UChicago Law Welcomes LLM Class of 2027
The University of Chicago Law School welcomed 81 new LLM students to campus this fall, bringing together lawyers and legal scholars from 26 countries and a wide range of professional backgrounds.
The top 10 countries represented in the LLM class are Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Belgium, India, Indonesia, Peru, and Taiwan.
The impressive group brings a wide range of background and legal experience. Included in the class are law firm attorneys, government lawyers, in-house counsel, civil servants, members of the judiciary, and academia. This cohort includes 21 students who were either valedictorian or finished in the top 10% of their law school classes.
The average age of the class is 29.62 and the average number of years of experience each new LLM brings is 5.72.
The LLM class includes:
- a former personal fitness trainer
- a TV presenter and major digital media personality
- a former police officer
- a former elementary school teacher
- a former top-level competitive cyclist
“It is always amazing to have such an accomplished group of students from around the globe adding to the UChicago Law community,” said Justin Swinsick, assistant dean of graduate admissions. “As an institution that prizes interdisciplinary discussion and debate, these students add so much to the academic life here.”
The Law School hosted an Orientation for the LLMs on September 17-23, in which they got to enjoy a first taste of intellectual life at UChicago. During the week, faculty led workshops on topics that included federalism, law and economics, race in America, civil procedure, constitutional law, AI and the legal profession, and freedom of expression.
Orientation included several social and networking opportunities as well. The LLMs took part in an architectural boat cruise on the Chicago River, a luncheon with LLM alumni, and a formal reception dinner hosted in their honor.
The LLM Class of 2027 joins 202 new JD students in beginning their UChicago Law experience during the 2026-27 academic year.
Meet a Few of Our New LLM Students
Nefeli Megalovasili, LLM ’27
Megalovasili has taken an unconventional route from law school back to legal practice. After earning her LL.B. from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and qualifying as a lawyer in Greece, she built a career communicating complex legal and public policy issues to broad audiences—as a content creator, podcast host, radio producer, TV presenter, and stand-up comedian. Now, she is bringing the communication and analytical skills developed through those experiences back to the legal field, with plans to pursue a career in cross-border corporate practice.
“I'm excited to share the perspective of someone who has worked both inside and outside the legal profession. Discussing law with millions of people online has taught me how differently legal ideas are understood outside academic and professional circles, and I hope that perspective contributes to classroom conversations,” she said.
Marta Ostrowska, LLM ’27
Ostrowska seemed destined for a legal career in criminal justice from an early age. Her professional path ultimately led in a different direction. After discovering an unexpected passion for insurance law, Ostrowska earned her PhD from the University of Warsaw and went on to conduct research and teach at the University of Zurich. Her scholarship now focuses on reinsurance, regulation, and contract law, with an increasingly interdisciplinary approach that has brought her to UChicago Law to explore the intersection of law and economics.
“My legal background is strongly rooted in European Union law. One very unique thing about the EU law that might be interesting to people at UChicago is that it has undertaken the next-to-impossible task of creating one legal framework for 27 countries with distinct cultures, histories, and legal traditions. In doing so, EU law offers, although certainly not without difficulties, a range of legal mechanisms that allow for diversity while promoting integration,” she said.
Jhossueth Almeida, LLM ’27
Almeida has already experienced constitutional law from an unusually close vantage point. In Ecuador, he served on the legal defense team of the country’s president during an impeachment proceeding. Now a senior legal advisor for the Association of Private Banks of Ecuador, Almeida hopes eventually to enter politics himself—and perhaps run for a seat in Congress.
“During my time in public service, I was able to take part in constitutional processes that were unprecedented in Ecuador,” he said. “I was part of the legal defense team of the President of the Republic during an impeachment process, and I later drafted the decree by which he dissolved Congress under a constitutional provision. These are events you usually read about in casebooks, but living them from the inside, where constitutional law meets political conflict, is a unique experience I look forward to sharing with my classmates.”
Welcome, LLM Class of 2027!
Follow UChicago Law on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and Bluesky to see our spotlight series on our new LLMs this month.
