President – Giacomo Chiti
Giacomo is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School from Italy. Before coming to Harvard, he worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in Brussels, focusing on EU competition and regulatory law, and interned at the Department for European Affairs of the Italian Prime Minister’s Office. Giacomo holds law degrees from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and the University of Florence.
As President of the Harvard European Law Association (HELA), Giacomo aims to strengthen HELA’s partnerships with law firms and Harvard’s alumni network, promote transatlantic dialogue on law and public policy, and build a vibrant European community at Harvard. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar and mountain sports.
Vice-President – Aspasia Stellakatou Loverdou
Communications Chair – Nadja Rode
Nadja is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School from Germany. Before coming to Harvard, she pursued a Ph.D. focusing on comparative U.S. and European patent law and worked as a research assistant at the Chair for Intellectual Property at Humboldt University Berlin, where she also taught courses in private law. She passed the First State Law Examination in 2023. Following her graduation, she coached Humboldt University’s team for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, in which she had previously participated as a student. She also served as a mentor in the Caroline von Humboldt Mentoring Program, which supports female students in their academic and professional development.
As Communications Director at HELA, Nadja looks forward to strengthening the dialogue within the European legal community and strenthening the transatlantic relationship.
Conference Co-Chair – Ben Rüssmann
Ben is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School from Germany. He studied law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, where he passed the First State Law Examination in 2026, and also holds a degree in political science from the Technical University of Munich. His studies have been supported by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), the DAAD, the Bucerius Jura Program, and LMU’s Hasemann Foundation.
Before coming to Harvard, Ben worked as a research assistant at Prof. Dr. Ulrich Haltern’s Chair of European Law at LMU. He gained practical experience in the chambers of Advocate General Juliane Kokott at the Court of Justice of the European Union, at the German Federal Ministry of Finance, and at Shearman & Sterling. His academic interests lie in German and European constitutional law, especially at the intersection of law and politics.
Conference Co-Chair – Timo Sewtz
Timo is a German LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Cologne, where he researched the European Court of Human Rights’ procedural approach to morally and ethically sensitive cases. He was also a visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Edinburgh and Keio University in Tokyo. He studied law at the University of Münster, specializing in international and European public law, and spent a semester abroad at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. Before coming to Harvard, he gained experience at leading international law firms and, during his legal traineeship (Rechtsreferendariat), at the International Law Division of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York.
As a member of HELA, Timo aims to foster transatlantic dialogue on international and European law and strengthen ties between European and American legal communities.
Co-Chair of the Academic Events Committee – Gábor Levente Kozma
Gábor is an LL.M. student at Harvard Law School from Hungary. His main academic interests are international arbitration and private international law. He graduated from Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, where he is now pursuing a PhD on the interplay between EU law and international commercial arbitration. Before coming to Harvard, he worked as a junior associate at an international law firm, advising clients on cross-border disputes and EU private international law, a field on which he also regularly speaks and publishes.
Co-Chair of the Academic Events Committee – Judith Hollevoet
Co-Chair of the Academic Events Committee – Julieta Loro Meyer
Julieta is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School. She qualified as a lawyer in Argentina, where she graduated from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and received the Academic Excellence Award of the Bar Association of the City of Buenos Aires. She also holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich, awarded summa cum laude, with a published thesis on climate change litigation against corporations.
Before joining HLS, Julieta was Legal Counsel at VAROPreem AG, a Swiss energy company, where she advised the group’s Central European operations on commercial contracting, cross-border regulatory matters, competition and contentious proceedings. Her practice was grounded in Swiss and EU law, with a particular focus on the energy and environmental sectors. Earlier in her career she was a research and teaching assistant at the University of Zurich in public, environmental and energy law.
Alongside her practice, Julieta sits on the board of NexGen, the young lawyers’ group of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC), and is a member of the Swiss Competition Law Association. Julieta is admitted to the Argentine bar and will sit for the New York State Bar Examination.
Co-Chair of the Academic Events Committee and JD Representative – Sam Landino
Sam is a JD candidate from New York. He earned his Master’s Degree from The College of Europe in Bruges, and then worked as a paralegal for a US law firm in Brussels doing primarily anti-trust work. He is interested in class action law, European populism, and constitutional law.
In his free time, Sam likes to run, listen to music, and brew coffee.
Publications Co-Chair – Aldo de Cesare
Aldo is a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School and a PhD candidate at Sciences Po, France. His research focuses on monetary law, with particular attention to how it constructs uneven spatial outcomes. His other interests include economic law more broadly, legal pluralism, and critical legal theory.
At Sciences Po, he co-taught European Economic Law and created and taught a course on European Monetary Law. Before joining Sciences Po, he graduated in law from the University of Milano-Bicocca and spent the first year of his PhD at UCLouvain (Belgium). Aldo is a member of the Fedmoney project and of the Beyond Growth Research Network.
Publications Co-Chair – Felix Maderthaner
Felix is an LL.M. candidate from Austria. He holds a law degree from the University of Graz, where he worked as a research assistant before coming to Cambridge. Along the way, he gained practical experience through internships at the Austrian Embassy in Bangkok and the Austrian Trade Commission in Sydney.
At Harvard Law School, his academic interests include international law, trade and sanctions law, and constitutional law. As a member of the HELA Publications Team, Felix hopes to make European legal developments more accessible to the HLS community.
Publications Co-Chair – Johanna Giebel
Johanna is an LL.M. student from Germany. Before coming to Harvard Law School, she worked as a research assistant on sanctions and energy law. She graduated from the University of Münster in 2025, having spent a semester in Santiago de Chile. She specialized in European and International Law and participated in the 2022 Jessup Moot Court. As a research assistant, she worked on transformative and comparative constitutionalism. Her academic focus includes public international law, human rights, and transitional justice.
Publications Co-Chair – Madhav Maheshwari
Madhav is an Indian-qualified lawyer and LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School. Before Harvard, he worked at AZB & Partners, a leading Indian law firm, where he advised multinational corporations, private equity firms, and financial institutions on cross-border M&A, foreign investment regulation, and international arbitration. His practice also involved advising European businesses. He graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai.
Madhav’s research and work focus on international trade law, economic sanctions, and national security. He is particularly interested in the European Union’s evolving approach to trade and economic security, including the use of trade defence instruments, investment screening, sanctions, and export controls. At Harvard, he also serves as Symposium Chair and Executive Submissions Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. Through HELA, Madhav hopes to encourage thoughtful conversations on Europe’s changing role in the international economic and legal order, bringing together diverse perspectives on law, policy, and international relations.
When not buried in readings, Madhav is a devoted thriller fan with a soft spot for movie nights.
Strategic Partnerships Co-Chair – Daniel Bötticher
Strategic Partnerships Co-Chair – Max Speckert
Max is a Swiss-qualified attorney and an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School. Before coming to Harvard, he practiced at Bär & Karrer in Zurich, advising companies and senior executives on corporate matters, governance, regulatory issues, white-collar crime, and cross-border investigations. Alongside his work for established businesses and financial institutions, he advises start-ups, including AI ventures, on corporate and regulatory questions.
At Harvard, Max focuses on the intersection of law, business, and technology, with particular interests in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and artificial intelligence. His research explores how AI is reshaping legal services and how businesses can navigate the legal and governance questions surrounding its development and adoption.
Max holds law degrees from the University of Zurich. He is co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of The Gatekeeper, a journal on regulation, investigations, and compliance, and a contributing author to the forthcoming edition of the Basler Kommentar on Swiss criminal law.
As HELA’s Co-Chair of Strategic Partnerships, Max looks forward to building connections with practitioners, businesses, and institutions across Europe and the United States. Outside law, he enjoys skiing, football, and bringing people together over good food.
Academic Events Committee Member – Alex Sheehan
Alex is an Irish LL.M. Candidate and Gammon Fellow at Harvard Law School, focusing on law and technology, constitutional law, international law, and legal theory. He studied Law and French at University College Cork, Ireland, and European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. Alex also completed an Erasmus study exchange in Strasbourg, France. Alex was a national winner of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, awarded by the European Parliament and the Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for promoting democracy, active citizenship and European integration.
Alex worked in the Cabinet of the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection in the European Commission as a Blue Book Trainee. He also practised EU and UK competition and trade regulation law in Brussels.
Alex aims to make European law accessible to the whole HLS community, with discussions on EU digital governance, competition policy and transatlantic debates.
Academic Events Committee Member – Alexander Koschell
Alex is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School from Vienna, Austria. Before coming to Harvard, he worked as an attorney at E+H, a Vienna-based law firm, focusing on corporate/M&A and capital markets matters. He holds a doctorate in law from WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business), where he wrote his dissertation on investment agreements in listed stock corporations.
As a member of the Academic Events Committee, Alex looks forward to helping bring European and U.S. perspectives on corporate and capital markets law into conversation, and to contributing to a welcoming European community at HLS. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, playing and watching ball games and, whenever possible, scuba diving.
Academic Events Committee Member – Bailey Lane
Bailey is an Irish LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School. He received a degree in Law and Business from University College Cork. Following this, Bailey worked in Antitrust in Brussels as an Associate with Cleary Gottlieb Hamilton & Steen. Outside of Antitrust Bailey has a keen interest in Sports Law, working on a number of CAS and sports related cases during his work, as well as with a firm Northridge LLP specialising in sports law the past summer. Bailey is particularly interested in the crossover between Antitrust and Sports Law.
Bailey is also founder of the Intervarsity Law Summit in Ireland, a member of OUTLaw Network, and was President of the Law Society in UCC. He is also on a number of HLS committees including the Sport and Entertainment Law, Fashion Law, and Lambda associations.
Bailey is very excited for the year ahead with HELA, and at strengthening HELA’s connections with employers and sponsors as well as bringing some exciting, topical and varied events to HELA as part of the events committee. Bailey is also an avid traveller, having been around the world in the past year, he also enjoys all kinds of sports, music, and chess.
Academic Events Committee Member – Francesco Petronio
Academic Events Committee Member – Lara Schäfer
Lara is an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School from Germany. Prior to her studies at Harvard, she has been practicing as an Antitrust lawyer. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Bonn, where she did research at the intersection of European competition law and digital regulation and where she also worked as a graduate research assistant after having completed her studies in both Law and Law & Economics.
As a member of HELA’s Events Committee, Lara is especially looking forward to bridging perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on the future of digital regulation.
Academic Events Committee Member – Marilia Melaniti
Marilia is an LL.M. student from Greece. Prior to Harvard, she worked as a litigation attorney. Passionate about the interaction between law and religion, she earned an LLM in Ecclesiastical Law, followed by an LLM in Civil Law from her alma mater, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. As a member of the Events Committee, Marilia is excited to support the organization and smooth operation of HELA’s academic and networking events.
Academic Events Committee Member – Nour Bulovic
Nour is a Visiting Student at Harvard Law School from Switzerland, where she is pursuing a Master of Law at the University of Geneva. Her academic interests focus on criminal law, particularly corporate criminal liability. She has gained experience in legal practice and has worked as a research assistant at the University of Geneva. Beyond her academic work, she is actively involved in nonprofit organizations and pro bono initiatives. As a member of the Events Committee, Nour aims to bring European and U.S. legal perspectives closer together by fostering discussions on comparative law and creating opportunities for students and legal professionals to connect.
Academic Events Committee Member – Sofia Stefanova Lefterova
Sofia is an LL.M. candidate from Bulgaria and a Fulbright scholar. She obtained her first law degree from Sofia University, where she participated in various moot court competitions, including the Central and Eastern Europe Moot Competition.
For the past 3 years Sofia has worked in leading Bulgarian law firms, focusing on litigation and intellectual property. Sofia is admitted to the Sofia Bar.
Besides law, Sofia enjoys playing tennis, unwinding with a good movie and trying to cook something delicious.
Faculty Sponsor – David Kennedy
David Kennedy is Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School where he teaches international law, international economic policy, legal theory, law and development and European law. He joined the Harvard Law faculty in 1981 and holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a J.D. from Harvard. He is the author of numerous articles on international law and global governance. His research uses interdisciplinary materials from sociology and social theory, economics and history to explore issues of global governance, development policy and the nature of professional expertise. He has been particularly committed to developing new voices from the third world and among women in international affairs.