The graduation of the ILF Class of 2018 took place on 12 July 2018 where a total of 62 ILF students celebrated their graduation day with families and friends, the Board members, faculty members, staff and alumni of the ILF. The Class of 2018 comprising 44 students from the LL.M. Finance program and 18 students from the LL.M. International Finance program celebrated the completion of classes of the academic year 2017/18 at the official graduation ceremony held at the House of Finance.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn, ILF Executive Director, opened the official graduation ceremony by welcoming about 240 guests. He noted that graduation is usually a time for one to look back to teh past but also to look forward to the future. Most of our graduates started off as strangers at the Oreintation Meeting held on 4 October 2017 and there is now strong bonds of friendship formed amongst them. The ILF offers education whch combines law and finance, theory and practice and he hoped that our graduates have benefitted from this special conbination and have acquired new valuable knowlege during their studies at the ILF which would enhance their future careers. He encouraged our graduates to be important ambassadors for the ILF as they move on with their chosen career paths. Finally, he thanked the lecturers, sponsors and ILF administration for their continuous commitment and support of the ILF.
Prof. Dr. Albrecht Cordes, Dean of the Law Faculty, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, was honored to be at the graduation ceremony and to see the ILF Class of 2018 graduating from a wonderful and thriving prograrm which has made huge developments since it establishment in 2002. He was highly impressed with the variety and internationality of the graduates and found the fact that they come form 22 different countries overwhelming. He warmly congratulated our graduates for their acheivements and wished them the best for the future
Dr. Hendrik Haag, Chairman of the ILF Board of Trustees, ILF Lecturer, and Partner of Hengeler Mueller then delivered the commencement speech. He highlighted the fact that the ILF offer a number of very attractve features which in its combination is unique, namely that there are both lawyers and economists in the LL.M. programs, the ILF faculty comprised a majority of practicing lawyers providing a practical approach to the teaching at the ILF, that mandatory internships at law firms, banks and institutions are arranged with the support of the ILF. In the field of law, it is necessary for one to work with other lawyers in foreign jurisdictions in order to make international business transactions work. He also stated that it is important for trade and business that rules should be clear and enforced and that one must be able to rely on the law. The prevailance of the rule of law is a significant factor and it is the duty of lawyers to safeguard the rule of law. He wishes our graduates a sucessful future and was confident that good lawyers and economists will always be in demand and in this regard, he was sure that the training and network at the ILF will help the graduates in the future.
He spoke about the future of our graduates who will soon be working in a very global environment as lawyers, managers and leaders and their important roles in the current world where the financial crisis is still very present. He gave our students a few good words of advice based on his own past personal experiences to help them along their way.
The LL.M. Finance Class President, Mr. Peter Qvist from Denmark and the LL.M. International Finance Class President, Ms Yuqi Hu, related their experiences at the classes and activiteis held at the ILF during their year of studies. The many nationalities and cultures of their fellow classmates have provided a beautiful diversity and made them have a boarder mind set when dealing with issues. They are grateful of this extensive networ of freinds which they now have. They stated that the class was thankful for the good times and even better memories of the time they spent at the ILF.
The ceremony was followed by both Class Vice-Presidents, Mr. Kalin Ivanov from Bulgaria and Ms. Juan Huang from China, honoring the 4 lecturers from both the winter and the summer semesters with the Lecturer of the Year 2018 Award. They have been nominated by each group of students at the end of each semester. Mr. Frank Herring who was present to received his awards thanked the classes for nominating him and in his speech, emphasized the importance of showing their stengths of character when making decisons in their future careers.
Winter Semester:
LL.M. Finance: Mr. Frank Herring
LL.M. International Finance: Mr. Frank Herring
Summer Semester:
LL.M. Finance: Dr. Stefan Henkelmann
LL.M. International Finance: Dr. Till Kosche
Finally, each student of the Class of 2018 was presented with his/her certificate and personally congratulated by Prof. Dr. Cordes and Dr. Haag during the commemorative certificates award ceremony.
At the end of the official ceremony, all guests were invited to the dinner and dance held at the Festsaal of the Casino Building on Campus Westend. At the dinner, the guests enjoyed a 15-minute video made by Dr. Rolf Friedewald, ILF Managing Director, recapitulating the special events of the Class of 2018.
Congratulations to the Class of 2018!
The graduation ceremony can be viewed via this link: http://www.ilf-frankfurt.de/graduation
