The Graduation Ceremony of the ILF Class of 2016 took place on 14 July 2016. A total of 64 ILF students from 30 countries celebrated their graduation day with families and friends, the Board members, faculty members, staff and alumni of the ILF.
The Class of 2016 comprising 52 students from the LL.M. Finance program and 12 students from the LL.M. International Finance program celebrated the completion of classes of the academic year 2015/16 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 more than 250 guests. He spoke about the courses which the students attended duing the year and how they have trained them to better understand law and finance both as lawyers and businessmen. The experience which they have gained during their internships would be most valuable for their future career paths. He congratulated the graduates on their achievements and encouraged them to stay in contact with the ILF. He also invited them to join us for the ILF's 15th anniversary celebrations which will be held in June 2017. Finally, he thanked the sponsors, lecturers and staff for their continuous commitment and support of the ILF.
Prof. Dr. Ute Sacksofsky, Dean of the Law Faculty, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, was very impressed by the huge diversity and internationality of the ILF graduates. She was of the opinion that Frankfurt is indeed the perfect location to study for such a diverse group of students as Frankfurt is a great international city coupled with the fact that it is a major financial center in the world. The ILF and the university has a great connection to the financial industry in Frankfurt and the university offers an excellent and beautiful campus for learning. She warmly congratulated our graduates and wished them all the best for the future.
Thereafter, the commencement speech was held by Prof. Dr. R. Alexander Lorz, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs of the State of Hesse. He spoke of the ILF as a unique institution with a unique selling point as it offers two intensive Master of Laws programs which integrate law and finance and combines theory and practice. Lawyers and businessmen are brought together and networking also plays a significant role in the program. He commented on the contents of the various courses taught at the ILF which also included philosophical and ethical aspects of banking in the wake of the financial crisis. He gave some insight on the conseqeunces of the Brexit decision and the possible future opportunities for Frankfurt as the most important financial enter in Europe. He advised the graduates to stay in touch with each other and as alumni because it would probably be one of the most important asset in their lives.
Mr. David Clinton-Michael Smith from the USA, LL.M. Finance Class President, and Mr. Menghao Fu from China, LL.M. International Finance Class President, spoke about the classes and many special events that took place during the academic year 2015/16. Sharing and teamwork played an important role during their year at the ILF. They all came to the ILF to live his/her dream and they will now move on to the next stage of their lives after completing the program which has definitely helped in their transitions from students to practitioners or academia.
The ceremony was followed by both Class Vice-Presidents, Mr. Jeffrey Sprong from The Netherlands and Ms. Zihan Xiao from China, honoring the lecturers from both the winter and the summer semesters with the Lecturer of the Year 2016 Award. They have been nominated by each group of students at the end of each semester.
Winter Semester:
LL.M. Finance: Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn
LL.M. International Finance: Mr. Frank Herring
Summer Semester:
LL.M. Finance: Dr. Philipp Peach
LL.M. International Finance: Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn
Finally, each student of the Class of 2016 was presented with his/her certificate and personally congratulated by Prof. Dr. Sacksofsky and Prof. Dr. Lorz 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 could enjoy a 20-minute video made by Dr. Rolf Friedewald, ILF Managing Director, recapitulating the special events of the Class of 2016.
Congratulations to the Class of 2016!
Watch the ILF Graduation Ceremony 2016: www.ilf-frankfurt.de/graduation
