Marco Cappelletti
Roy Goode Scholarship
College: St John’s
Scholarships: Graduate Assistance Fund and the Roy Goode Scholarship
Summary of yourself: I am a DPhil student and Stipendiary Lecturer in Law at St John’s College, where I currently teach Torts and Roman law. My main line of research explores the reasoning of different legal actors from a variety of legal systems in relation to specific aspects of private law and, more particularly, of tort law.
Before coming to Oxford for a DPhil, I earned an LL.M. from the Harvard Law School (2014), where I was a Fulbright Scholar and received the Dean’s Scholar Prize for academic excellence, an M.Jur. from the University of Oxford (2012), and a five-year law degree from the University of Perugia, Italy (2010). From 2014 to 2016 I served as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where my practice focused on litigation and arbitration.
What are your career ambitions?
In 2016 I decided to come back to Oxford and start a DPhil because I felt that only the type of intellectual engagement involved in research and teaching would fulfil my aspirations. Soon after the completion of my doctorate I hope to secure a postdoctoral position in the UK and then, in the longer term, to become a UK-based professor specialising in comparative (private) law.
Is life in Oxford different to what you expected it to be?
Life in Oxford is exactly as most people would expect it, i.e. very much focused on University-related activities. Every student has plenty of opportunities to know other students as well as professors, for example through formal dinners held at the beginning of each academic year across Colleges. Furthermore, students can get involved in many types of activities, from sport clubs to associations pursuing the most diverse objectives, always in a friendly atmosphere.
Furthermore, what I noticed from day 1 in Oxford was that students come from all over the world and from all kinds of backgrounds. This is very enriching at a personal level and I find it to be one of the best aspects of being a student here.
What do you enjoy most about studying law in Oxford?
What I find most exciting about my legal studies in Oxford is that I am pushed to think creatively about the law and to develop my own views without anyone trying to indoctrinate me! Furthermore, there are lots of events such as discussion groups or lunch seminars where anyone is welcome to share his or her thoughts about all sorts of legal issues. As a research student, I also have the privilege to have frequent academic exchanges with my supervisor, thus receiving constant feedback on my work as well as careful support and guidance whenever necessary. In brief, I cannot imagine a better place where a student may wish to spend three or more years of his or her life doing research and writing his or her doctoral thesis.
What do you find most rewarding about your programme?
As a research student in law, I have countless opportunities to discuss about the law with other students and well-established academics. This is an aspect of the DPhil programme that I greatly appreciate and that helps me to give nothing for granted when thinking about the law. Furthermore, the research and, above all, the writing process involved in carrying on a DPhil is simply a pleasure that I have kept enjoying since my first day here and that I wish will accompany me for the rest of my journey in the city of dreaming spires.