S.J.D. Candidate
mlessa at sjd.law.harvard.edu
Dissertation
Economic Nationalism in Cross-Border Contract Law and Design
My dissertation explores the effects of economic nationalism and geopolitical risk on cross‑border deals with a focus on contract law, contract design and the choice between organizational and contractual forms.
Combining comparative analysis and empirical study of cross-border agreements, this research seeks to understand how contract law interacts with questions of nationality, national security and sovereignty and how parties allocate risk, ownership and corporate control in the evolving geoeconomic order.
Fields of Research and Supervisors
- Contract Law, Contract Design and Corporate Transactions with Professor John Coates, Harvard Law School, Principal Faculty Supervisor
- Economic Tools of National Security with Professor Kristen Eichensehr, Harvard Law School
- Securities Regulation and International Capital Markets with Professor Howell Jackson, Harvard Law School
- Comparative Corporate Governance and Comparative Contract Law with Professor Mariana Pargendler, Harvard Law School
Additional Research Interests
- Comparative Private Law
- Corporate Law and Governance
- Law and Economics
Education
- Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate, 2026 – Present
- Harvard Law School, LL.M. Program 2025 – 2026 (requirements fulfilled, degree waived)
- University of São Paulo, Brazil, LL.B. (Bacharelado em Direito), 2025
Representative Publications
- Climate Disclosure in the Global South, in The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Private Law 319 (Douglas A. Kysar & Ernest Lim eds., 2026) (with Mariana Pargendler)
- Legal Heterodoxy in the Global South: Priority of Workers versus Secured Creditors in Insolvency, 74 American Journal of Comparative Law 1 (2026) (with Kevin E. Davis & Mariana Pargendler)
Additional Information
- Languages: English, Portuguese, French (intermediate), Spanish (intermediate)
Last Updated: June 11, 2026