Welcome

Hello,

Thank you for looking at our blog which gives an account of the last 3 days ... the last 3 days of our LL.M. The graduation celebrations consisted of:
1) Barristers' Ball on May 10 (see link to the left hand side or scroll down);
2) University Commencement on May 11 (see link to the left hand side or scroll down); and
3) the Law School Graduation in Madison Square Garden on May 12 (see immediately below).

We hope you enjoy the blog and please feel free to leave comments.

Sanj and Jo.

MSG - Law School Convocation - May 12, 2006

Friday 12 May was the Law School Convocation. The ceremony was held at Madison Square Garden and involved the "hooding ceremony" of all graduates of all degrees - JSD (PhD equivalent), LLM and JD (LLB equivalent). If you think Australian graduations are bad ... this involved over 900 students and went for around 4 hours. As a graduate, I really enjoyed it ... I did feel very sorry for the guests.

There was of course a procession involving bagpipes and banners.

As I graduated with the LLM (Corporations Law) I was the fifth person to be "hooded". Sanjay had to wait sometime before he was hooded and then we all had to wait for the 400 or so JD's to be hooded.

The process of hooding involves a faculty member or alumni taking the academic hood and placing it over the academic garment. I guess this is in replacement of what they do in Australia - i.e. actually hand you the certificate. Given that the ceremony occurs so soon after exams finish (48 hours) it is not possible for us to receive the certificates (because we don't actually know if we passed!).

Here are some photos of the procession and ceremony:

Fellow Corporations LLM students - Mariana (Brazil) and Alejandra (Chile).

Roman (my Venture Capital study buddy) and I ... Roman is heading back to Weil Gotshal & Manges in Prague.

The parade, waiting to file into the auditorium.

Images from MSG.

Sanjay leaving the stage just after he had been "hooded".

And images below, which remind us that this all occured in New York:

Above - in front of MSG. Sanj on the corner of 7th Ave and 33rd St with the Empire State Building in the background.

Below - waiting at Penn Station (34th St) subway station for the train back to the law school.

And then the crowd arrived back at the law school for the reception. Below - Rita and I in front of the law school. Behind us, the hungry, parched crowd bolting inside for the spread of cheese, fruit, breads, wine and drinks to the sounds of a live village jazz band.

The whole city is celebrating!

Even the Empire State Building was wearing the NYU colours - purple!

University Commencement

Thursday 11 May was University Commencement. Commencement involves every faculty and school in the University parading through the streets near and around Washington Square Park (WSP) with the parade finisihing as students and faculty are seated around the fountain at WSP. See this link for more information: http://www.nyu.edu/commencement/ceremony.html
NYU's colours are purple - so all that could be seen was a sea of purple. There was a light drizzle of rain but our trusty purple capes and velvet doctorate hats kept us warm. It was a wonderful morning, the parade and the ceremony really made us feel like we had achieved our goal.

Here are some photos from the parade, and then some from the ceremony.

This is Marcela and I lining up to parade with the School of Law. I met Marcela in my first Antitrust class in Semester 1. I sat next to her and we clicked and have bonded over good coffee and study sessions all year. Marcela is from Colombia and is an IP/antitrust lawyer. She has been here doing her LL.M. with her lovely boyfriend, Juan, who has been doing his MBA at NYU's Stern Business School. Juan still has a year to go. Marcela is heading to Palo Alto to work for a national firm Simpson Thatcher. Hopefully Juan will be able to join her on the West Coast when he completes his MBA. I am very proud of Marcela ... she worked really hard to find and secure her job. It is pretty hard for an LLM student from a civil law country to get a permanent job - so Marcela has become a bit of a star!!

Sanj standing in the law school line before the parade commenced. See the sign hanging above his head. It says "Congratulations" and has the NYU torch. These flags were and still are flying around the Village.

This is Ronli. Ronli is Australian from Melbourne and has been doing the LLM in International Legal Studies.

Gianni in the middle, Marcela and I beside him. Gianni is an antitrust/competition law guru from Italy. He will start with Latham & Watkins in Brussles in Septemeber. I was in a number of classes with Gianni and his class contributions were always enlighting and delivered in an Italian/European manner. Watching Gianni literally smash an upstart pretentious Amercian J.D. in an in class negotiation was a highlight!

Sanjay and Hilel, above. Hilel was in many many of my classes. We had study groups in Venture Capital and Copyright and swapped notes in Internet Commerce and Technical Impact on Contracts. Hilel is from Argentina and will start at Sidley Austin (with Sanj) in the fall. Hilel has a one year position as an international LLM with the firm.

Quang and Sanj. Quang is from New Zealand and has been doing the LLM in International Legal Studies.

Images of the parade as it moved around WSP. Washington Square arch above.

Sanj and I running into the NYU mascot, the NYU Bobcat on the parade. The story of the Mascot demonstrates how NYU is focused and known for its academics rather than sport - the Bobcat is named after the catalogue in the library, the Bobst Library Catalogue! Oh dear.

Mariana and Jo above. I had a couple of classes with Mariana in Semester 1. Mariana is a corporate lawyer from Brazil. She will be working with Skadden Arps for a year before returning to Brazil. Mariana has a great laugh and is just so much fun!

Images from the ceremony in WSP which went on and on and on and on.

And then the fountain went wild ... undergrads ran into the fountain celebrating ... the law students didn't ... we had to wear the gowns again the next day (plus it was kinda cold).
Middle photo - another Aussie (only 5 of us in total), Bruce. Bruce is also from Melbourne - was at Minters and BHP (also Kirby's associate) now heading to either Moscow with Clifford Chance or to Sidley Austin with Sanj and Hilel.

Alistair from New Zealand with Sanj and I. Alistair is heading to London for a few months to do an internship with FIELD (an international environmental NGO) before heading back to NZ.

Below - Sanj and I in front of Washington Square arch and in front of the law school.

Barristers' Ball - Tavern on the Green

The graduation celebrations began on Wednesday evening with the Law School Barristers' Ball. The Ball was held at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. It was lovely.

Exams finished on that day, so it was quite a rush to even make the Ball ... but it was worth it. We look pretty tired ... I had averaged about the 3 hours sleep over the 4 prior nights. Here are some photos!

Lara is in the middle, Rita on the end. Lara is an IP lawyer from Switzerland and Rita is soon to start with a national firm in Orange County as either an Antitrust or Trademark lawyer (she hasn't decided yet!).

Picture of Sanj and I below. Notice all the lanterns in the background ... they were very pretty!