Alumni Association Board of Directors

Michelle Ancona

Michelle Ancona is the Legal Adviser to Rheinmetall Barzan Advanced Technologies, a JV between a German defense company and the commercial arm of the Ministry of Defense in Qatar. She brings +20 years of relevant legal experience in aerospace, finance, and hospitality industries as well as dispute resolution and international cross-border transactions. She holds a BA/LLB from ITESM CCM where she graduated Cum Laude, and an LLM from the IASL at McGill University.

Michelle’s professional experience include advising government authorities in aviation regulations, being in-house counsel and performance coach for Qatar Airways Group (supporting airline operations, Hamad International Airport, Amiri Flight, Qatar Executive and Dhiafatina Hotels) and GE Capital, as well as being a lawyer in a boutique law firm, and a reinsurance underwriter.

Throughout her academic and professional career, Michelle has developed and consolidated legal communities by creating forums that enable enriching networking experiences through knowledge exchange. The activities range from organizing legal book fairs, law forums, conferences and workshops that develop legal scholarship. She is committed to promoting and maintaining ties and relations among the IASL's graduates, as well as to support and promote the IASL in its activities and academic work.

Andrew Harrington

Andrew Harrington is currently the Deputy General Counsel – Underwriting for QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd, based in Sydney, Australia. He holds a BA/LLB from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, and an LLM from the IASL (graduating class 2012-13). He has previously worked:

  • at the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission;
  • in private practice in Sydney for a boutique aviation law firm;
  • as in-house counsel for an international airline based in Dubai; and
  • as in-house counsel for an aviation services company based in Adelaide and Perth.

Andrew is a current member of the Australian Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society and of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (ALAANZ), of which he has previously served as a committee member and as President of the NSW Branch.

Andrew has also published widely on aviation law issues in peer-reviewed journals (both alone and with co-authors) such as the German Journal of Air and Space Law, the Journal of Air Law & Commerce, Issues in Aviation Law and Policy and in the Annals. He also provided contributions on Australian law to the 4th edition of Margo on Aviation Insurance.

Andrew is looking forward to reinvigorating the IASLA and its purpose.

Abdullah Sen

Abdullah Sen is of Turkish-French origin. During his studies in law, Abdullah searched for a spark of motivation to keep him going and found it when he came across his first Air Law class at the University of Bordeaux. He then pursued a Master’s in Air Law at Aix Marseille University, followed by an LL.M at McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law (Class of 2021).Abdullah had the opportunity to work in various fields in the aviation industry, such as at the Basel Mulhouse EuroAirport (Security Apprentice), Star Alliance Services GmbH in Frankfurt (Legal Intern), and now as a Global Claims Specialist at Air Canada in Montreal. With the newly elected Board of Directors at IASLA, he is eager to bring new opportunities to the Alumni network, revive and modernize the association. Abdullah looks forward to the new horizons that will be reach together.

Saachi Juneja

Saachi Juneja is an international lawyer working in the Montreal office of Air Canada. Saachi has worked with leading law firms and research organizations in the UAE, the U.K., the U.S., and India in the aviation sector. Previously, she was a Research Fellow with the Aviation Working Group (AWG), a US-based international policy organization, working on ESG and its linkages with the aviation financing sector.

Saachi received her Bachelors of Arts and Law (Hons.) (J.D. equivalent) from a top-tier law school in India, and her Masters in Law (LL.M.) from University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Subsequently, Saachi pursued the Graduate Certificate in Air and Space Law from the Institute in Air and Space Law and a specialization in Aircraft Leasing, Financing and Trading from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Saachi is an active member of the International Aviation Women’s Association and International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading Association and frequently participates in its associated activities and conferences held around the world. Saachi has many international and national publications to her name in the field of aviation law.

Saachi currently serves on the Board of Directors as the Vice President External Relations. Her role is to establish, maintain and further relations of the Association with international organisations, other like-minded associations and with and between the international graduates of the Institute.

 

Ana Azcoitia

Ana Azcoitia is a student of the LL.M. in Air and Space Law program at McGill University. She holds a law degree (BA/LLB equivalent) from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, where she presented her thesis “Aeromexico v. Emirates: the dispute on the Barceolna Route under the 5th Freedom of the Air provided in the Chicago Convention and the Mexican Constitution”, obtaining a Cum Laude distinction. She also holds a certificate on international financial law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Before enrolling as an LL.M. student, Ana worked for 6 years in two major law firms in Mexico City, focusing her practice in the aviation industry. Her professional experience includes from regulatory and corporate matters to aircraft leasing and financing, for passenger and cargo airlines, private air taxi services and airport operators.

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