Former Clerks

Rhianna Vonk - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2021-2022)

Rhianna VonkRhianna recently graduated from the BCL/JD Program at McGill University, prior to which she completed her Masters in International Economics (M.A.) and an undergraduate degree in International Development and Globalization (B.Soc.Sc.).

Alongside her legal studies, Rhianna interned at Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Law Bureau and worked as a Research Assistant for Professors Marie Manikis and Sébastien Jodoin. She also completed a clerkship at the Montreal Municipal Court and acted as Executive Editor of the McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution.

Prior to pursuing a legal education, Rhianna worked in various capacities at Global Affairs Canada, including as the Desk Officer for Nepal and Bhutan and a Junior Development Officer for Afghanistan. She also worked as a Research Assistant at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center’s Global Governance Unit and completed human rights internships at the Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and the Collectif des Associations Contre l’Impunité au Togo (CACIT).

In 2022-2023, Rhianna will be clerking for Justice Anne Mactavish at the Federal Court of Appeal.


Henry Off - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2021-2022)

Henry OffHenry Off (BCL/JD’21) is currently completing his international clerkship as Assistant Legal Counsel at the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He previously completed his undergraduate degree at McGill in Political Science and Middle East Studies, and he completed his JD and BCL at McGill in the summer of 2021.

Prior to joining the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Henry had several roles within organizations operating in the fields of public international law, dispute resolution, and criminal justice. His past roles include working for multiple NGOs in Canada and abroad, as well as the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Ministry of the Attorney General - Criminal Law Division. Upon completion of his international clerkship, Henry will be returning to the Ministry of the Attorney General to complete his articling at the Crown Law Office - Criminal.

During his legal studies, Henry had the privilege of acting as Editor-in-Chief of the McGill Journal of International Law & Legal Pluralism, where he developed a passion for the role of international law and legal pluralism in addressing unique international disputes involving uncommon actors. He also volunteered for the International Refugee Assistance Project and the Legal Information Clinic at McGill.


Jan Nato - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2020-2021)

Jan Nato
Jan Nato (BCL/LLB'19) was born in the Philippines and grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Prior to his legal studies, he completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, training classically as a tenor.

He is presently completing his articles at Baker McKenzie’s Toronto office. He previously interned with Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Law Bureau and served as research assistant to Professor Johanne Poirier (Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism) and Professor Armand de Mestral (Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration). In 2019, he was awarded first prize in the Baxter Family Competition on Federalism. Firmly committed to access to justice, locally and globally, he volunteered for PINAY Québec’s Legal Information Clinic and worked with the Mile End Legal Clinic during his studies.

Jan was a member of the McGill team at the 26th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. This experience deepened his understanding of dispute resolution and inspired him to pursue a career path reinforcing and pluralizing the international rule of law. He looks forward to contributing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s important work.


Lucas Mathieu - International Court of Justice (2020-2021)

Lucas Mathieu
Lucas Mathieu (BCL/JD'20, Dean’s List) iis also a graduate of the Collège Universitaire of Sciences Po Paris and did part of his studies at the Universities of Chicago and Copenhagen. He will clerk at the International Court of Justice under the supervision of H.E. Judge Ronny Abraham.

Prior to joining the Court, Lucas interned in the Paris and Montreal offices of a boutique international law and dispute resolution firm. He passed the Quebec bar exam in June 2020 and will be articling during his fellowship at the ICJ.

During his studies at McGill, Lucas worked as a research assistant for Professors René Provost and Darren Rosenblum. He also interned in a local human rights organization in Burkina Faso, an international NGO specialized in human rights education, and three Montreal-based community legal clinics. Finally, he co-authored with Professor Richard Janda a book chapter on the impact of new technologies on corporate social responsibility in transnational supply chains, to be published by CIGI Press in October 2020.


Iñaki Navarrete - International Court of Justice (2019-2020)

Inaki Navarrete
Prior to acting as a Judicial Fellow at the International Court of Justice, Iñaki Navarrete (BCL/LLB'16) served as a comparative law clerk for Mr. Hanan Melcer, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, and clerked at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. While there, he contributed to a number of major human rights cases, including the first decision to recognize the direct enforceability of economic, social, and cultural rights within the Inter-American regional human rights system. He has been working at a major national law firm. His publications on intelligence collection and international human rights law have appeared or are forthcoming in leading journals, such as the Cornell International Law Journal, the Quebec Journal of International Law, the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, and the Oxford Bibliographies in International Law.”


Emilie de Haas – Permanent Court of Arbitration (2019-2020)

Emilie de Haas
Emilie de Haas (BCL/LLB’19) has a particular interest in Business & Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility. During her studies, Emilie interned at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, did a human rights internship at the Instituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos in Peru, and worked as a summer associate in a major law firm in Toronto, was an associate editor for Inter Gentes, McGill’s International Law journal, and sat on the research committee for Avocats Sans Frontières.

Prior to her legal studies, Emilie completed an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences with specialization in Political Science at the University of Ottawa. During her undergrad, she had the opportunity to travel to several countries in Latin America, where she perfected her ability to speak Spanish and Portuguese fluently. She volunteered at the Modern Languages Department at the University of Ottawa as well as for the Embassy of Guatemala as a translator.


Tiran Rahimian Bajgiran - Constitutional Court of South Africa (2020)

Tiran Rahimian Bajgiran
Tiran is completing his BCL/LLB studies at McGill's Faculty of Law. Parallel to his studies, he has clerked for the Chief Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal, served on the editorial board of the McGill Law Journal, and worked as a research assistant. Prior to that, he also served on the editorial board of the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law, was an executive at Avocats sans frontières McGill, volunteered at several legal clinics, and interned at a leading human rights NGO in New York. He is a recipient of the 2019 Médaille du lieutenant-gouverneur pour la jeunesse. He will be clerking for Chief Justice Richard Wagner at Canada's Supreme Court in 2020-2021.

Tiran’s interests include the rights of migrants and foreigners, victim-centred mechanisms of transitional justice, and the interface between international criminal justice and human rights.


Jonathan Brosseau-Rioux - International Court of Justice (2018-2019)

Jonathan Brosseau-RiouxJonathan Brosseau (BCL/LLB'15) is an articling student in the Corporate and Institutional Law Practice of the United Nations Development Programme. He is a graduate from the BCL/LLB Honours program at McGill University (Gualtieri-Doran Award/John W Cook Prize) and the LLM program at the University of Cambridge (Volterra Fietta Prize).

Jonathan developed a practice in international arbitration as a research and teaching assistant for Professor Andrea Bjorklund, Professor Fabien Gélinas, and Judge Frédéric Bachand.

During his studies, he was legal intern in Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Law Bureau and Shearman & Sterling’s International Arbitration Group. He has authored and coauthored multiples leading publications, notably on ethics in domestic and international law.


Mariam Chauhan – Permanent Court of Arbitration (2018-2019)

Mariam ChauhanMariam Chauhan (BA’13, BCL/LLB’18) studied Political Science, Middle East Studies and Economics at the Faculty of Arts before joining the Faculty of Law. Mariam’s interest in international affairs and human rights shaped her involvement at the Faculty of Law and her interest in international arbitration.

During her legal studies, Mariam was a student editor with the Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy and a senior editor with the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy. These publications exposed Mariam to a range of emerging trends in global foreign investment law and the role of international arbitration in resolving disputes between States and investors. Mariam subsequently wrote term papers analyzing the use of evidentiary privileges by Canada in NAFTA Chapter 11 proceedings, as well as the potential for orders for security for costs to mitigate inefficiencies in investor-state arbitration disputes.

In her second and third year of studies, Mariam interned with international law firms in London and Paris working within international arbitration. Mariam also participated on behalf of McGill at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. The team won 1st Place in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Pre-Moot in The Hague and advanced to the elimination rounds in Vienna. 

Besides her interest in international arbitration, Mariam has also worked on issues of refugee rights. Throughout her legal studies, she volunteered on pro bono refugee resettlement and status determination cases with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and was Co-Director of the McGill IRAP Chapter from 2015-2016. Mariam is also passionate about cultural rights and has written on the role of the International Criminal Court in prosecuting recent crimes against cultural heritage in Africa and the Middle East. 

Mariam completed the final semester of her law degree on exchange at Sciences Po in Paris. She is looking forward to joining the PCA in the fall.


Pierre-Philippe Turnbull - Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2018-2019)

Pierre-Philippe TurnbullPierre-Philippe Turnbull (BCL/LLB’18) holds a major in management as well as a minor in transitional justice and post-conflict reconstruction from Western University. While completing his undergraduate degree, Pierre-Philippe has done research in East Africa and spent a semester abroad in Mexico. His interest in the power of international law as an instrument to resolve conflicts and to promote human rights has pushed him to pursue his studies at McGill’s Faculty of Law.

During his first summer at McGill, Pierre-Philippe interned at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court in New York City. There, he worked closely with lawyers in their work to promote the work of the International Criminal Court across the globe. While in law school, he furthermore devoted his time to work as coordinator for Pro Bono Students’ Canada, where he developed relationships between students from the Faculty of Law and non-profit organizations across Montreal. Pierre-Philippe additionally wrote research papers on recent developments in the International Criminal Court’s investigations in Kenya, as well as the proposed changes regarding the addition of an international criminal law chamber at the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights. Finally, he spent his last semester of law school at Fundação Getulio Vargas, in São Paulo, where he focused on the study of human rights abuses within Brazil and across Latin America. Since the completion of his law degree, Pierre-Philippe has been working for a leading national firm in Montreal. He has also been volunteering at a legal clinic.


Rachel Zuroff - International Court of Justice (November 2017-June 2018)

Rachel ZuroffRachel Zuroff (BCL/LLB'16) has always been interested in the power of law to resolve disputes and secure rights, especially around access to land, food and other productive resources. Before beginning her studies in law, Rachel earned a B.A. in philosophy from McGill University where she focused on ethics, particularly the relationship between free will and individual responsibility to the Other.

During her studies at the McGill Faculty of Law, Rachel pursued her fascination with legal pluralism and studied the myriad shapes the law can take to resolve disputes and secure rights, from domestic to international and customary law. In doing so, Rachel had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for a variety of professors and to be actively involved in the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism

Since completing her law degree, Rachel articled with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. At the FAO, Rachel worked in the Development Law Service of the Legal Office, a unique center of international expertise and research committed to achieving sustainable agricultural development and effective natural resource management through the design of workable and appropriate legal frameworks. During her placement, Rachel contributed to a number of projects around the right to food, notably developing a legal guide to school meal programs. She joined the Barreau du Québec in the autumn of 2017.


Maria Rodriguez – Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2017-2018)

Maria RodriguezMaria Rodriguez (BCL/LLB'17) has successfully completed the Quebec Bar. Before going to law school, Maria received a D.E.C from Dawson College’s social sciences profile Law, Society and Justice.

Maria has always been interested in using the law as a tool to effect social change. After her second year of law school, she was selected for a human rights internship with the NGO The Equality Effect in Meru, Kenya where she worked for the protection of girls who were victims of sexual assault and violence. During her third year, Maria was the research assistant of Professor Angela Campbell and contributed to her research about the role of Canadian Universities in addressing sexual assault and harassment on campus. As a member of the McGill team for the Wilson Moot of 2016, Maria worked extensively on the Canadian Charter and Canadian Constitutional law issues, two of her favorite subjects.

During her time at McGill, Maria was an active leader within the faculty. She was VP Internal of the Law Student Association and she volunteered at the Legal Information Clinic at McGill where she provided legal information and gained practical skills. Maria was also an editor of Inter Gentes, the McGill Journal of International Law and Legal Pluralism, where she engaged with a variety of current legal issues. Beyond the law, Maria enjoys sports, in particular track and field and soccer, and she loves dancing as well as travelling the world. She speaks fluent Spanish, English, French, and Italian.

Maria’s interest for the protection of human rights and its intersection with international law have been the constant pillars through her professional development, and thus now she is extremely excited to join the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica for a nine-month clerkship (Sept 2017-May 2018). Being originally from Colombia, she hopes this work will allow her to learn more about human rights issues in Latin American as she would love to contribute more to the region in the future.


Fortunat Nadima Nadima – Permanent Court of Arbitration (2017-2018)

Fortunat Nadima Nadima Fortunat Nadima Nadima (BCL/LLB’17) also holds an Honours B.Sc. (summa cum laude) in Biopharmaceutical Science from the University of Ottawa. At McGill, Fortunat served as an editor of the McGill Law Journal, and as a co-editor-in-chief and layout editor of the Quid Novi. He also volunteered at the Legal Information Clinic at McGill.

Fortunat was a member of the McGill Team at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in 2016, placing in the final rounds. He also received an honourable mention for the 2016 Nappert Prize in International Arbitration. Fortunat completed the final semester of his law degree at the National University of Singapore before attending Québec’s Bar School.

He is currently a student-at-law at the Montreal office of Norton Rose Fulbright. In late August 2017, he will begin a clerkship at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.


Jenny Andrea Buitrago Carranza - Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2016-2017)

Jenny Andrea Buitrago Carranza (BCL/LLB'16) also holds a Master in Public Administration (with a concentration in Global Governance) from Queen’s University and an Honours in Political Science from Bishop’s University. Originally from Colombia, Andrea decided to study law with the desire to one day be able to contribute to the protection and advancement of human rights locally and abroad.

During her law studies and given her fluency in English, French and Spanish, Andrea had the opportunity to gain experience in private practice in other jurisdictions. During a summer internship at the Bogota office of Norton Rose Fulbright, she performed a variety of legal tasks including legal research, issue analysis and memo drafting. As the office handles both local and Latin American issues, the topics she was exposed to transcended jurisdictions.

At McGill, Andrea was co-founder of the Inter-Gentes Journal of International Law and Legal Pluralism at McGill. Both as part of a research team and individually, she wrote and presented at conferences papers relating to different ways to enforce human rights at the international level.

Shortly after the completion of her BCL/LLB at McGill, Andrea joined the legal office of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as legal intern. During this internship Andrea assisted the Legal Officers in advising technical units, regional and field offices of FAO on a wide range of legal and constitutional aspects of its activities, including drafting and reviewing agreements, communications concerning the relations with the Host Governments and other governments and international organizations.


Portia Karegeya – International Court of Justice (2016-2017)

Portia Karegeya (LLM 2013) is a 2015 graduate of UCLA Law, where she earned an LL.M. degree with honors, received the UCLA-Sonke Health and Human Rights Fellowship, and worked with the Health and Human Rights Law Project at UCLA Law.

Prior to this, Ms. Karegeya earned a Master of Laws from McGill University in 2013 and an LL.B. from the University of Cape Town in 2011, where she also graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and Law. A lawyer born in Rwanda, raised in Uganda, and educated in South Africa, Canada, and the U.S., Ms. Karegeya’s research interests span the globe, and have focused on human rights, gender, global health, sexual violence, access to affordable medicines, and freedom of expression and information.

She is currently a Junior Fellow in the Office of the Rector at the United Nations University in Tokyo and a researcher for Global Freedom of Expression and Information @Columbia.

Ms. Karegeya has a forthcoming publication with Lara Stemple and Sofia Gruskin in Human Rights Quarterly entitled “Human Rights, Gender, and Infectious Disease: From HIV/AIDS to Ebola.”


Iñaki Navarrete - Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2016-2017)

Iñaki Navarrete recently completed the B.C.L./LL.B. program at McGill University's Faculty of Law. During his years at McGill Law, he was awarded a Junior Fellowship in Disability and the Law and First Prize at the Paul-André Crépeau Center for Private and Comparative Law’s Research Poster Contest. In 2015, Iñaki represented McGill at the Charles-Rousseau International Law Moot Competition, where his team’s factum was ranked third overall.

He was a senior editor for the McGill Journal of Law and Health, an Aisenstadt Student Researcher and a Rathlyn Disability and the Law Student Coordinator at the Faculty. He also served as Teaching Assistant in Advanced Civil Law Obligations for Professor Vincent Forray.

Iñaki first came into contact with the Inter-American system of human rights in 2014 thanks to a Rathlyn Foundation Bursary. After spending a summer with Disability Rights International (DRI) in Mexico, he drafted and filed a case with DRI before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, in Washington D.C., on behalf of 350 people with disability detained in Guatemala’s "Federico Mora" psychiatric institution. He hopes that this case will set a new precedent in challenging the segregation faced by people with disability in Latin America. 

His research interests include cross-cutting cyber security, public international law and disability rights issues. Iñaki presented his work on cyber espionage and cyber attacks at the Law Faculty’s Maxwell Cohen Seminar on International Law and has two forthcoming publications in Canadian Yearbook of International Law (entitled “L’espionnage en temps de paix en droit international public”) and Revue québécoise de droit international (entitled “Breaking Disabling Barriers: Mental Disability and Enabling Remedies at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”).

He is currently a Student-at-Law at Fasken Martineau in Montreal. In September 2016, he will begin a clerkship at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica.


Nadir Pracha - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2016-2017)

Nadir Pracha (BCL/LLB’16) is also a graduate in Economics and International studies. During his time at the Faculty of Law he was also a Research Assistant for the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy, worked with Pro Bono Students Canada and the McGill Legal Information Clinic.

Nadir was a member of the McGill team at the Vis International Arbitration moot in 2015, placing in the final rounds and winning an honourable mention for its written submission.

He is currently a student-at-law at McCarthy Tétrault in Montreal. In September 2016, he began a clerkship at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.


Jessica Joly Hébert – International Court of Justice (2015-2016)

Jessica Joly Hébert is a recent graduate of the Master of Laws program at McGill University. Considering her motivation to pursue a career as an international lawyer, she wrote her thesis on the topic of States’ obligations towards their own population according to international regulations. Prior to these studies, she completed her Bachelor of Laws at the Université de Montréal and has been admitted to the Québec Bar in 2013.

Her clerkship position at the International Court of Justice alongside President Ronny Abraham will not be her first experience in The Hague. In 2012, Jessica attended The Hague Academy of International Law to study public international law. The following year, she returned to complete her articling position for the Québec Bar. She worked as a legal assistant for the defense of Mr. Ngudjolo Chui at the International Criminal Court.

To expand her fields of expertise, Ms. Joly Hébert undertook an internship at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York City during the final year of her Master’s studies. Assigned to the mission in Mali, she acquired a legal and political understanding of global issues arising in West Africa.

She is currently editor-in-chief for the organization Québec Lawyers Abroad. She is looking forward to work at the renowned International Court of Justice and to learn with some of the best practitioners in the field.


Rana Hatata – Permanent Court of Arbitration (2015-2016)

Rana Hatata (BCL/LLB'15), had obtained a BA with distinction from Concordia University prior to coming to McGill.

Rana first became interested in arbitration while attending a seminar on International Dispute Resolution. She subsequently wrote several essays on topics ranging from jurisdictional issues to the challenges of enforcing arbitral awards against sovereign States. 

During her time at McGill, she was a clerk to the Honorable Justice Lori Renée Weitzman at the Court of Quebec. She was also an editor at the McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution. Upon graduation, she joined an international law firm in Paris as a trainee where she assisted the arbitration team in representing clients in both commercial and investment arbitrations under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Her passion for international law has led her to explore work and study opportunities in different parts of the world including South America, Europe, the Middle East as well as East Asia. She looks forward to joining the PCA team in September 2015.


Emilie Conway - International Court of Justice (2014-2015)

Emilie Conway, BCL/LLB’13, was selected by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to participate in the Court’s 2014-2015 Judicial Assistants Program.

Ms Conway was selected to work directly with the President of the Court, Judge Peter Tomka. She will begin work in September 2014. Following that, Ms. Conway started work as a law clerk at the same Court in July 2015.


Sophie Poirier - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2014-2015)

Sophie is a member of the Quebec bar. She completed an LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) in Geneva and obtained her LL.B., J.D., and LL.M degrees from the Université de Sherbrooke.

Before commencing a fellowship at the PCA, Sophie was working as a research assistant with McGill's Private Justice and the Rule of Law research team and was assisting international arbitral tribunals chaired by Professor Fabien Gélinas.

She has previously interned at a boutique law firm focusing on international arbitration in Brussels, at the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) in Cologne, and at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. During her studies, Sophie was a clerk at the Superior Court of Quebec.


Jean-Paul Saucier Calderón - International Court of Justice (2013-2014)

Jean-Paul Saucier Calderón, BCL/LLB 2013, is also a graduate in Political science and philosophy (BA, summa cum laude, with honours) from University of Ottawa. During his studies at the Faculty of Law, he was awarded the Hans Hermann Oppenheimer Scholarship in International Law (2011-2012), the Nowak Weil Award (2011) and the Alexandra Dodgers Award for Social Justice (2012-2013). He was a senior editor for the McGill Journal of Law and Health, and served as Teaching Assistant in advanced civil law obligations and in legal methodology and ethics.

He conducted research and wrote numerous term essays under the supervision of professors in the field of international law of human rights, legal pluralism, obligations and legal education. Before and while at the Faculty he undertook international journalism projects in Haiti, Panama and Venezuela. In Venezuela, he investigated the human rights situation in the Venezuelan jails and the interaction between different normative orders in force in such institutions.

In 2012, he served as Clerk to the Court at the Inter-American Court of Human rights where, among others, he drafted parts of the draft judgement of the Contreras v. El Salvador decision, a case involving forced disappearance of children during the internal conflict in El Salvador. He also acted as a consultant for the Peruvian Congress and led a team of researchers to assist the Congress in determining the international legality of a projected legislative Bill related to terrorism and freedom of expression. During 2013 and 2014, as a Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) (Utrecht University) he directed a research team working on an amicus curiae brief on the Cruz Sánchez et al. Vs. Perú (Chavin de Huántar) case, which relates to the alleged extrajudicial executions of members of a terrorist group during the 1997 hostage crisis in the Japanese Embassy in Lima. The Brief was submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

He is presently undertaking cross-cutting research on how legal pluralism can account for popular support to authoritarianism, and on the theoretical foundations of extinctive institutions such as prescription and amnesty laws. Furthermore, he has a particular interest in the interrelation between human rights and criminal law, human rights and private law, and obligations. He is clerking for Judges Cançado Trindade and Bhandari at the International Court of Justice.


Evgéniya Goriatcheva - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2011-2012)

Evgéniya Goriatcheva, BCL/LLB'10 (Dean’s Honour List) had previously completed the Dawson College Liberal Arts program with the highest standing before coming to McGill.

Evgéniya first came into contact with international arbitration while attending the intensive Penn State-McGill summer arbitration seminar. She subsequently acted as sole editor for the publication of three John E.C. Brierley Memorial Lectures on international arbitration. During her years at McGill Law, she was an editor at the McGill Law Journal and led legal methodology tutorials.

Evgéniya has a passion for world history and politics, and a keen interest in individual people and places. She has spent most of the year since graduation satisfying these appetites through travel – from Israel to Patagonia. She also dedicated four months to attending the Quebec Bar School, where she participated in an international arbitration simulation. She speaks French, English, Russian and Spanish.

In September 2011, Evgéniya will begin a one-year internship at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague.


Hinda Rabkin - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2011-2012)

Hinda Rabkin, BCL/LLB'09, graduated with great distinction, was on the Dean’s Honour List and was awarded the Stanley Kandestin Q.C. prize. Hinda obtained an LLM (First Class) from the University of Cambridge in 2011, receiving Magdalene College’s Prize for Law.

While at Cambridge, Hinda wrote a thesis on the relationship of North American courts to investment arbitration, under the supervision of Mr. Zachary Douglas. She also studied the history & philosophy of international law and European Union trade law, and participated in the Oxford French Law Moot, placing in the semi-finals.

Having completed a clerkship at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in 2009, Hinda is looking forward to clerking at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in order to gain in-depth experience working on arbitration disputes involving a State party. A native of Montreal, Hinda speaks five languages and is admitted to the New York bar.


Daniel Drabkin - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2009-2010)

Daniel is a recent graduate of McGill’s trans-systemic and bilingual legal program. Prior to law school, Daniel studied philosophy, political science and history, also at McGill. He graduates law school with great distinction, on the Dean’s Honour List, and is recipient of the Selma and Jak Almaleh Award. During his studies, Daniel clerked for the Honourable Justice Joseph Nuss at the Quebec Court of Appeal in Montreal and was a member of the Editorial Board of the McGill Law Journal. Daniel is excited to be leaving for The Hague in September and to be clerking at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He looks forward to participating in the challenging international disputes with which the PCA is charged to resolve, and anticipates that the international community at The Hague will be rich with culture and perspective.


Kyle Gervais - International Court of Justice (2008-2009)

Kyle Gervais, BCL/LLB'08, received his BA with Distinction in Political Science from Concordia University in 2004. At the law faculty, Kyle graduated with a Major in International Development and Governance and was awarded the Law Students Association’s Graduating Student Award. During his studies Mr. Gervais was a member of McGill’s Concours de Plaidoiries en droit international Charles Rousseau mooting team in 2006 and contributed to the memorials which placed 4th at the international competition and was an English-language editor at la Revue Quebecoise de droit international.

Mr. Gervais spent the summer of 2007 at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, interning with Trial Chamber III and the Office of the President. For his work, he won the Students for Development award from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

Upon graduation, Mr. Gervais worked for McGill’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy on a project studying the Access to Medicine Campaign. Presently, he is a Legal Assistant to a defence team at the ICTR.


Catherine Quinn - Permanent Court of Arbitration

Cathernie Quinn

I graduated from Dawson College in May 2004 (Social Sciences, Law and Society) and after went directly to McGill Law. I graduated in May 2008. My time at the Permanent Court of Arbitration has been the experience of my life. The PCA is a small organisation that puts a lot of trust in their interns and gives them immense and exciting responsibilities. Working as an intern at the PCA is not like interning for most international organisations: there is work to do, and a lot of it!

I had the chance of being involved in the public arbitration between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army concerning the delimitation of the Abyei area, in preparation of a referendum that will be held in 2011 regarding the possible secession between the north and the south. The unique opportunity to participate in a peace process and the possible creation of a new state is the dream of any law student! I also had the chance to be involved in this case from beginning to end, for which I am most grateful given the usual deadlines of international case.

I also provided legal assistance and research for investment and commercial disputes. Not only was the job fascinating, the people I met also contributed to the greatness of the experience. The Hague is the centre of international law, and I had the chance to meet with the most interesting international legal practitioners. Multiple conferences are held in The Hague, and the proximity of other international institutions, such as the International Court of Justice, allows for opportunities of dialogue with members of other organisations.

I intend to do a LL.M in September 2010.


Vincent-Joel Proulx - International Court of Justice

Proulx

Vincent-Joël Proulx obtained his LL.L. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Ottawa before completing an LL.M. in International Legal Studies at New York University School of Law. While at NYU, he wrote his thesis under the supervision of Professor Joseph H.H. Weiler. A recipient of the Canadian Council on International Law’s John Peters Humphrey Fellowship in International Human Rights Law and Organization, the Department of National Defence’s Security and Defence Forum PHD Scholarship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Canadian Graduate Scholarship and the McGill Graduate Studies Fellowship, Vincent-Joël is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in international law at McGill University under the supervision of Professor René Provost. His dissertation explores the relationship between international state responsibility and terrorism, with particular emphasis on the broader implications for human rights, compliance and international relations.

Vincent-Joël has a diverse set of research interests, including international law, human rights, international trade law, international relations, legal theory, intellectual property and cyberspace law. His contributions have appeared in various publications, including the European Journal of International Law, the Canadian Journal of Political Science, the Berkeley Journal of International Law, the Hastings Law Journal and Les Cahiers de propriété intellectuelle. He was the Coordinator of the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism’s International Judicial Internships Programme from 2005-2008 and has held various positions at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Industry Canada and the Office of the General Counsel of the Information Commissioner of Canada. He has also taught several classes as a guest lecturer in McGill University Faculty of Law’s Public International Law, International Environmental Law and Theoretical Approaches to Law courses. In 2008-2009, Vincent-Joël clerked for His Excellency Judge Bennouna at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2009-2010, he will be clerking at the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Toronto. He was also selected as the 2009 Quebec Junior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., where he is carrying out policy work on international affairs both at the Canada Institute and the Division of International Security Studies.

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