For the second consecutive year, a GW Law LLM student has been selected to participate in the Judicial Fellows Programme with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations with headquarters in The Hague. Nayomi Goonesekere, LLM Class of 2019, will serve as a law clerk for Judge Patrick L. Robinson of the ICJ during the 2019-2020 year.
The Judicial Fellows Programme was established in 1999 "to enable recent law graduates to gain experience working at the ICJ. It improves participants’ understanding of international law and of the Court’s procedures by actively involving them in the work of the Court and allowing them to build on their experience under the supervision of a judge."
GW Law is among a select number of law schools from around the world invited to nominate candidates each year for the prestigious fellowship. The Court selects about 15 fellows per year from a group of candidates with very strong academic records and an interest in international law illustrated in their studies, publications, and work experience. Ms. Goonesekere was one of two candidates nominated by the faculty of GW Law’s International and Comparative Law Program.
Ms. Goonesekere pursued her undergraduate legal education at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore where she graduated with a double major in law and liberal arts, with honors. Subsequently, she attended Sri Lanka Law College in order to be admitted to the bar in Sri Lanka. She is an Attorney at law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and came to GW Law with work experience in banking and financial law. She has participated in and won accolades at globally recognized international moot court competitions, which include the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition and the Commonwealth Moot Court Competition. Ms. Goonesekere has published numerous research papers on Indian and U.S. copyright laws, and Indian overseas investment norms in internationally recognized law journals and reviews.
Ms. Goonesekere has always been drawn towards learning more about legal structures that seek to reconcile competing developmental and post-conflict justice initiatives, and therefore decided to pursue her LLM at GW Law. She was awarded a Thomas Buergenthal Scholarship to conduct her LLM studies at GW Law and specializes in International and Comparative Law. She has pursued a wide range of courses in public international law and is completing her LLM research paper in international investment law and arbitration. She is currently working at the crossroads of law and development at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group (MIGA). At MIGA, in addition to shadowing counsel on the underwriting, due diligence, and approval process in transactions, she is analyzing and researching member country investment laws and bilateral investment treaties.
Sara Mansour Fallah, LLM ’18, was selected to participate in the Programme last year and is currently pursuing her judicial fellowship with Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf, President of the ICJ, for the 2018-2019 period.