Alumni From Asia
Grace Widyani: Jakarta, Indonesia, LLM 2005
Legal Division, PT Perusahaan Gas Negara, Persero, Tbk.
Grace was a Legal Officer for Perusahaan, the natural gas company of Indonesia. After studying for three semesters at Wake Forest and receiving her LL.M. degree, she returned to her company and was promoted and chosen by the Education and Training Division as a Specialist in Business Law. She teaches comparative Indonesian and American contract law at branches throughout Indonesia.
Batsukh Enkhbat: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, LLM, 1999
Mobicom Corporation
The most important thing the LLM program helped me with is not bare legal knowledge and information about American law, but legal skills to think methodically and system-wide. In other words, it's not the substantive law, but the very process to conduct research, to think of the ways to accomplish a task, to assess the possible ramifications in conjunction with other factors that law professors here seek to focus on that I have most appreciated. I realize my studies at Wake Forest were valuable. Sometimes I feel I'm different in Mongolia now that I've seen so many new horizons. My internship in Denver after the LLM program was a great success.
Ryo Kawamura: Tokyo, Japan, LLM, 1999
Legal Department, UBE Industries, Ltd.
I studied American law at WFU from August of 1998 to December of 1999. My wife, Junko, and I had a great time at WFU for that year and a half. I got my LLM degree in December 1999 and moved to New York City for five months to work at a law firm which has a good relationship with my company, Ube Industries. I am back in Tokyo now, and UBE is keeping me busy. UBE has been involved in an Intellectual Property case and a Patent Law case in the U.S., and I'm working with U.S. lawyers. Three lawyers, including two patent attorneys, came to Tokyo for the IP case and had a meeting with us. I took them to our machinery factory in the west part of Japan last week. We had so many meetings with our technical people and investigated a lot of documents. It is exciting legal work.
Poravich (Pat) Makornwatana: Bangkok, Thailand, LLM, 2000
International Affair Department, Office of the Attorney General, Bangkok
I work at the Department of International Affairs, Office of Attorney General in Bangkok. My job concerns extradition cases and legal mutual assistance especially between Thailand and the U.S. Government. Weeks ago, some U.S. prosecutors visited us, seeking cooperation in freezing the assets obtained from money laundering activities in the U.S. The U.S. prosecutors asked questions regarding the Thai criminal procedure, e.g. the protection of suspects during the police investigation. I then gave them my thesis from the Wake Forest LLM Program to consider for the legal basis in our constitution and under other Thai statutory laws. So, I can say that the thesis I've done with [WFU] has returned to the U.S. (Dept. Of Justice) before I was able to publish it here.
Joo Young Park: Kwachon, Korea, LL.M., 2002
Deputy Director, Korea Fair Trade Commission
The life as a government officer in South Korea is hard to imagine and I have to be pressed with hard work almost everyday. It feels like the life of WFU was just a dream. I really miss that time. When I look back on my LL.M. days in Wake Forest, it was really great and more than I expected.
Hyo Ahn Sung: Seoul, Korea, LL.M., 2001
Kumho Tire
Due to the dedication and help of all the faculty members at Wake Forest, I could enlarge my knowledge and experience leading me to various job opportunities. After passing the New York bar exam, I practiced immigration law as an associate in St. Petersburg, Florida, then a chance was given to work for a law firm in Korea as a bilingual attorney.
Komei Takatsu: Tokyo, Japan, LLM, 2000
Legal Department, Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.
After I finished [the WFU] LLM program this May, I took the New York bar exam in July. After the bar exam, I went back to Japan and I took some interviews with several financial institutions in Tokyo. Fortunately, I found several nice positions with prestigious investment banks. After careful consideration, I chose Nomura Securities. I will work for Nomura's Debt Market Department as a legal officer. I will mostly engage in legal documentation and negotiations for financial derivatives and structured financial products. I'm going to work with Nomura's London office and New York office everyday, and I have to negotiate with lawyers in London, New York, and Tokyo. Clearly, without my Wake Forest degree, it was impossible for me to take this kind of very prestigious position at such a nice company. I can say that the Japanese financial market highly regarded our LLM degree. Now, I'm quite confident as a Wake Forest alumnus.
