Can YILDIRIM

Can Yildirim is a junior at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he studies international history and Chinese with a growing interest in global legal practice. Born in Istanbul and educated in both Turkiye and the United States, he graduated with honors from Milton Academy in Massachusetts, where he first cultivated his passion for debate, international affairs, and jazz.

Now based in Washington, D.C., Can is actively preparing for a career at the intersection of law, policy, and cross-cultural engagement. He has interned at a leading law firm, contributes editorially to the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and recently began a part-time position with the U.S. Navy’s Naval District Washington. Fluent in Turkish and English and proficient in Chinese, he brings a global mindset to every setting—curious about how legal systems function, how reasoning differs across cultures, and how norms evolve across jurisdictions.

Can also serves as an editor and content curator for Emails to a Young Lawyer. His editorial work includes contributing research and editing for interviews on common law postgraduate degree programs for international lawyers, while also helping civil-law-trained, non-native English speakers navigate the linguistic and cultural nuances of Anglophone legal institutions in their application process. He currently curates and hosts the platform’s oral history series, Bridging Barriers: Conversations Across Legal Cultures, where he interviews globally trained legal professionals about the cultural dimensions of studying and practicing law across borders.

A jazz enthusiast and alto saxophonist, Can approaches both his academic and extracurricular pursuits with intellectual curiosity, discipline, and a strong sense of voice. His experiences reflect a commitment not only to learning the law but also to understanding its cultural underpinnings and communicating it across systems and languages.