May 26, 2009 By: yunews
May 26, 2009 -- If Indonesia someday has a new, world-class law school, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law can claim partial credit.
That鈥檚 because Sigit Ardianto, a graduate of Cardozo鈥檚 LLM program and a Dean鈥檚 Merit Scholar, was inspired by his classes and professors to take his new knowledge back home to Jakarta and work for improvements in legal education and the legal system there.
鈥淢y dream is to establish a new progressive law school in Indonesia that could meet international legal education standards, and perhaps mimic Cardozo鈥檚 success,鈥 said Ardianto.
A 2003 law graduate of the State University of Padjadjaran in West Java, Ardianto was an associate at DNC Law in Jakarta and an emerging legal scholar in his homeland before coming to Cardozo. He was most influenced during his year at Cardozo by Michel Rosenfeld, the Justice Sydney L. Robins Professor of Human Rights, whom he calls 鈥渂rilliant,鈥 and by Rosenfeld鈥檚 Comparative Constitutionalism course.
A Muslim, Ardianto enjoyed Professor David Bleich鈥檚 Introduction to Jewish Law course, finding some surprising similarities between Jewish and Islamic religious law. He was also impressed by Professor Marci Hamilton鈥檚 First Amendment course, which motivated him to do more in raising awareness of the need for 鈥渃onstitutional complaint鈥 in Indonesia, and which he hopes to use as a model for a similar class in Indonesia.
His greatest accomplishment at Cardozo? 鈥淎s a person from a relatively modest background, being able to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in such a fine school,鈥 Ardianto said. 鈥淎nd doing it in the greatest city in the world.鈥
