By
Nicole Israel
NICOLE ISRAEL, a 4L evening student at New York Law School, is student editor of Student Lawyer .
Isvari Mohan’s list of accomplishments is enviable: a political science degree from UC Berkley; internship opportunities at CERN, the European Organization for European Nuclear Research, Fermilab, and the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy in Bengaluru; an astrophysics research opportunity at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Nobel Prize laureate Saul Perlmutter. The list does not end there. She just signed on with The Washington Times to write her own column, “The Muse on the News,” and published her first book called, The Eyes of Mikra. Now this Georgetown University Law Center 1L is studying in the highly selective Georgetown Global Law Scholars (GLS) program . . . all at 18 years old.
“I got interested in international law because I got tired of waiting for people to realize that we’re ruining the world mostly because of collective action problems. International law is our way of trying to solve that.”
Georgetown’s GLS program prepares law students for an international or transnational practice that involves more than one legal system. The program’s goal is to combine language skills and cultural familiarity with rigorous legal training to cultivate critical skills needed to practice in the global legal environment of the 21st century. Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in a second language as well as English. Mohan can speak six languages: English, Kannada, French, Hindi, Spanish, and German. As Mohan embarks on her law studies, her aspirations are coming into focus.
“I was that kid in high school who refused to be on Model UN because I could spend that same time actually helping people now,” Mohan said, “Meaningful change usually involves positions of power, so I want to run for office someday. I believe that law school will be extremely helpful in sharpening my mind and fine-tuning my argumentative skills, thus helping me to achieve my goal.”
GLS students receive specialized attention from program directors as well as access to social and academic functions that are open only to students in the GLS program. Students work closely to create their own curriculum of international and comparative law courses within Georgetown’s JD program. The program also strongly encourages scholars to study abroad or, alternately, work in selected law clinics to gain practical experience in these fields. Mohan said she knows the approach she needs to follow in order to accomplish her ambitious goals.
“I’m a firm believer that everyone has inertia. If you get going, you keep going. If you’re standing still, you stand still,” she said. “I’m super, super type A. When I succeed at something or fail, I immediately put it in to my archives box and move on to the next thing I have to accomplish.”
Vol. 43 No. 8
