Email: r.lima-sakr@lse.ac.uk

Thesis Title: 'Rethinking Development in WTO: A Law and Development Framework for South-North Regional Trade Regimes'

Supervisors: Professor Andrew Lang and Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp

Research Interests: international law; international trade law; private law; capital markets and banking regulation; law and development; critical legal theory;

Recent Publications

'From Free Software to Information Challenge: Law and Freedom in the Network Society' 109 Revista ABPI (Nov.-Dec. 2010 - in Portuguese)

'Market, Economic Development, and International Regulation: The Case of Insurance Services' 147 Revista de Direito Mercantil (Jul.-Set. 2007 - in Portuguese)

'The Negotiations for the Construction Services’ Liberalization in International Trade' in Umberto Celli Jr. (eds.), The Trade Services in WTO (Juruá Press, 2005 – in Portuguese)
 

About

Rafael is a Ph.D. candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he has been working on his doctoral project entitled “Rethinking Development in WTO: A Law and Development Framework for South-North Regional Trade Regimes,” under the supervision of Professors Andrew Lang and Jan Kleinheisterkamp.

Prior to coming to the LSE, Rafael was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School, where he developed two research projects on capital markets and banking law under the supervision of Professors David Kennedy and Christine Desan. The former project aimed to offer a legal theory of stock exchange control of trading environments. The later research received a grant from the Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy to produce a legal history of development banking. Finally, he also worked as research assistant with the Committee on Capital Market Regulation, led by Professor Hal Scott.

On May 2012, Rafael received his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Columbia University School of Law, where he developed three LL.M. Long Essays/Theses: (i) “The Control of Trading Space: the U.S. and International Regulations on Direct Electronic Access to Stock Exchanges,” supervised by Professor Merritt Fox; (ii) “OTC Derivatives Clearinghouses at Systemic Risk: a Comparison between U.S. and Brazilian Regulatory Responses to Liquidity Crises,” supervised by Professor Edward Greene; and (iii) “Is the Most-Favored-Nation Clause still the Cornerstone of the WTO Law? A Legal Pragmatic Inquiry into the Functions of Article I:1 of the GATT,” supervised by Professor Merit Janow.

In 2010, Rafael received his Master of Philosophy in Law (M.Phil.) from the University of Sao Paulo Faculty of Law. His M.Phil. Thesis “The Most-Favored-Nation Clause in the International Economic Order: An Inquiry into the Legal Decision-Making Discourse of Article I:1 of the GATT,” written under the supervision of Professor Alberto do Amaral Júnior, was the recipient of the prestigious Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship. Also from USP, Rafael holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B.), cum laude (Highest Distinction), having successfully defended his LL.B. Thesis, entitled “Power and Peace in International Economic Law: the Most-Favored-Nation Clause,” supervised by Professor Celso Lafer.

In parallel to his academic life, Rafael has practiced law, specializing in corporate law and capital markets and banking regulation, at the law firms of Motta, Fernandes Rocha Advogados in Sao Paulo. Before that, he worked as senior in-house counsel, in the Self-regulatory & Special Projects Division, with the BM&FBOVESPA, the Brazilian Stock, Future & Mercantile Exchange.

Personal Sites  

Academia: independent.academia.edu/RafaelSakr 

Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/RafaelSakr