Eva Papadimas, L'12

Eva Papadimas, L’12, has always been interested in international affairs, and with the help of two C. Weinstein Grants, she’s been able to explore her passion while in law school.

Her exploration of international corporate law began when Papadimas was elected president of the University of Richmond’s chapter of the International Law Students Association. The organization is responsible for hosting guest lectures from practitioners in the field of international affairs, such as bankruptcy, humanitarian rights, and commercial property.

One session on international privacy rights proved serendipitous. Papadimas was introduced to a German attorney who was looking for summer interns at his international corporate law firm. “When this opportunity came across my lap, I knew I had to jump on it,” she says. “The world is becoming more globalized, and sooner or later I’m going to interact with international business entities.”

With the help of a Weinstein Grant for international study, she spent four weeks at the Düsseldorf office of Taylor Wessing learning about German corporate law, specifically focusing on labor and employment, intellectual property, insolvency, mergers and acquisitions, and business transactions. In addition to comparing German litigation systems and court proceedings with American practices, Papadimas was assigned to a project involving the merger of an insolvent corporation.

“A Spanish corporation with a German subsidiary wanted to purchase a German insolvent production plant and the plant was in Eastern Germany, where land rights and land use are different than Western Germany,” she says. “There were a lot of issues that came up in that transaction. I learned about the different areas of German law, as well as how international corporations come in and do acquisitions in Germany.”

When Papadimas returned to Richmond for her final year of law school, she was still tuned in to opportunities abroad. A conversation with a friend at the University of Pennsylvania introduced her to a student reporting project at the oikos World Water Forum in Marseille, France. Again armed with a Weinstein Grant, she jumped at the chance, and spent a week covering public finances and legal regulations associated with water projects that were presented at the conference. Her work, along with other student blogs, was featured on the student reporter website.

“I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing, and I knew that an intense week of reporting and writing and editing would give me that chance,” she says. “And while I don’t expect to become a politician or enter the policy realm, it was interesting to hear about it and talk about the problems with international water governance and water law.”

While Papadimas’ next destination is much closer to home — she’ll be clerking for Brian F. Kenney, a bankruptcy judge in Alexandria, Va., next year — her experiences abroad will travel with her as she prepares for a career in corporate law.

“In Germany, I really saw how a international corporate law firm works,” she says. “It’s an experience I couldn’t get at an American law firm. I think it will show I’m more versatile.”