A legal eagle flying high

A TP graduate is going places. Having conquered Singapore, he is setting his sights on New York and London.
Mak Chun Kit graduated from TP in 1999 with the Diploma in Legal Studies (now renamed the Diploma in Law & Management). He not only topped his diploma cohort, he was also the top student in the Temasek Business School that year. He went on to read law at the University of Leicester and was awarded the Messrs John Koh & Co Scholarship as well as the University of Leicester Open Scholarship for International Students.

This young man’s thirst for greater success however, wasn’t quenched. After obtaining his degree, he decided to venture to New York and sat for the New York Bar Exam which is reputedly one of the toughest Bar Exams in America. It ran concurrently with his Diploma in Singapore Law, the Practice Law Course, as well as his pupillage programme. Having to attend extra lessons, work and deal with personal matters and the exam itself, made it an extremely trying time for him.

However, Chun Kit overcame the difficulties. After obtaining all the necessary qualifications, he managed to secure his current position as a paralegal in the Finance & Capital Markets Department in Clifford Chance, the largest law practice in the world. He will soon be seconded to Goldman Sachs International while waiting for his training contract to begin at Clifford Chance, in February 2006.

Chun Kit’s ultimate goal is a career in the finance and capital markets working in New York, Hong Kong and other major financial centres. He also plans on becoming qualified as a solicitor in London, and in fact, will begin pro bono work there soon.

Success, however, has not come served on a platter for this avid basketball player and chess enthusiast. Coming from a modest background, he feels that he has had to fight hard for anything he wanted. Undoubtedly, his motivation and drive will see him chalking up more successes in the future.