EDUARDO CAMPOS (BRAZIL)
Over the past 9 years, I have assisted Brazilian companies in financial transactions, including listing their shares in the Brazilian Stock and Exchange, raising capital to fund business development, and assisting on M&A transactions.
Currently, I am part of the award-winning Investment Banking legal team of Itaú Unibanco—the largest bank in Latin America—where I work on the most relevant and challenging financial transactions of the region, such as the three-billion-dollar financial support scheme for Brazil’s electricity sector. This transaction reduced the potential impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the electric bills of every Brazilian (which was very cool!).
Despite the intense routine of an investment bank, I wrote academic articles and book chapters over the years, publishing them in relevant Brazilian corporate, arbitration, and agribusiness law journals. In 2019, I submitted my master’s dissertation to the University of São Paulo on the Securitization of Agribusiness Credit Rights, which allowed me to actively participate in the discussions of the new Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation of such complex transactions.
Aside from law, I love music, especially a good Brazilian Samba (I encourage you to listen to it while reading cases!)
MARWA EL-SHAARAWY (EGYPT)
Marwa is an LL.M. candidate from Egypt. Her LL.M. is sponsored by the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. She earned her Bachelor of Laws degree in Egypt in 2013. She graduated with honors, received 22 awards for academic excellence, and ranked 5th in a class of 111. Upon graduation, she joined Sharkawy and Sarhan, one of Egypt’s leading law firms, working as a corporate lawyer. Marwa’s work as a corporate lawyer focuses on the energy sector. She worked on several big-ticket transactions, which were part of the Egyptian Government’s reform plans to achieve energy self-sufficiency. She provided consultation to the Egyptian Government on drafts of energy bills and has been involved in rolling out Egypt’s first feed-in tariff program for renewable energy. She was recently seconded to two international oil and gas companies, where she acted as Egyptian in-house counsel.
Marwa co-authored several articles and reports, including the Egypt chapter of the World Bank's Doing Business 2019 report and the Egypt chapter of Çakmak Avukatlık Ortaklığı’s Global Renewable Energy Guide 2017. Marwa’s decision to attend law school was inspired by her mother, who was the first female justice to sit on Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, and by her two older sisters, who are law professors at Egypt’s top university and are leading successful professional careers as lawyers.
MASON LIU (CHINA)
Before I came to the U.S., I worked at the law firms King & Wood Mallesons (Beijing) and Beijing HengDu as an IP lawyer for two years. I mainly handled disputes over patent infringement, trademark infringement, competition, and trade secrets. In general, technical analysis and prior art search constituted the most important parts of my work. I often had to analyze technical issues that I had never learned before, which required a good ability to learn.
For example, in a patent infringement case, the defendant's attorney submitted an expert testimony against us, in which the defendant tested the infringing product used the “X-ray stress measurement method.” My partner wanted me to research the X-ray method to see if it is possible to claim that this method could not be applied to the infringing product. I spent a week reviewing the relevant technical literature and found that this method is indeed not applicable to this case, and I drafted a memo to my partner for this. Fortunately, my conclusion was accepted by the technical investigator hired by the court, and the court didn't admit the defendant's expert testimony.
LIZETH AZUARA (MEXICO)
Lizeth is a seasoned Mexican-qualified lawyer specializing in international trade and customs litigation. She has significant experience advising businesses and customs brokers in import and export control, customs regulatory compliance, and supply chain issues. Her practice also includes counseling businesses in both English and Spanish on expanding their trade operations into Latin America, handling international commercial transactions, and renegotiating contracts. Lizeth had also litigated complex customs matters before the Mexican Fiscal Federal Court and developed strategic solutions to recover goods seized and fines paid.
Prior to the LL.M., Lizeth was the lead of the customs and litigation practice team of a customs broker agency in San Diego with operations in Mexico. At the same time, she was a compliance manager for a start-up company also located in San Diego. During her practice in Mexico, she worked as a mid-level associate at the customs litigation practice team of the Customs Brokers Association of Tijuana and Tecate in Mexico.
Lizeth holds a Law degree from the Autonomous University of Baja California, where she graduated first in her class. She is also a certified tariff classificator and recently obtained a paralegal certificate from the University of California, San Diego’s extension program.
HANNA SKRYPIKAVA (BELARUS)
Hanna Skrypikava grew up in Belarus. She studied law at International University MITSO, Minsk with a specialization in international commercial law and graduated with distinction in 2018. From 2018 to 2021, Hanna worked as in-house counsel for an e-commerce consulting company in Minsk, mostly advising on IP-related issues. When protests broke out in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election, Hanna became active in the democratic movement and served on its legal aid committee.
Hanna’s main academic interest lies in international law. She has participated in several international law moot courts, summer camps, and conferences. She has also interned with the Belarusian section of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Given the political situation in her home country, Hanna also has a strong interest in democratic development, institution building, and national security. After graduating from UVA, Hanna would like to work in international law or international development. In her free time, she likes to paint and spend time with her friends. She also loves travelling and learning more about different cultures.
ALEXIS RAMIREZ (CHILE)
Hi, y'all! My name is Alexis Ramirez, and I am from Santiago, the capital of Chile. I came to Charlottesville in 2019 to pursue an LL.M., and after finishing my Master studies, I started an S.J.D. here (which is the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Law). I am expected to finish my doctoral dissertation in three and a half years. During my law studies in Chile, I was a teaching and research assistant in Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. After graduation, I worked for a couple of years as a legal researcher and an instructor in a Chilean university. My dream is to be a constitutional law professor back in my home country, using what I have learned here at UVA Law. In that sense, my goal is to incorporate not only everything I have studied and researched here, but I also part of the vibrant and supportive atmosphere that makes UVA Law unique among all U.S. law schools. I am delighted to know that I will be part of this amazing community for a few more years to continue what has been one of the best experiences of my entire life!
ALEJANDRA ROCHA (COLOMBIA)
Alejandra comes from Colombia, where she grew up seeing inequalities, political corruption, and war as part of everyday life. She studied law because she had the desire to find legal solutions to armed conflicts with the goal of being a change agent. After becoming a lawyer, she worked providing pro-bono services, where she learned how to understand and represent vulnerable populations in need. It strengthened her resolve to help others through her knowledge of law.
Afterwards, she became a law clerk in an administrative court, where her work concerned reparations for the deaths of young conscripts. She continued seeing the effects of war through the lens of a spousal volunteer in Fort Polk, Louisiana, where she used to live.
Now, she is a 2022 LLM candidate at UVA, a 2021 Tillman Scholar, the current president of GLSA and volunteers with the International Rescue Committee. Her objective is to continue learning about and researching legal strategies that can end armed conflicts in completely different societies around the world. By doing this, she hopes to limit international human rights violations and finally achieve post-conflict stability.