Each year the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law hosts visiting researchers from across the globe. These visitors stay at Georgia Law for brief or extended periods in order to work with faculty, engage with students through mini-courses and less formal presentations, and take advantage of our Alexander Campbell King Law Library as well as other University of Georgia libraries, including the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.
2023-2024 Visitors
Mine Turhan
Mine Turhan is an assistant professor of administrative law in the Faculty of Law at the Izmir University of Economics in Türkiye. She holds an LL.M. degree and a Ph.D. in Public Law from Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Türkiye.
While at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, sponsored by Prof. David E. Shipley, Prof. Turhan plans to conduct comparative research on administrative procedure in the U.S. and the EU.
Her project will focus on procedural due process rights, in particular the right to be heard before administrative agencies, and it will analyze how individual rights are protected by different procedures in the U.S. and EU against arbitrary actions on the part of administrative agencies.
Prof. Turhan’s research is supported by a fellowship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) within the scope of the International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program.
Ammar Zafar
Ammar Zafar is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Liverpool (UK) whose doctoral research focuses on the potential of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) implemented through blockchain technology to establish an inclusive and sustainable monetary system. At the Dean Rusk International Law Center, he plans to conduct comparative research under the guidance of Prof. Usha Rodrigues.
The focus of his research will be how U.S. financial regulations and Federal Reserve fiscal policies address legal and macroeconomic issues related to CBDCs and blockchain technology.
Prior to completing a master’s degree in Banking and Corporate Finance and an LL.M. in Legal Practice from the University of Bristol (UK), Mr. Zafar earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from Karnataka State University in India and an LL.B. from BPP Law University (UK).
Daesun Kim, Esq.
Daesun Kim, Esq. is a foreign attorney practicing law in Vietnam who specializes in cross-border M&A, foreign investment, and public-private partnerships (PPP), with a focus on construction & real estate development projects and mezzanine project financing in Southeast Asian countries. He primarily represents Korean corporate clients and common-law jurisdiction clients (Singapore, Hong Kong, USA) investing inbound in Vietnam.
He is a member of the International Construction & Energy Law Society, South Korea, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. While at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, he plans to perform a comparative analysis of changed circumstances in PPP projects in the Covid-19 era in the U.S. and Vietnam.
Previously, Mr. Kim worked at top-tier Korean firms such as Shin & Kim LLC and Yulchon LLC, representing Korean PEFs, conglomerates, banks, construction/engineering contractors, and developers in outbound investment. He also worked as in-house counsel at POSCO E&C, where he was in charge of contentious and non-contentious legal services encompassing overseas engineering, procurement, and construction works in power plants, oil & gas refinery plants, steel-making projects, project financing, and related international arbitration disputes.
Maisie Hopkins, LL.M.
Maisie Hopkins is a Ph.D. candidate working on a joint degree from Utrecht University and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the role of multinational corporations in global governance and international regulation, and particularly on how complexity within global governance influences corporate crime and corporate regulatory compliance.
While at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, sponsored by Dean Melissa J. Durkee, she plans to conduct research on the international tax regime complex, the base erosion and profit shifting agenda, and the on the position of multinational corporations in the negotiation of the 2021 OECD global tax agreement.
Ms. Hopkins holds a bachelor’s degree in Law with European Law from the University of Nottingham, and she obtained an LL.M. cum laude from the University of Amsterdam in International and European Law with a specialization in Public International Law.
2021-2022 Visitors
Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh
Professor McGonigle Leyh is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University’s School of Law in the Netherlands. She specializes in human rights law and global justice, with a focus on victims’ rights, international criminal law, transitional justice, social justice, and the documentation of serious crimes. While at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, sponsored by Prof. Diane Marie Amann, she performed research related to transnational networks of cooperation in international criminal law, examining legal developments at the international, state, and civil society levels. At Utrecht University, Brianne is a member of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice, and co-lead of the interdisciplinary research platform Contesting Governance. She is also an executive editor of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and co-ordinates the education program of the Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges. In addition to her academic work, she is a Senior Peace Fellow with the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) and sits on the advisory boards of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and Pro Bono Connect. In 2011 she obtained her Ph.D. from Utrecht University where she wrote her award-winning dissertation on victim participation in international criminal proceedings.
Natalia Pires de Vasconcelos
Professor Vasconcelos is an assistant professor of law at Insper Sao Paulo, Brazil, and she researches and writes about social and economic rights in Latin America, with a focus on the right to health and health litigation. While at the Dean Rusk International Law Center, sponsored by Charles H. Kirbo Professor in the School of Law and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Elizabeth Weeks, she conducted research on the right to health of people in prisons in Latin America during COVID-19. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Law from the University of Sao Paulo and an LL.M. from Yale Law School. She is currently a senior research fellow at the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School and one of the founding members of the Brazilian think-tank LAUT - Center for the Analysis of Liberty and Authoritarianism.
A list of visiting researchers and scholars over the years is here.
How to apply
Our Guidelines for Visiting Researchers, providing details on how to apply to become a visiting researcher at the University of Georgia School of Law, is here.