‘From an early age on, I was fascinated by the legal profession by watching documentaries, TV shows and movies. Out of curiosity I took an unofficial internship at a law firm after finishing high school. At this internship I gained insight into the legal profession and the legal field. After that I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in law.’

Variety of subjects

‘The Master’s programme Transnational and European Private Law covers a variety of areas of private law. To me this variety of subjects is one of the strengths of the programme. Especially the courses in the area of trade law, corporate law and tax law appeal to me.’

Tips for future students

‘After graduating, I found a job as an academic tutor for the Bachelor’s programme Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics, also known as PPLE, here at the University of Amsterdam. My tips for future Master’s students: do not stress out about the workload, keep your future plans in mind and be consistent with your studies.’

‘I do not want to practice law in a law firm,’ Maiara says, ‘I want to try for the federal judge exam in Brazil. The LLM programme in Public International Law was an important step in that direction.’

‘What I liked about this programme were the discussions with fellow students during the tutorials. There are people from so many different countries here. I now have good friends in places like Italy and Luxembourg.’

‘The city is nice, too. Amsterdam has everything big cities like Paris, London and Berlin have, but it is still a small place. It is also very welcoming to internationals, you can have such nice interactions with people.’

A lot of reading

‘The study programme required a lot of reading. In the beginning I was not used to that yet, but I learned soon enough that if you do your work on time, you can manage. If you keep up instead of leaving everything for the exam week, you will be fine.’