NEW YORK, August 23, 2006 --- New York Law School’s Center for International Law has embarked on an Iran Project in collaboration with global security think tank Network 2020. With funding from the Flora Family Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Iran Project will assess the impact of civic organizations and nongovernmental organizations on democracy and development in Iran. It also plans to organize a high-level summit between U.S. and Iranian nongovernmental leaders in a neutral third country.

 

The Center for International Law and Network 2020 have appointed for the Iran Project, with immediate effect and for a one-year term, two Network 2020 Fellows. They are Matthew B. Abrams and Shahab D. Ghalambor, both third-year New York Law School students.

 

From July to September 2006, Abrams and Ghalambor will work closely with Network 2020’s president, Dr. Patricia Huntington, to “map” civil organizations and NGOs in Iran. During the 2006–2007 academic year, the Fellows will be invited to participate in Network 2020's closed-door, off-the-record discussions with global leaders. Over the last two years, Network 2020 has had private meetings with the former Chairman of ExxonMobil, the vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs, military generals of the Turkish Republic, the Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and numerous ambassadors, including the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

 

Abrams graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Political Science. He has held internships with Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Legal Aid Society of New York, and Associate Justice Phyllis Gangel-Jacob of the Appellate Term of the First Department of the New York Supreme Court. Abrams was previously a research assistant to New York Law School Professor Anthony Fletcher, and is currently a research assistant to Professor Tai-Heng Cheng, assistant director of the Center for International Law. After graduation from the Law School, he plans to eventually run for public office.

 

Ghalambor previously earned dual B.A. degrees in political science and finance. He was named to the Dean’s List with High Honors for the Spring semester of 2006. He competed in New York Law School’s Charles W. Froessel Intramural Moot Court Competition in 2005 and was named Best Final Round Advocate and winner of the Morris Orland Award for Excellence in Written and Oral Advocacy. Additionally, in 2006, he was a semifinalist and coauthor of the second-best brief in the Atlantic Region of the Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. In addition to his duties as a Network 2020 Fellow, Ghalambor serves as Alumni Relations and Media Chairman on the Moot Court Executive Board.

 

Founded with funding from the C.V. Starr Foundation, the Center for International Law supports teaching and research in a broad range of areas of international law. The Center derives much of its strength from interaction with New York City’s business, financial, and legal communities. The Center organizes symposia events whereby students, faculty, and the New York Law School community may discuss important and timely issues with experts and practitioners in the field. For professional development, the Center offers extensive resources for studying and researching careers in international law.

 

Network 20/20 is an independent membership organization that helps prepare next generation leaders in the U.S. to participate meaningfully in public diplomacy and the creation and execution of policies promoting global public security. We do this by means of lectures and educational initiatives here at home and through a series of trips and exchanges abroad.

Network 20/20 fills two major gaps in U.S. foreign policy: lack of youth participation and lack of serious input from civil society in general. Network 20/20 helps to bridge these gaps by assisting mid-career individuals with new and vigorous ideas drawn from their experiences in the real world of civil society to refine their foreign policy understandings and share their insights with their peers.

About New York Law School
Founded in 1891, New York Law School is an independent law school located in lower Manhattan near the city’s centers of law, government, and finance. New York Law School’s renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built the school’s strength in such areas as constitutional law, civil and human rights, labor and employment law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and a number of interdisciplinary fields. The school is noted for its six academic centers: the Justice Action Center, Center for New York City Law, Center for Professional Values and Practice, Center on Business Law & Policy, Institute for Information Law and Policy, and the Center for International Law. New York Law School has more than 13,000 graduates and enrolls some 1500 students in its full- and part-time J.D. programs and its Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation program.

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