce and Trade Law.  She has been involved in the negotiation, ratification and implementation process of the United States-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) and negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

H. Viviana Sanchez Alfaro (Peru), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mrs. Sanchez Alfaro studied at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP) in 2001. She is a Fulbright and International Peace Scholar at Georgetown University and has a post-degree from the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. She worked for the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) and served as the Technical Secretariat in the Antidumping, Countervailing and Safeguard Commission. She has also been a Peruvian negotiator of the US-Andean Free Trade Agreement.  She most recently worked at Peru’s Ministry of Economy and Finance in trade-related issues, and taught at Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas "Regulacion del Comercio Internacional."

Lilibeth Almonte (Philippines), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Almonte serves as a Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations in the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.  She handled WTO and Trade in Services issues in relation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and represented the Department in the Technical Committee on WTO matters and the Committee on Tariff and Related Matters headed by the National Economic Development Authority. She was involved in the negotiations of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. Ms. Almonte holds a degree in B.S. Business Management (Major in Legal Management) from the Ateneo de Manila University and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines.

Natasha Danilova (Russia), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law  (Graduating February 2008)

Ms. Danilova earned her J.D.degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2005 where she also participated in an exchange program with the Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.  During law school she was selected for a summer internship with the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations headquarters in New York where she prepared legal memoranda on the administrative law of the U.N., public international law, and U.N. resolutions.  Prior to starting the LL.M. program at Georgetown, she worked as a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank Environment Department, providing analytical and advisory assistance on various Bank projects related to environmental governance, international environmental law, multi-million dollar development trust funds and global partnerships.

Ali C. Ehsassi (Canada), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Ehsassi received his B.A from the University of Toronto, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1999. After graduating from law school, he practised exclusively in the areas of international trade litigation and investment arbitration at two law firms in Canada.  During this period, he worked on a number of trade remedy cases and NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration disputes. Immediately prior to attending Georgetown, he served as a Senior Trade Policy Officer at the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. As a result, Mr. Ehsassi has assisted both private claimants and Governments with NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-State arbitration disputes. Mr. Ehsassi also has lectured at various universities, and taught an upper level trade law course at the University of Western Ontario Law School.

Elizabeth Goergen (USA), J.D. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Goergen earned her B.A. in Political Science and Spanish at Tufts University.  She is currently a J.D. and WTO Studies Certificate candidate, as well as a Global Law Scholar.  She placed in the semi-finals at the ELSA WTO Moot Court Competition in Geneva in May 2007, and is coaching the 2008 team.  Ms. Goergen has worked in the law firms of SJ Berwin in Madrid, Spain and Clifford Chance in New York.  She has held legal internships with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Pro Bono Institute, and the Emergency Domestic Relations Project at the D.C. Superior Court.  Ms. Goergen will join the litigation and arbitration group of Clifford Chance after graduation.

Renato Gomes (Brazil), S.J.D. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Gomes holds an LL.M. in International Business Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Laws from Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.  He is a member of the Bar in Brazil and Portugal, and in 2006 he worked as legal officer at the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo in Vienna.  Prior to that he worked for Vortex International Businesses in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, consulting on trade-related issues.  In 2004 he was on the winning team in the final oral round of the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law in Geneva, and he won the Best Oralist award in the United Kingdom’s national round of that competition.  He also won Best Oralist awards in the Brazilian rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in 2003, 2002 and 2001, and was on the winning team in 2003.  He spent the 2005-2006 academic year at the University of Helsinki, working toward a LL.Lic. 

Matthew Hawkins (New Zealand), LL.M. Candidate

Mr. Hawkins joins the IIEL from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade where he was Deputy Head of Mission at the New Zealand Embassy in Iran (2005-2007) and a Policy Officer in the Trade Negotiations Division (2003-2005).  His professional experience also includes eighteen months with the Washington D.C. law firm of Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon and one year on Capitol Hill.  Mr Hawkins earned his LL.B at Victoria University of Wellington and he is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Jacquiline Kinyili (Kenya), LL.M. Candidate

Ms. Kinyili received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi in 2004.  She has served legal internships at the Law Courts in Nairobi at the Central and Milimani Courts, and with the Firm of Kilonzo & Company Advocates. She worked as an Advocate at the Law Firm of Waweru Gatonye & Company Advocates.  She has a particular interest in regional economic integration and East African Community Law.  While at Georgetown Law she is focusing her studies on international trade and development and the WTO.

Sean Kulkarni (USA), J.D. candidate, Georgetown Law  (Spring 2008)

Mr. Kulkarni earned his B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown, where he is currently a J.D. and WTO Studies Certificate candidate. He placed in the semi-finals at the WTO Moot Court Competition in Geneva in May 2007. Mr. Kulkarni previously worked in public health and microfinance in the Esmeraldas Province of Ecuador. He has performed project development and finance work for Ashurst and Shearman & Sterling in London, and at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Washington. In Fall 2007 he studied European law at the ESADE School in Barcelona, and is returning to the Georgetown Law campus for the Spring 2008 semester. Mr. Kulkarni will begin an international finance and corporate practice with the London office of Sullivan & Cromwell after graduation.

Hyouk-woo Kwon (Korea), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Kwon joins the IIEL from Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) where he was Deputy Director of  the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Goods Negotiation Division. He participated in many FTA negotiations, including the one with the US, and in many other multilateral fora, like WTO, OECD and APEC.  Before he joined the MOFAT, he worked as a deputy director for the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and as a news reporter for Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) and Maeil Business Newspaper.  In addition to an LL.B, he has a B.A. in sociology and a Master degree in public policy both from Seoul National University. 

Christophe Larouer (France), S.J.D. Candidate, Georgetown Law
Mr. Larouer received his LL.M. in International Legal Studies with distinction from Georgetown Law in 2005.  The same year he also earned the WTO Certificate from the Institute of International Economic Law. Since his arrival in the United States in 2002, Mr. Larouer has been working for the U.S. Department of State at the Foreign Service Institute as an International Relations and Language Instructor teaching U.S. diplomats.  Previously, he gained experience in international intellectual property law working for the firm of Deprez, Dian, Guignot & Associés in Paris.  In May 2006, he published an article regarding WTO “non-violation” complaints in the Netherlands International Law Review, which is distributed by Cambridge University Press.

Tanya Karina A. Lat (Philippines), LL.M. Candidate, Georgetown Law

Before coming to Georgetown Law Ms. Lat was working with Philippine and international civil society organizations to oppose toxic waste trade in Asia and push for fairer international trade and investment agreements. She was legal consultant on tariff and trade matters to Akbayan Citizens Action Party and its representatives in the Philippine Congress, working on legislative and political initiatives to increase stakeholder participation, access to information, and government accountability in economic decision-making.  Ms. Lat also taught at the Institute of Law of Far Eastern University. She obtained her law degree from the University of the Philippines in 2001.

Yamini Srivastava (India), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Ms. Srivastava earned her LL.B. (Hons.) degree from the National Law School of India University in 2005. She worked at Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. in the area of corporate law from 2005-06. She is currently working with the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad) in New Delhi, an independent organization engaged in policy research and advocacy on issues around trade and development with a focus on South Asia. Her work has included analyzing India’s Patents Act and the TRIPS Agreement in the context of patents for the pharmaceutical sector. Her publications on subjects related to international trade and economic laws include articles in the Indian Journal of International Law and in Trading Up (a Centad publication).

Christian Vidal (Mexico), LL.M. candidate, Georgetown Law

Mr. Vidal earned his Bachelors Degree from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Faculty of Law (UNAM) in 2006. As an undergraduate student, he won several awards in Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia on issues concerning International Trade and Human Rights Law. He has also represented his home country in international meetings for young Latin-American leaders held by the Organization of the American States and the Inter-American Development Bank, held in the United States, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Mr. Vidal has also authored legal articles published by different Latin-American Law Journals on issues relating to International Trade Law and Human Rights.

2007-2008 IIEL Visiting Fellows

Juliana Salles Almeida (Brazil), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow   

Ms. Almeida holds an L.L.M. in Economic Law and a Bachelor of Laws from Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Chile. She has worked as a consultant at Brazilian law firms and national and international organizations where she provided technical assistance and legal advice to companies and governments on trade policies, regional and multilateral negotiations, trade dispute settlement and agricultural commerce.  Ms. Almeida has given lectures on economic law and international trade issues at seminars organized by the United Nations, OECD, WTO and the Inter-American Development Bank. She is also the author of several specialized studies, chapters of books and articles on international economic law issues.

Pedro Roman M. Ariston (Philippines), Visiting Researcher & Visiting IIEL Fellow

Pedro Ariston received his LL.M. in International Legal Studies at Georgetown Law in May 2007.  While earning his LL.M., he obtained the Certificate in WTO Studies and was recognized for writing the best paper in the Law and Policy in International Economic Relations Seminar.  Mr. Ariston returned to Georgetown Law as a Visiting Researcher during the 2007-2008 academic year to expand the scope of his research on the functioning of precedent in the dispute settlement system of the WTO.  Prior to coming to Georgetown Law, Mr. Ariston practiced law at Zambrano & Gruba Law Offices in Makati City, Philippines.  He received his J.D. and B.A. degrees from Ateneo de Manila University.

Yves Bonzon (Switzerland), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Mr. Bonzon is a PhD candidate at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, spending a year at Georgetown Law as a Visiting Researcher.  He studied Swiss law at the universities of Lausanne and Zurich, graduating in 2003.  In 2004, he worked as a legal counselor for the World Wildlife Foundation in Lausanne. In 2005, he was a teaching assistant in public international law at the University of Lausanne, and in 2006 became part of a research project on WTO decision-making; this research was part of the overall NCCR Trade Regulations research project based at the World Trade Institute in Berne. He’s currently writing a PhD thesis on the status of non-state actors in international trade decision-making.

Jaratrus Chamratrithirong (Thailand), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Ms. Chamratrithirong is an S.J.D. candidate at Duke University School of Law, spending a year at Georgetown Law as a visiting researcher.  Before coming to Georgetown Law, she served in the working groups under the Committee on Commerce as well as the Committee on Communication at the National Legislative Assembly, Thailand.  Previously, she interned in the Legal Affairs Divison of the World Trade Organization and in the Trade and Sustainable Development Program of the Center for International Environmental Law.  Ms. Chamratrithirong holds two Masters of Law from Georgetown Law Center and both a Master of Arts in European Studies and a Bachelor of Law from Chulalongkorn.

Prof. David Collins (UK, Canada), Visiting Scholar & IIEL Visiting Professorial Fellow

Professor Collins is a Lecturer at the City Law School of City University in London, England where he teaches Contracts, World Trade and Law and Economics.  His J.D. is from the University of Toronto and he holds graduate degrees in economic history and in law from the University of Oxford.  He is called to the bar of Ontario and is a Solicitor of England and Wales.  His research is supported by a grant from the British Academy and concerns the doctrine of efficient breach and remedies at the WTO and ICSID.

Adriana Dantas (Brazil), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Ms. Dantas is a Ph.D candidate in International Trade Law at the University of São Paulo, where she has lectured and assisted Professor Celso Lafer.  She received her Masters degree in International Economic Law with merit from the University of London.  She is currently a lawyer in São Paulo and a consultant for Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados, associated with Baker & McKenzie, and for Foundation Getulio Vargas, where she lectures at the School of Law. She has represented clients in a number of trade remedies investigations before the Brazilian Trade Remedies Department (DECOM), as well as investigations opened against Brazilian exporters abroad, particularly in India, European Union and Russia. Her main area of practice is international trade regulation and competition law.  Ms. Dantas assisted the Brazilian Government in a number of disputes under the WTO dispute settlement procedures, while she worked at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasilia (2005) and while working at the Brazilian Mission to the WTO in Geneva (2003).  She also was an intern at UNCTAD in Geneva (2001).

Andrea Ernst (Germany), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Ms. Ernst is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Heidelberg writing her dissertation on the relationship between WTO law and international investment law.  She studied law and economics in Bayreuth, Florence, Birmingham and Heidelberg and holds a British and a German law degree as well as a degree in economics from the University of Bayreuth. Since 2004 she has been a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, and she teaches investment law at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America in Santiago de Chile.

Michelle Grando (Brazil), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Ms. Grando is an S.J.D. candidate at the University of Toronto, focusing her dissertation on fact-finding in WTO dispute settlement.  She is spending the 2007-2008 year at Georgetown Law as the Editorial Assistant for the Journal of International Economic Law and is a visiting IIEL Fellow.  In Summer 2005, she held a traineeship in the Legal Service of the European Commission in Brussels.  In 2003 she was a Legal Affairs Officer and Trainee in the Appellate Body Secretariat and the Rules Division at the WTO.  Ms. Grando holds a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Laws from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Mark E. Herlihy (USA), Visiting Researcher and IIEL Visiting Fellow

Mark Herlihy earned his B.A. at Boston College and his J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School; in 2007 he earned his LL.M., with distinction, at the Georgetown University Law Center, and the WTO Certificate from the Institute of International Economic Law. A member of the bar of New York bar and of several federal courts, he was for several years a trial and appellate litigator with the firm of Skadden, Arps. His research projects include examination of recent claims that the origins of a legal system influence its ability to regulate economic activity, and the study of judicial or quasi-judicial interpretation in transnational and international dispute settlement processes.

Prof. Werner Meng (Germany), Visiting Scholar & IIEL Visiting Professorial Fellow

Professor Meng teaches at the University of Saarbruecken, where he has been Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of European Studies since 1999. He has previously been a Visiting Professorial Fellow at IIEL, and has also been a visiting professor at Chicago Kent University, World Trade Institute Bern (Switzerland), Amsterdam Law School, University of Rijeka Law School (Croatia), Tulane Law School (New Orleans), and Louisiana State University Law School (Baton Rouge).

Edna Ramirez Robles (Mexico), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Prof. Luca Rubini (Italy), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Professorial Fellow

Dr Rubini is a lecturer at the University of Birmingham School of Law in the UK.  Previously he was a lecturer at the University of Leicester (2005-2007) and legal secretary to Advocate General Francis Jacobs at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (2002-2003).  He holds degrees from the Catholic University, Milan (JD) and King’s College London (MA in Advanced European Legal Studies and PhD).  His research currently focuses on the regulation of State intervention in the economy and on parallels between EC and WTO law.  He is writing for Oxford University Press a monograph that critically compares the definition of State aid and subsidy in the EC and in the WTO (forthcoming in 2008).  He is admitted to the Bar in Italy and to the Law Society of England and Wales.

Philipp Scheuermann (Germany), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Philipp Scheuermann is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Munich.  His dissertation focuses on normative conditions to make WTO rules more responsive to the needs of developing countries.  He holds a LL.M. in commercial law from the University of Birmingham and a law degree and a certificate in economics from the University of Bayreuth. His areas of interest are European Law and International Law.  Prior to working on his Ph.D. he has been working for The Boston Consulting Group.

Prof. Debra Steger (Canada), IIEL Visiting Professorial Fellow

Debra Steger is Professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law where she teaches in the field of international trade, international dispute settlement and governance of international institutions.  She is also the founder and Director of the EDGE Network on the emerging, dynamic, global economies.  For the spring 2008 semester she is a Visiting Professor at the Washington College of Law, American University.  Previously, she served as the first Director of the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. During the Uruguay Round, she was the Senior Negotiator for Canada on Dispute Settlement and the Establishment of the World Trade Organization as well as the Principal Counsel to the Government of Canada for all of the Uruguay Round agreements.  From 1991-1995, she was General Counsel of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.  She has published extensively in the fields of international trade and international dispute settlement.  Ms. Steger holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School, an LL.B. from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, and a B.A. (First Class Honours) in History from the University of British Columbia.

 Akiko Yanai (Japan), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Ms. Yanai is an overseas research fellow of the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).  Her research area of interest is regionalism and the multilateral trading system and she has written articles on the legal characteristics of trade liberalization in Asia and institutional motives for forming free trade areas.  She currently focuses on the process for developing countries to be integrated in the WTO system.  Ms. Yanai has been a lecturer on International Cooperation for Development at the Fuculty of Law,  Gakushuin University (2005-06).  She holds an LL.M. from the George Washington University, and Master of Laws and B.A. in Law from Waseda University.

Katia Yannaca-Small (Greece), Visiting Researcher & IIEL Visiting Fellow

Katia Yannaca-Small is the Legal Advisor to the OECD Investment Division, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs.  The results of her work on both substantive issues related to the interpretation of investment agreements and procedural issues of investment arbitration have been published by the OECD and also translated into Russian and Chinese. Previously she was responsible for the analytical and organisational support of the OECD work on corruption during the period leading to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.  She holds a J.D. from Athens University Law School, Greece, two postgraduate degrees (D.E.A.) on Public International Law and International Economic Law from University Paris I –Sorbonne and is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), France.