International Programs
UT Graduates Pursuing International Careers
SenatorOver the past quarter century, scores of Law School graduates have succeeded in working on international projects at all levels.
Among these recent graduates are Steven Foster, ’00, who works in South Korea with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and Susan Finn, ’93, an attorney in Quito, Ecuador. J. Raul Heredia-Schulenburg, ’90, serves in Caracas, Venezuela, as the associate general counsel for Procter & Gamble, Latin America. Carlos Hernandez, ’88, is in Mexico as the general counsel of Panamerican Beverages, Inc. Ellen Gates, ’77, is a partner with Denton Wilde Sapte in London, while Eiji Kobayash, ’97, works in Tokyo with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Recent graduate Revaz Javelidze, ’00, works with Baker & McKenzie in Baku, Azerbaijan, while Wenlong Sun, ’91, is an associate with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Beijing.
Recent graduates join an important cadre of high-profile alumni in the international arena, including James A. Baker III, ’57, former U.S. Secretary of state; Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, ’67; former Senator and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen, ’42; Susan Karamanian,’85, the former Vice President of the American Society for International Law; Robert S. Strauss, ’41, the former Ambassador to the Soviet Union; and Kathryn Fuller, ’76, President of the World Wildlife Foundation.
Many graduates found and developed their passion for international law while studying at UT Law. Andrew Keller, '01, currently works in the Office of the Legal Advisor at the U.S. State Department. In law school, his study of international law connected in unexpected ways with his upbringing. His mother is from Belgium, and she helped open his eyes from an early age to the global community. With that background, he spent time in Mexico teaching English before going to law school. At UT Law, he took Professor Steven Ratner's "Individual Accountability for Human Rights Abuses" seminar, which he says "was one of the best classes I took in college or law school" and helped to solidify his path in international law. Keller also took advantage of the law school's internship programs <insert link> in Guatemala and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia to help him "build" his "credentials." He will be going through a rotation program at the State Department, servicing the various regional desks and functional groups that administer and develop the nation's foreign policy. "I could see myself staying at the State Department for a while," he says.
Elissa Steglich, '00, also participated in the law school's internships in Guatemala and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, and was able to find work on refugee and asylum cases in Austin with the help of the Texas Law Fellowships. Upon graduation, Steglich accepted a position at the International Human Rights Law Institute in Chicago, where she recently prepared a report on sex trafficking in the Americas that has garnered widespread attention. She is now working on immigration and refugee projects in Chicago.
After graduating from law school, Gregory Naarden,'94, went to work for the Immigration Service in New York, investigating political asylum cases. Since then, his career has taken him to some volatile places, including his current home in Bosnia, where he moved in 1998 to work for the United Nations. After initially helping displaced persons to reclaim the property from which they were expelled, he began working with the UN International Police Task Force, investigating and sanctioning Bosnian police officials for human rights abuses. After several years in Bosnia, Naarden moved to Kosovo, where the UN's mandate is to run an interim administration. As a lawyer in the Department of Justice, he haws provided legal advice to international judges and prosecutors who handle cases involving ethnic extremism, organized crime, and war crimes. According to Naarden, each one of these jobs "has been successively more interesting from a legal perspective."
The Career Services Office (CSO) provides various resources for students interested in international opportunities. Several international law and career books are available for use in the CSO Resource Library, as well as periodicals such as International Career Employment Weekly. Throughout the year, the CSO presents international career panels as well as informational sessions with several employers, including the U.S. Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Department of Justice. Foreign-trained LL.M.s are encouraged to attend the International Student Interview Program, which is held each January at New York University. For more information about international career opportunities and resources, visit the CSO's International Career Path page.