Guía del Recomendador

“With confidence and enthusiasm, I write this letter endorsing Fulanita de Tal’s candidacy for the LL.M. at Chinconcuya University. Having completed my graduate studies in the U.S. (Conocida Law School, PhD ’00) and having taught as a visiting professor at Renombrado Law Center I am familiar with American legal education and its graduate programs. I’m very confident in recommending Fulanita be admitted to the LL.M. for she has the talent, intelligence, maturity, academic orientation and discipline required”.

“Fulanita  has been my most outstanding student since I started teaching in 2000. She  was my student at Universidad Emergente on two occasions. First, as a first  year student in an introductory course to Legal Research and Writing; next,  as a third year student in an elective course on Law and Society. In both  courses her performance was extraordinary, scoring the highest grades in her  class. The consistency of her performance in grades, however, does not mean  she did not evolve significantly over those three years. Being very quiet and  attentive during class the first time around, I did not really notice her  potential. However, by the time Fulanita attended my Law and Society course,  she had become one of the pivots of the class, with frequent (though not  nearly the most frequent) interventions on the core issues discussed in the  classroom. As a student, she demonstrated both the analytic skills and  dedication needed to understand and apply the materials studied and, more  interestingly, she proved having the critical perspective required to pose  interesting questions and attempt innovative answers. 

It is after  she proved that she had the capacity to drive discussions in the classroom  with attentiveness, openness, intelligence and creativity that I decided to  approach her and suggest she apply for a position as research assistant at  the Human Right Program I coordinated. In that position, I have closely  followed her performance, which unsurprisingly was notable. She has been a  resourceful researcher who not only delivers what is asked of her with  precision and timeliness, but who consistently contributes ideas and  materials that were not originally on the radar. In researching forced  disappearance decisions throughout the Americas in preparation for a paper I  wrote, she consistently undertook further research of her own initiative  which most often contributed materials, critiques and topics which were not  evident to me at first. Her aptitude for independent research, has on several  occasions led myself and my colleagues to entrust her with being the lead  researcher and drafter of delicate projects. Most notably, she has been  responsible and almost single handedly elaborated three amici curiae on  topics ranging from government misinformation of sexual health in Colombia,  sex work in Mexico and, most recently and notably, on the disproportionality  of prison sentences for drug crimes in Mexico. It is worth noting that this  last amicus was completed impeccably and with little supervision.  

Fulanita  is a well-rounded person. Brilliant and inquisitive in general; curious and  rigorous in her research; eager to learn and willing to redirect when  criticized on solid grounds. She is easygoing and a great team member, with a  capacity to both follow and lead in group work. She is very young, yet  astoundingly precocious and mature, with a clear idea where she wants to go  and unwavering commitment to achieving her goals. Fulanita’s most important  challenge in pursuing a LL.M. Having attended public education in Mexico, I  thought her most formidable handicap was her comparative unfamiliarity with  the English language. This fear, however, was unfounded. Her research of  judicial opinions in different languages (Spanish, English, French and  Portuguese) revealed an ease for foreign languages in general. She not only  carried out a critical survey of cases in which she identified the subtleties  of argument that were required for the piece I was writing, but she also  managed to translate several key decisions from Portuguese into Spanish for  my use. Knowing English to be the most relevant foreign language for her  pursuance of graduate studies, I’ve taken care to exercise herself in it. I  have asked her to carry out translations of different pieces of mine from  English into Spanish and vice versa. I must underscore the surprising quality  of these translations. So, I’m confident that language will not be an  impediment at all while pursuing her LL.M.”  

“Fulanita has been outstanding as an undergraduate student and researcher. She is passionate about her commitment to both her studies and the social issues that interest her. I am confident she will an asset as a student at Chinconcuya University. I enthusiastically and unreservedly endorse her candidacy and I am certain, if you give her the opportunity, you will enthusiastically appreciate her too”.