18 to 20 Feb 2019: LL.M. International Finance Class Trip to Düsseldorf and Essen

At the start of the semester break, the LL.M. International Finance students participated in a field trip to Dusseldorf and Essen from 18 to 20 February 2019. This trip marked the beginning of the Legal and Management Training Program for the upcoming academic session.

On Monday, 18 February 2019, the class travelled to Düsseldorf and had their first appointment with Dr. Christian Möller, Partner, Ms. Ye Huo, Senior Associate and Ms. Tianyuan Zhuang, Associate, from Hengeler Mueller, a top law firm in Germany working internationally. The students learnt about Hengeler Mueller’s operations within Germany, Europe and the Asian markets providing innovative solutions and legal expertise to their clients.

In the afternoon, the students went on a walking tour of the city through the Altstadt and finished the evening with dinner at a japanese sushi reastaurant called Tokyo Lounge. Attending the evening were alumni from the class of LL.M. Finance 2004 (Ms. Xiaojing Deng) and LL.M. Finance 2014 (Ms. Lin Ye), as well as Dr. Christian Möller, Ms. Ye Huo and Ms. Tianyuan Zhuang from Hengeler Mueller whom the students had already met in the morning.

On the second morning, the students arrived in Essen to meet with Dr Donatus Kaufmann, Executive Board Member, Legal & Compliance, at Thyssenkrupp AG who delivered an insightful presentation into the history and current direction of the diverse industrial group. A major point of discussion was the merger between Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp AG who are to combine their steel businesses by establishing a successful joint venture.

In the afternoon, the students were free to explore Düsseldorf for further sightseeing and entertainment.

The final morning in Düsseldorf saw the students meet members of the Ministry for Economics, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), namely Mr. Matthias Fischer, Head of Department VIII A 6, Country Section Non-European Countries, Ministry for Economics, Innovation, Digitisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mr. Rainer Hornig, Executive Director of NRW.INVEST GmbH and Ms. Iwona Graichen, Senior Project Manager of NRW.International GmbH. The students learnt about the vast investment both from the EU and Asian countries into North Rhine-Westphalia due to its strong industrial presence, capitalizing from the belt and road initiative.

The students departed Düsseldorf to Frankfurt after three busy days and will now commence lectures on  Legal and Management Training for this semester.