The Graduating Class of 2025 celebrates their achievements on a beautiful summer evening on campus. Photo: Kerstin Rose
BUCERIUS MASTER OF LAW AND BUSINESS GRADUATION 2025
Celebrating Success and New Beginnings: The MLB Program bid farewell to the Class of 2025 and welcomed the Class of 2026
Education & Study
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Bucerius Law School proudly celebrated the achievements of the graduating MLB Class of 2025 on September 3rd with a wonderful ceremony in the Helmut Schmidt Auditorium. 43 students from 21 countries crossed the stage to receive their degrees, signifying that they are now Masters of Law and Business.
After a year of intensive classes, group work, presentations and the writing of a master thesis, it was a well-deserved celebration of the hard work and dedication of the class over the last 12 months.
OPENING SPEECHES
The ceremony, hosted by MLB Dean Professor Christopher Bisping was opened with speeches from Professor Dr. Michael Grünberger, President of Bucerius Law School and Professor Manual J. Hartung, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Zeit Stiftung Bucerius.
This year’s inspiring keynote speech was given by Shengming Zheng, an MLB graduate of the class of 2016, who shared his reflections about his time in the Program and discussed the uncertainties that graduates face at the end of this chapter in their lives and at the beginning of the next. He emphasized the importance of resilience and of holding on to the values that provide ‘Haltung’ - a firm stance—when navigating challenges.
Shengming Zheng, MLB Graduate 2016. Photo: Kerstin Rose
DEANS SPEECH
Following the awarding of the degrees, Professor Bisping’s graduation speech explored the famous Shakespearean quote 'The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers'. He highlighted how this quote could be misinterpreted and emphasized the importance of the law and lawyers in safeguarding democracy in society, especially in today's turbulent times.
Christopher Bisping, Dean MLB Program. Photo: Kerstin Rose
The ceremony was live streamed for the many families and friends worldwide who couldn’t attend the ceremony in person.
PRIZE GIVING 2025
The ceremony also honored the hard work and outstanding contributions by both faculty members and students.
This year, the coveted Best Teacher Awards for law courses were presented to Prof. Dr. Carsten Jungmann for his course Business Entities and Estefano Martinez for Startups and Venture Capital. The best teacher awards for courses in Business went to Andreas Meier for his course in Capital Markets and to Prof. Dr. Stephan Wagner for his course in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
The prize for the Best Master Thesis, which is generously supported by MLB Alumnus Dr. Axel Moeller and the Bucerius Alumni Verein and was awarded to Steffi Banaag for her very interesting and timely work ‘Compliant or Complicit? The Paradox of AI in Compliance Functions and a Risk-Centered Governance Framework Under ISO 37301 and IDW PS 980.’
Anne-Kathrin Bertke, Bucerius Alumni Verein, with Steffi Reizza Banaag, Best Thesis Prize Winner. Photo: Kerstin Rose
Among the students, the prestigious DAAD Prize 2025 for outstanding academic performance and social engagement was awarded to Ana Luisa Almeida, she was recognized for both her exceptional academic performance and for her social initiative Herzenswärme, a project dedicated to raising funds and collecting donations for homeless people in Hamburg.
Christopher Bisping, Dean MLB Program, with Ana Luisa Almeida, DAAD Prize Winner 2025. Photo: Kerstin Rose
MUSIC AND MEMORIES
In between the formal events, the audience were treated to a touching musical performance of Frank Sinatra’s My Way which was sung beautifully by Ana Luisa Almeida, accompanied on the piano by Maximilian Kleber and a video created by the graduating class, highlighting many memorable moments from their time together.
Maximilian Kleber and Luisa Almeida. Photo: Kerstin Rose
The student representatives, Murilo Matos and Saqalain Eqbal, gave very emotional and inspirational speeches and shared advice to the incoming class.
Student Representatives Murilo Matos and Saqalain Eqbal with Dean Christopher Bisping. Photo: Kerstin Rose
LOOKING AHEAD
As the celebration for the Class of 2025 came to a close, the attention turned to the start of an exciting year for the new MLB class of 2026. 41 new students representing 16 countries were officially welcomed and enrolled in the MLB Program.
Following the ceremony, graduates, new students, family, friends and supporters of the MLB Program gathered for a finger food reception and enjoyed the chance to mingle, share memories, and make new connections on the beautiful Bucerius campus.
