Thai Students Study Business Law at IU
Thirty-seven LLM candidates from Assumption University in Bangkok, Thailand, recently wrapped up their study of American law at the IU School of Law. The Law School undertakes the Assumption University program each Spring, when 30 to 40 Assumption LLM candidates travel from Thailand to Bloomington following the second and final year of their coursework for two weeks of study in the United States.
For this year's annual Assumption University program, the students, all of whom have business law backgrounds and degrees, participated in an intense, two-week course, Business Law and Entrepreneurship, taught by Associate Clinical Professor Mark E. Need, director of the Law School's Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic. Course topics included choice-of-entity, the American intellectual property system, and confidentiality agreements and trade secret law. Additionally, the class participated in field trips to local startup venture Bio-Convergence LLC, the City of Bloomington, the Indiana legislature, Indianapolis law firm Bingham McHale, and the Supreme Court of Indiana.
Many of the students are involved in the operation of small businesses in their home country, and others are currently serving in purely legal roles, including one student who is a District Court judge in Bhutan. "Nearly all of the students have already earned law degrees in Thailand and are furthering their legal education with an LLM from Assumption," said Need. "Given the diverse backgrounds and experience of the students, much of our class time focused on comparisons between Thai and American law. As the global market continues to expand, it is critical that legal education provides opportunities to share business and legal experiences internationally."