Current S.J.D. Candidates

SJD Bio

Ludovica Fabrizi

Supervisor: Professor Harlan Cohen

Ludovica Fabrizi earned her JD cum laude in International Law from Luiss Guido Carli University in Italy in 2018, with a thesis on comparative multinational liability for human rights violations in the United States and the European Union, which was awarded outstanding academic research status. Concurrently, she obtained an LL.M. from Fordham University, where she was actively involved in the International Human Rights Clinic and collaborated with the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice.

Licensed to practice law in both New York and Italy, Ludovica was recognized as one of the 10 most promising Italian attorneys under 35 by Nova 111 and Bocconi University. She began her legal career as an international affairs associate at an Italian law firm, negotiating international policies on behalf of the Italian government with member states and key stakeholders from the public and private sectors before the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She also gained judicial experience as a clerk at the Italian Administrative Supreme Court.

Since 2021, Ludovica has worked as a corporate lawyer at Novo Nordisk, with assignments across Denmark, Brazil, and the United States, focusing on ethics and compliance. She played a pivotal role in developing and implementing the company’s first human rights strategy and due diligence process, in alignment with the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

Ludovica has served as a guest lecturer at John Cabot University, teaching Introduction to Human Rights Law, and at Luiss Guido Carli University, contributing to the Law, Digital Innovation and Sustainability Master’s program. Additionally, she has volunteered as a consultant on business and human rights for CSR Turkey, a Turkish NGO, and collaborated with the Harvard Law School Human Rights Clinic under Professor Tyler Giannini, advising on a project aimed at adding a fourth pillar to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

Her S.J.D. research at Fordham University focuses on the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, with a particular emphasis on the international legal implications of imposing mandatory human rights due diligence on corporations.

SJD Bio Paul Friederiszick

Paul Friederiszick

Working title: The Role of Antitrust/Competition Law in the World’s Transition Process to a Future Economic World Order

Supervisor: Professor Sepehr Shahshahani

Paul Friederiszick is a fully qualified and trained attorney in Germany, with a research focus  on Antitrust/Competition Law. He studied law at Ludwig Maximilian University of  Munich (LMU, Germany) with a specialisation and final thesis in European Competition Law. During his legal studies, he gained practical experience interning in the Competition Law division of Allen & Overy LLP in Hamburg and spent an Erasmus semester at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in France.

Following his First State Exam in Bavaria, Paul served his legal clerkship (Referendariat) at the Supreme Court of Berlin (Kammergericht) with further placements at the German Foreign Ministry, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission in Brussels (DG Comp). 

After passing the Second State Exam, he obtained an LL.M. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was awarded the highly competitive Dean’s Fellowship. His independent research at UCLA, which compared merger proceedings in the US, EU and China, was published in World Competition, a leading peer-reviewed journal in the field.  During his studies in Los Angeles, he interned at the California Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. 

Prior to starting his doctoral degree at Fordham, Paul worked with a leading European research-based consultancy specializing in competition policy and regulation, with roles in both London and Berlin.

SJD Bio

Justin De Jesús Sucgang

Working Title: Future-Proofing Philippine Legal Education through Decoloni[ali]zation

Supervisor: Professor Russell Pearce

Justin De Jesus Sucgang is a stubborn advocate of legal education reform even before he enrolled in law school. Believing that the future of “any nation depends largely on the legal profession, and that the character of law schools determines the character of the profession”, Justin has, individually and as part of a team of researchers, embarked on various multidisciplinary studies on legal education. 

While in law school, Justin was appointed by the Philippine President as Commissioner to the Legal Education Board, the national government agency regulating all law schools in the country. There he endeavored to realize his policy proposals and actively engaged the sector and Philippine Congress to pass legislative measures. His proposals were adopted in toto in a House of Representatives of the Philippines bill first filed in the 16th Congress (HB No. 4736, July 2014), and were refiled in the 17th Congress (HB No. 4258, November 2016) and 18th Congress (HB No. 2836, July 2019). His research and proposals called for an electronic reportorial system, nationwide law school admission test, and a shortened core-track law school curriculum. For his public service and academic achievements, he was awarded one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines in Malacañan Palace. 

After his term, Justin joined the Office of the President of the Philippines to learn more about the bureaucracy, especially in implementing reform measures. He served as a policy lawyer under the administration of two Presidents handling various matters such as national security, big-ticket infrastructure projects, economic development, higher education, and social welfare. Starting as Technical Assistant, he rose through the ranks and left, to pursue graduate studies abroad, as Director III. 

Justin is currently an Associate Professor of Law (on leave) in De La Salle University (DLSU) Tañada-Diokno School of Law, where he also served as Director for Academic Support. Currently, he teaches in the University of the Philippines College of Law and the Tarlac State University School of Law. He previously taught at the Lyceum University of the Philippines College of Law. His extension activities as full-time law professor is in keeping with his advocacy. He founded the Center for Legal Education Advancement and Reform, a think tank providing action research and policy proposals on legal education and the profession. He also served as member of the Steering Committee of the recently-concluded PHP70-Million Legal Education Advancement Program, the first initiative funded by the Philippine Congress to help introduce meaningful reforms to Philippine legal education. 

Justin earned his Bachelor of Arts major in Psychology degree from DLSU, where he graduated magna cum laude. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the same university, graduating salutatorian and pioneer recipient of the Senator Ka Pepe Diokno Leadership Award. He received his Master of Laws degree and Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan on a Fulbright Scholarship and DeWitt Fellowship. He was also a Hughes Fellow of the University of Michigan Center for South East Asian Studies. Justin was a Doctoral Fellow at the Fordham University School of Law and currently serves as Research Assistant of Prof. Russell Pearce. While doing his doctoral studies, he received the silver award for the 2023 Peter Drucker Challenge in Vienna, Austria.