Lu Gui - Class of 2013

Assistant Law Professor, Minzu University of China

Tell me a little bit about your educational and personal background—what led you to the LL.M. program at Penn State Law?

It has been five years since I graduated from Penn State. Yet my motivation for choosing the LL.M. program is still fresh on my mind. I wanted to immerse myself in a different culture, to experience a different kind of school life, and to challenge myself in furthering my legal education in a world-renowned institution. Above all, it was my aspiration to study the common law system that led me to Penn State.

Tell me about your current position—what kind of work are you doing?

I am an assistant law professor. I teach law to university students in China and write articles and research papers on the law.

What made you interested in your current position or career field?

After I graduated from Penn State, I chose to continue my law studies at Peking University and afterward started a career in legal academics. It is a challenging and rewarding career because the difference between being a student and a teacher is night and day. My concentration is no longer just on understanding the material. Instead, I now must also find creative ways to pass on that knowledge to my students, and find effective ways to connect with my students so that they are interested in learning from me. Through this experience I have gained a much deeper appreciation for the education I received at Penn State.

How did the LL.M. program help you achieve/pursue your long-term career goals?

One of my long-term career goals is to study and explore the differences between the American and Chinese legal systems. The LL.M. program gave me the pivotal exposure I needed to make my comparative study a possibility.

What aspects of your education at Penn State Law (inside or outside the classroom) stand out as being most beneficial to you?

Above all, the Socratic Method stood out as an invaluable educational experience. The pressure of having to answer in class, and the anticipation of having a meaningful dialog with the professor pushed me to read the cases in a critical manner.

What was the most challenging aspect of your time in the LL.M. program?

The amount of reading required was a challenge, especially because it was in a foreign language to me. If I didn’t complete my daily reading assignments on time, I would not have been able to keep up in class and take full advantage of my education at Penn State.