Four international Fulbright students are continuing their legal education at The John Marshall Law School this year.
Alexey Fedosenko of Russia; Naranbulag Khukhuu of Mongolia; Bwalya Chilufya of Zambia; and Yazmina Blanca Paola Buitrago Molina of Nicaragua, came to John Marshall in August 2011 to begin graduate studies for LLM degrees in International Business and Trade Law through the Fulbright program.
Alexey Fedosenko
“We typically welcome a Fulbright foreign student grantee every other year into one of our LLM programs,” said Virginia Russell, associate director for the Center for International Law. “To have four Fulbright students matriculate in the same year is very special.”
Started by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946, the Fulbright program promotes international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture and science. Today, the Congressional appropriation for the program is $237.4 million, with as many as 7,700 students and scholars participating in the United States and abroad yearly.
Naranbulag Khukhuu
Before coming to Chicago, Fedosenko was a jurisconsult and project manager for Sakhalin Salmon Initiative, an organization under the Wild Salmon Center that identifies and defends the best ecosystems of the Pacific Rim. Sakhalin Salmon Initiative is based in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the island of Sakhalin, the largest island in the North Pacific.
Fedosenko received a law degree in law and commerce, with a specialty in jurisprudence, from Russian State Trade-Economic University. With an LLM from John Marshall, Fedosenko hopes to return to Russia to help improve the country’s economy and offer a different approach to business.
Khukhuu was legal counsel and manager of the legal department at QGX Mongol in Ulaanbaatar before coming to Chicago. She headed the department, which handled all legal matters of the company. QGX Mongol specializes in mineral exploration. With her LLM, Khukhuu hopes to become involved with foreign investment in mining. Today there are few lawyers in that particular field.
Bwalya Chilufya
She received an LLB from the National University of Mongolia School of Law.
Chilufya currently works as a state advocate at the Ministry of Justice in the Department of Civil Litigation under the government of the Republic of Zambia. Chilufya is interested in continuing to help the government of Zambia, hoping to influence policy and to lead judges in a more informed way.
Chilufya received an LLB from the University of Zambia in Lusaka.
Yazmina Blanca Paola Buitrago Molina
Buitrago is an associate at García and Bodán Law Firm in Managua, Nicaragua, and specializes in banking law and employment law. She will return to her country with an increased understanding of investment law.
Buitrago received an LLB from the American University in Managua. Her postgraduate work was in labor and tax law integration at the American College in Managua.
“As it’s a very competitive process to be awarded a Fulbright student grant, we know that these students are among the very best in their respective countries,” Russell said.
The IBT program is particularly delighted to welcome its first students from Zambia, Mongolia and Nicaragua, Russell added.
All four students expect to complete their LLM degrees in May 2012 after two semesters of study. In June, they will either return to their countries or begin a year of working for a firm or corporation in the United States under the Academic Training component of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program.
