Karen Kandelman

By way of brief introduction, I am a King’s College and Leiden University graduate with 1 year of experience as a paralegal. I am currently working as a litigation paralegal for Pogust Goodhead in group actions litigation, where I have been for 16 months. I am looking to diversify my skill set in the legal field to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. 

Team member and competitor, Telders Moot Court (September 2020- Now)

As part of the Telders moot court team, we produced a written legal memorial to submit to the competition throughout the last three months. Throughout the research, I collected materials from multiple international courts and domestic jurisdictions as well as U.N. documents. Then we worked to write the first draft by meeting on video calls to discuss the content and the application of the legal issues to the facts of the case. We presented our arguments to the coaches of multiple moot court competitions to get feedback on the persuasiveness and clarity of our argument. Next, we worked everyday for 10-12 hours in a span of two weeks to redraft our arguments by critically debating about each point we had made. Throughout these two weeks, I listened intently to my teammates and provided detail-oriented comments to improve the phrasing, referencing and formatting of the draft. 

Mini pupillage at Temple Garden Chambers (July 2020)

Shadowed Benjamin Seifert, a specialist extradition and public practitioner, through a virtual mini-pupillage. Attended virtual hearings in the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and the Westminster Magistrates. Learned about how advocacy changes online and is based more on tone and pace than body language. Attended the Temple Garden Chambers extradition webinar with experts in the field about prison conditions in foreign prisons. I got to observe a conference between the two sides of a Supreme Court case and saw how they must agree on the content of an appeal to the Court. 

Researcher, Global Media Freedom Project (September 2019 - May 2020) 

I am part of a researching team composed of 10 students and two professors for the UK High-Level Panel on Global Media Freedom. We produced a report with the trends of state practice and international law jurisprudence and made recommendations for the panel to adopt. Our main report was on defamation, sedition, and lese-majeste and I focus on the international courts’ minimum standards to protect and not interfere with freedom of expression. I have read practitioners’ guides for the ECHR and the ICCPR to identify principles used by judges for each of the conventions. I compared the courts’ standards with my research partner to discern how progressive each one is in promoting media freedom. I presented my findings to legal and journalism experts, which enabled discussions about the granular detail of my recommendations and allowed me to learn directly from media law practitioners. 

Shift Leader at Nought Zero Waste Store (October - December 2019) 

I was part of a new project  to promote sustainability on campus. I worked on my own and had to do both the administrative aspects of running a store and provide good customer service. I opened or closed the shop by counting the money and managed the finances for the day by placing any profits into the safe. I interacted with customers by explaining the concept of the store since a lot of people were curious about having to weigh your container and fill it yourself. 

Legal Internship at NautaDutilh (June - July 2019) 

I worked in the dispute resolution department of a commercial law firm in the Netherlands. I conducted research for associates and partners and the research was focused on comparing the e-discovery procedure in the U.S. and U.K. jurisdiction in order to advocate for a procedural shift in the Netherlands. I utilised academic journal and blogs to get a wider understanding of the topic and then read in detail the case law and statute on Westlaw and Justia. I communicated with my supervisor for each project and asked clarifying questions.  I produced several memoranda for each associate presenting the legal landscape and detailing the facts and outcomes of cases. 

Mini pupillage Doughty Street  (December 2018) 

I shadowed Megan Hirst, a victims’ representation barrister in international criminal law at Doughty Street Chambers. Her work spans across different international criminal tribunals and so she asked me to conduct research on the court proceedings of a specific tribunal, to formulate a strategy for an upcoming appeal. Ms. Hirst and I discussed the case, the scope of the research and the desired outcome. I accessed the tribunal’s database, with all previous filings, requests, and decisions and investigated the procedural rules. I compared and distinguished previous decisions and identified precedents to fit the strategy and shape a persuasive argument. I produced a final report with a summary of the strategy and the analysis of each precedent, with the context and decisions that would be useful for her. 

Research Internship at Maven Global (December 2018) 

I worked at Maven Global, a financial consulting firm in London, during my third year of university. I was responsible for building a database of potential clients from the Greek, Portuguese and Spanish markets. The firm specialized in hedging foreign exchange rates and interest rates for various sectors, including agriculture and energy. I compiled a list of companies in an industry by searching through the chamber of commerce in that country. I would then go through every company’s website to read annual reports to understand their business and decide whether to include it on the list. This internship gave me more insight into how the globalized commercial world functions and the need for consulting experts to understand the risks and their client’s business. 

Mini-pupillage at Doughty Street Chambers (July 2018) 

I shadowed a criminal law barrister, Benjamin Newton, in court during a fraud case. I observed both the procedural advocacy with the judge and substantive advocacy in front of the jury.  I was most intrigued by the cross-examination of the witnesses, which brought in people from different backgrounds to provide insight into the facts of the case. I learned about the solicitor-barrister relationship to manage client relations and the strategy for the case. I participated in a client conference when the barrister was debriefing the client on the progress of the case and discussing the next steps.

Daylesford Organic Farm Café, Retail Team Member   (September 2016 - March 2017)                                                    

I worked as a retail team member at an organic supermarket and café for 7 months of my first year at university. I worked in the store behind the till, prepared coffees and advised customers on the products.  During the weekend it was particularly busy, so I learned how to work under pressure while maintaining good customer service and teamwork. The customer feedback was generally positive and I would get repeat customers and management tell me I was very consistent with my service. I also developed my attention to detail by having to conduct the compliance check when opening and closing the store. Finally, I trained my endurance to work long hours during the weekend, after studying throughout the week. 

Intern at Office of New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler (January - May 2016) 

The office addressed constituents' concerns and my main responsibility was to answer incoming phone calls from constituents and direct them to the right staff member. I documented the concerns expressed by the constituents into case files that would be reviewed by the caseworkers at the end of the week. Thereafter, I produced a short report for the congressman to consider these viewpoints. I completed tasks for staff members, which included drafting emails and newsletters for the constituency. I would also attend meetings on behalf of staff members, mostly related to housing or planning in order to take notes and later debrief the staff. 

2020 - 2021 
PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW (LLM) LEIDEN UNIVERSITY
8/10 (Cum Laude)  

2016 - 2020
POLITICS, PHILOSOPHY AND LAW (LLB) KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
2:1 (Upper Second-Class Score) 

2014 - 2016 
POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY (BA) NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
3.75/4.0 GPA  
2012 - 2014 
INTERNATIONAL BACCAULAUREATE, GRADED AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SÃO PAULO
39/45 points in English HL, Portuguese HL, Film HL, Physics SL, Mathematics, SL, Social Studies SL