Alumni Profiles
Class of 2018
A Reum Kim – South Korea
Ms. Kim earned her LL.B. degree from Bristol University (U.K.) in 2010. Following the completion of her legal studies she held internships at the Allbright Law Firm (China) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (S. Korea). In 2013, she joined Hanwha Chemical Corporation as legal counsel. Ms. Kim is licensed to practice law in New York State (2013) and speaks English, Korean and Chinese.
Alberto Esteres – Venezuela
Mr. Esteres is a certified professional in contracts and procurement law with over 20 years of experience tendering, negotiating, drafting and managing a wide range of contracts in support of exploration, drilling, construction, logistics and production projects with major integrated oil and gas companies. He has worked in Canada, Venezuela, the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan. He earned his law degree from University Santa Maria (Venezuela) and an MBA in finance from University of Zulia (Venezuela).
Alla Kotlyarova – Russia
Ms. Kotlyarova has over 10 years of work experience as an in-house lawyer with Russian and German companies and has vast professional experience in pharmaceutical law, intellectual property, labor law, antitrust law, and contract law. Most recently, she served as legal counsel with Sandoz Pharmaceutical in Moscow. Ms. Kotlyarova completed her legal studies at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law Academy in 2006 and went on to receive her MBA at California State University, East Bay in 2011.
Choong Won Cho – South Korea
Mr. Cho began his career as a patent law attorney at Lee International IP & Law Group and continued on as principal counsel at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). His most recent position is at Newracom, Inc. as Vice President the Intellectual Property Group. Mr. Cho is a 2002 graduate of Korea University.
Kangwoo Lee – South Korea
Mr. Lee is a seasoned public prosecutor having worked for the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and the Wonju Branch of the Chuncheon District Prosecutor’s Office. He also served as a Judge Advocate in the South Korean Army’s Cyber Warfare Command and as a military prosecutor for the 7th Infantry Division. Mr. Lee completed his bachelor of law degree at Korea University in 2009. He speaks Korean, English and Japanese and is also a certified scuba diving instructor.
Mehmet Akguc – Turkey
Mr. Akguc completed his LL.B. in 2014 at Ankara University Faculty of Law where he concurrently completed a two-year legal apprenticeship with Zorlu Holding Company. He began his legal career as a practicing attorney at the ETR Law Firm in Ankara before moving to the United States to focus on improving his legal English at the Intercultural Institute of California.
Melinda Kazandjian – Canada
Ms. Kazandjian recently completed her bachelor of law degree from University of Montreal with a focus in human rights and business law. Before beginning her legal studies, she completed a psychology degree from Marianopolis College (Quebec) and a sociology degree from Concordia University (Quebec). Ms. Kazandjian speaks English, French and Armenian.
Sara Alattas – Saudi Arabia
Ms. Alattas completed her bachelor of law degree with honors from King Abdul Aziz University in 2014. She has also received certifications as a project management professional (PMP) and in the legal aspects of human resource management. Ms. Alattas most recently worked as a teaching assistant at Dar Al-Hekma University’s faculty of law. She plans to return to Dar Al-Hekma as a lecturer upon completion of her LL.M. at UCI Law.
Saud Aldriss – Saudi Arabia
Mr. Aldriss completed his LL.B. in business and law from University College Dublin with a focus on corporate law in 2016. He currently works at Morgan Stanley, and he has previously held internships at the Saudi Arabian Embassy (Dublin) and KPMG Corporate Finance.
Simon Schrottenbaum – Germany
Mr. Schrottenbaum completed his bachelor of arts degree with honors in business and investment from London Metropolitan University in 2008. He worked as an equity investor relations officer in Munich before changing his focus to law and enrolling at the University of Hamburg in 2010. Mr. Schrottenbaum focused his legal studies on public international law and human rights law and wrote his thesis on “Human Rights Protection and the Role of Non-State Actors – Basic problems of Corporate Social Responsibility.” He speaks English, German and French.
Sophie Verrier – France
Ms. Verrier earned her bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 2005 at University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4) before going on to earn a master of arts degree in in political science from University of Panthéon-Assas in 2006 and a masters degree in law from University of Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2009. She completed her first LL.M. from McGill University (Canada) in 2015 specializing in intellectual property and data protection. Her previous professional post was with the French Ministry of Culture and Communication working closely on issues pertaining to the EU Commission Intellectual Property (IP) & Information Technologies (IT).