Recent American University Law Students Laud Practice-Based Learning

November 7, 2012

The Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Initiative at IAALS is pleased to announce the addition of a new, innovative course to its growing list of course portfolios. International Business Negotiations is taught by Jay Gary Finkelstein and Daniel D. Bradlow at the American University Washington College of Law. The course is a semester-long simulated negotiation of an international business transaction offered to upper level JD and LL.M. students.

Two former law students have shared their insights about how the International Business Negotiations course better prepared them to handle real cases and engage with clients and issues on an international level. Yasmin Naghash, an associate at Themis PLLC, assists corporate and individual clients in complex civil litigation, white collar crime, and general corporate matters. In her Voices from the Field interviews, she recalls the practical skills she learned in the class as being invaluable in shaping her professional aspirations and preparing her with more than just theory, but the skills that law firms look for when hiring new associates. Loi Huynh, a Vietnamese trainee lawyer working at the Library of Congress, expresses similar sentiments in his Voices from the Field interviews. He lauds the course for teaching him vital international communication skills, how to bridge divides among parties with amicable solutions, and giving him a practical understanding of how to effectively work with and advise businesses.

Click here to review the International Business Negotiations course portfolio that Naghash found invaluable to her practice of law and that Hyunh regards as the most valuable course from his LL.M. education.

Yasmin Naghash is an Associate Attorney at Themis PLLC, a boutique corporate and commercial law firm in Washington D.C. Her practice includes complex civil litigation, white collar crime, and general corporate matters for government entities, financial firms, private sector executives, government contractors, physicians, health care providers, and numerous small and medium-sized businesses.  Naghash obtained her J.D. from The American University, Washington of College of Law, and was a founding editor of the American University Business Law Review—the mid-Atlantic region's first law journal in business.

Loi Huynh is Vietnamese trainee lawyer and an LL.M graduate from American University, Washington College of Law. Huynh is currently interning at the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.