Swansea Alumnus Climbing up the Ladder in Legal Practice

Swansea College of Law offers a wide range of LLM programmes, giving students the advantage of choice and specialism in commercial, maritime, trade and IP law. The College has also recently launched a new programme LLM in Oil and Gas Law for 2015.

All programmes have been specifically designed to reflect the contemporary world of business, trade, commerce, and finance, providing our students with  an effective springboard to a future career in legal practice or some other profession, such as education, industry, commerce, finance, shipping, international trade, insurance or arbitration.

The Department of Postgraduate Legal Studies, which administers the LLM, is very proud to see its LLM graduates holding significant positions in the maritime, banking, insurance and legal sectors. It is also very rewarding to see LLM alumni such as Maria Belén Espiñeira receiving international recognition for their services in the legal sector. Maria Belén is an Argentinean lawyer who graduated with an LLM in International Maritime Law in 2008 (with distinction). She then began working for leading maritime law firms in Argentina before establishing her own legal consultancy (International Transport & Logistics Legal Consultants). She also regularly provides pro bono legal advice. In addition to her own practice, Maria Belén is appointed as an ad honorem lecturer in maritime law at the Faculty of Law, University of Buenos Aires and she is the founder and President of WISTA Argentina (Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association). In recognition of Maria Belén’s invaluable contribution to the legal profession, the International Bar Association (IBA) honoured her with the 2014 IBA’s Outstanding Young Lawyer award, which was presented to her at the IBA Annual Conference in Tokyo. This is a very prestigious prize awarded annually to a young lawyer from anywhere in the world who has shown not only excellence in work and achievements to date but also a commitment to professional and ethical standards.

Espineira

From left to right: Ian McDougall (EVP and General Counsel for LexisNexis Legal & Professional), Michael Reynolds (IBA President), Maria Belén Espiñeira and Gabrielle Williams (Chair of the IBA Public and Professional International Division). 

Commenting on the Maria Belén’s success, Professor Soyer, the Head of the Department of Postgraduate Legal Studies, stated: “ We always knew that Swansea LLM graduates do rather well in their professional lives after graduation and Maria's recent success is just another indication of the quality of young lawyers that are the products of Swansea's contemporary and practical legal education. I would like to congratulate Maria for her success which makes us very proud."