What were you doing before the MCL?
After completing my undergraduate degree in law and graduating with a Magna cum laude distinction, I worked for around two years at a top-ranked law firm based in Dhaka, Bangladesh where I was exposed to corporate and commercial law practice. Initially, when applying to law schools for LLM, I had no concentration in mind. However, while working at the chambers, I realized that corporate law was the niche that I wanted for myself and hence, I started looking for LLM programmes that were offering a corporate law specialization.
What were your impressions of the MCL?
During my initial research, the MCL stood out to me from other programmes in the sense that it wasn’t a traditional LLM per se, but was rather a standalone, full-fledged Master’s degree in corporate law. Branded as the “Cambridge MCL”, the course offered a fine concoction of both the academic and practical aspects of corporate law practice, and that is exactly what I was looking for.
Looking back, I must admit that the MCL is a highly rigorous course. It is different from Cambridge’s traditional LLM in the sense that it has its own structure, curriculum and its own exclusive modules, with termly exams as opposed to just year-end exams. There is the full-year Deals course that requires you to sign on for a presentation on one of the first three deals and a 12,000-word Deals report on the fourth and final transaction. MCL students are also required to take one full-year corporate law-oriented LLM paper. Overall, the MCL can feel like a lot packed into just nine months. However, having said that, this is exactly why it is just as rewarding in the sense that once done and over to the other side, one can feel proud of what one has managed to overcome and achieve. To be able to learn from some of the finest academics and practitioners in the legal field and to share classrooms with some of the sharpest minds is a privilege.
The MCL is quite interdisciplinary as well with strands of economics, market dynamics, finance, business and management, computer science and so on being incorporated into the modules. My personal favourites were the modules International Merger Control and Shareholder Litigation. I also enjoyed Law & the Digital Economy which dealt with and introduced us to emerging yet very relevant concepts such as blockchain, digital assets, AI etc., and their interplay with the legal/regulatory landscape. The requirement of the LLM paper is also satisfying a touch to the MCL making it a very well-rounded course. I must mention that the smaller cohort of the MCL helped foster not just more interactive and intense sessions inside the classrooms but also meaningful bonds between students. I can safely say that I made a few life-long friendships during my time on the course and that is certainly one of my biggest takeaways.
Lastly, while academia is the focus, Cambridge is so much more than just that. The university comes with its centuries old traditions – the collegiate system, the social life, the magical formal hall dinners to name a few -- which makes one’s time in Cambridge an experience like no other.
What are your post-MCL plans and have they changed due to taking the MCL?
For now, I plan to go back to Bangladesh after graduation where I will qualify as a licensed Advocate and embark on my career as a transactional lawyer. At the same time, I hope to be actively engaged with academia and research. At some point, I wish to get involved with some policy work, e.g., the establishment of a merger control regime and working towards more consolidated competition laws in Bangladesh, shaping the crypto landscape in Bangladesh for the foreseeable future, and contributing towards the development of more streamlined company and insolvency laws in Bangladesh.
