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Hamburg Reunion 2007 Updated: 22 August 2007 |
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Select
letter of alphabet which begins Family/Surname: To include your
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Hamburg Reunion 2007 Updated: 22 August 2007 |
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|
|
||
|
Select
letter of alphabet which begins Family/Surname: To include your
information please fill
in and return our Form. |
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Click on photo to see enlarged version.
From left:
Vincent Mayerhofer, Jan-Niklaas Brons, Arne Stelzer, Erik Reinmuth,
Claude Pohlit, Nina Köbernik, Clemens Hillmer, Martin Kröger,
Elmar Schleif, Sigrid Wettwer, Volker Lücke, Nina Briskom,
Katrin Fils, Thore Schiller, Sven Dieters, Florian and Magdalena Gehrke,
and kneeling at centre front, Prof John Hare.
John Hare wrote: An invitation to teach at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet with many of the 26 or so German LLM alumni who have studied shipping law at UCT over the past decade.
The shipping alumni arranged a brunch at a restaurant overlooking Hamburg's bustling harbour, and of the 20 or so graduates contacted, 16 were able to make it. I was very touched by the fact that so many arrived. Fortunately I could remember all their names bar one -- though his/her face was of course familiar (no clues as to who it was!). What was great was that, though I knew them all so well, many had never met each other. Some have worked on cases against each other though.
Most of the students have found jobs in the booming shipping industry in Hamburg. One law firm has three UCT LLM graduates, with another two likely to join the same firm in 2008. The UCT alumni are apparently known in practice circles as The Cape Town Mafia.
After the brunch we had a boat tour of Hamburg port. I was blown away by the size and how incredibly busy Hamburg port is. Heaven for a ship enthusiast...! And during the week the alumni went out of their way to look after me.
The Hamburg LLMs are to get together regularly from now on. They will be keeping in touch with other shipping law graduates via our alumni pages on the Shipping Law website. There was also exciting talk about possibilities for future shipping law students -- a short internship in Hamburg for a SA shiplaw graduate, or even a Hamburg bursary, were mooted.
All in all it was a hugely happy and successful visit. Thank you, all of you, for making me so warmly welcome in your stunning city. I almost felt I should now retire on this wonderful high. (Not yet -- Caerli will come with me next time!
