LLM grads credit UC Law experience for job opportunities at home
Shadiah Obaidi of Italy, the first LLM student to undertake the University of Cincinnati College of Law/ University of Trento, Italy double degree program, made her mark at the college, helping to create an externship with large downtown international law firm, Squire Patton Boggs.
Shadiah Obaidi, LLM student from Italy
“When we visited Squire at the beginning of the academic year, I was completely impressed with their work and interested in working at that law firm,” Obaidi said. UC did not yet have an externship with Squire, so Obaidi worked with Cincinnati Law’s director of Externships, Chris Szydlowski, to develop one. In the end, Obaidi externed at Squire during the spring semester. “As an international student from a civil law country, the opportunity to understand, from a practical point of view, how the common law system works was the best experience I had during my LLM year,” she said.
Obaidi, who has returned to Italy to finish her LLB at Trento, is already benefiting from her LLM externship experience. “Work experience in a global law firm in the United States makes your CV much more marketable,” she said, noting that international law firms in Italy are looking for lawyers with experience abroad, which gives potential employees both competence in the global practice of law and the necessary personal perspective that comes from immersion in other cultures.
The opportunity to understand how the common law system works was the best experience I had during my LLM year.
Shadiah Obaidi
Galina Seregina, LLM student from Russia
Galina Seregina of Russia, who was part of a cohort of four Fulbright Scholars who attended the LLM program in 2019–2020, also participated in a spring semester externship at Frost Brown Todd, one of Cincinnati’s largest law firms.
“I was able to work mostly with the International Services Group, which was exactly what I wanted because my area of specialization is international law and international taxation,” she said. “I learned a lot about U.S. corporate culture, the way U.S. law firms deal with their U.S. and foreign clients, U.S. procedural law, and I even drafted a number of the corporate documents for clients and prepared presentations on different international law matters for my supervisor,” she explained.
Working knowledge of the common law system—and U.S. law in particular, experience studying abroad, learning about international law from the U.S. perspective, and exposure to world-class faculty and lawyers—“all gives a lawyer in a civil law country many credits in terms of career,” Seregina said. “I hope to proceed with my career in international taxation, so, for me, getting an LLM degree in the U.S. legal system was one of the best ways I could improve my professional knowledge and skills,” she added.
Students bring valuable perspective to classes
Despite the stressors of law school, studying in a foreign language as an international student, and the limitations placed on students during a global pandemic, Seregina called the LLM in the U.S. Legal System program “one of the best experiences” of her education and her life.
“Professors at UC Law really cared that the international students in the classroom came from different backgrounds and that most of us already had work experience,” Seregina said. Rather than feeling intimidated by taking classes with JD students who are already familiar with the U.S. education system and the language of instruction, LLM students have the opportunity to make valuable contributions to learning. “Professors make classes interesting and accessible for both groups of students,” she said, adding that she loved her classes so much that she chose to work with professors outside of the classroom, both on an individual research project and as a summer research assistant.
Professors at UC Law really cared that the international students in the classroom came from different backgrounds and that most of us already had work experience.
Galina Seregina
Through her research project with Professor Stephanie McMahon, Seregina worked on an article, “U.S. Inbound Employment Tax Matters: Windfall Elimination Meets Totalization,” that was accepted for publication by Tax Notes International, “probably the leading legal journal for practitioners in international tax,” Seregina’s area of specialization, said McMahon, who praised her contributions.
From her classes with renowned faculty, U.S. JD students, and other lawyers from around the world to the friendships she developed through participation in law school clubs and the beautiful campus, Seregina could not have been happier that she came to Cincinnati Law for her LLM. She said that the biggest challenges were the differences in the instructional methods, and Obaidi concurred.
“I am used to a system where there is no interaction between students and professors, and the U.S. format was totally new for me,” Obaidi said. “However, I found it extremely useful and interesting because it makes you feel that you are part of a community; it makes you feel important, and therefore you are more encouraged to learn and participate,” she explain
On a personal note, Obaidi noted, “I thought I was coming to Cincinnati Law for an academic experience, but it was so much more. I never felt alone here; it was like a family.”
Both women were awarded the Outstanding LLM Student Award for the class of 2020.
Writer: Mieke Clincy, Admissions Manager, LLM Program
Featured image at top: istockphoto.com
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