Sahithi Somarapu

  • Research Assistant
  • 09/10/2022
Research assistant Law Trade and Investment

Personal Summary

I am an LL.M. (Master of Laws) candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I am a motivated individual with a demonstrated interest in the areas of International Trade Law and Investment Treaty Law (and their linkage with developmental, environmental and human rights studies).

Currently, I am an intern at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, where I am updating their investment treaty law databases, to be used to study 'regulatory chill'. I have previously been a research assistant at the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the World Trade Organisation, where I gained significant exposure to matters of trade policy formulation and improvement of international trade law capacities of developing nations. I have also previously interned at the Centre for Trade and Investment Law (established by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Here, I undertook research on the usage of non-WTO law as substantive law before WTO disputes, on the dispute settlement history of various cases before the WTO, on matters of international taxation and on the establishment narrative of globalisation.

I was chosen to participate as a youth delegate at the UNCTAD15 Youth Forum. I contributed to the drafting of the UNCTAD Youth Declaration and examined carbon border taxes, from a trade, developmental and environmental perspective. It enhanced my ability to work closely with people from different ethnicities and diverse backgrounds and arrive at mediated solutions accounting for multiple interests. 

I am proficient in the usage of MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint.

I am fluent in English, Hindi and Telugu and possess an intermediate knowledge of French.

Education

B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)
National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), University of Law