Professor Ian Walden, Director of CCLS and Professor Rodrigo Olivares Caminal, Law PhD, Chair Banking and Finance Law, welcomed everyone to the launch on Thursday 4 February. Other CCLS academics present were Professor Uma Suthersanen, Chair in Global Intellectual Property Law and Professor Loukas Mistelis, Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration.
Germán Florez Acero (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2011) and Chapter lead said 'It is a pleasure to be officially involved with the Chapter. I know most of you here today and you are all doing well. CCLS in Colombia has been very important over the last ten years, particularly because of the alumni. The idea of this Chapter is to maintain close links between academics and the alumni in Colombia. Also to help the younger students to get good jobs. I remember when I returned from London after my studies, that the change moving back was not so easy'.He went on to say 'There are a lot of alumni who are working in Arbitration, Banking and finance, Intellectual Property, etc, so we are in leading fields of law. This year I am keen to organise an event on 50 years of the commercial code in Colombia.'He exclaimed 'Brazil and Argentina are organising lots of activities so we don't want Colombia to be left behind!'
Rodrigo reminisced that he has been to Colombia on several occasions and he had the opportunity to chair a previous alumni event in Bogota. He went on to say 'Ideally it would be good for alumni to meet again in Bogota when we go back to normal life; hopefully we will still organise activities online also. With Germán taking the lead, we can start putting on events together to make a voice, not only for CCLS and the community, but for prospective students to say how proud we are of CCLS. You are our best ambassadors. We want you to help us recruit the next generation of students, and help them with how to advance their careers, as well as providing some life coaching to help them develop into what you have become'.Here are a few other comments made during the evening:
Felipe Cuberos (International Business Law LLM, 1998) said ‘Studying at Queen Mary was a great experience. I chose attending the university for my honeymoon as I arrived the day after I got married! I’m interested in getting involved in the Chapter, particularly with mentoring and other activities’.
Ana Maria Sanchez Silva (Comparative and International Dispute Resolution LLM, 2022) is a current student. She shared ' Actually, I'm taking classes with Professor Mistelis. They are online which is a challenge with the time zone difference but it is still good. I hope to see you soon and meet you in person. I look forward to participating and supporting in the Alumni's events, despite the distance.’
Germán is keen to create a committee. If you are interested, please get in touch to express your interest.
You can join other alumni on the CCLS Colombia LinkedIn.