Alumni Association

1975 graduate is the Law Alumni Association's first lifetime member

"It was a very difficult period in my life, but it was the best educational experience I can imagine.That's why whenever the Buffalo Law School name is mentioned, I have nothing but absolute affection for it." – Dr.Changse L.Kim '75,First Law Offices ofKorea, in Seoul

It was 35 years ago that Changse L. Kim, a native of South Korea with a brand-new doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester, came to UB Law School, the first Asian student ever admitted there. His first course: Torts, with Professor Jack Hyman. "That was really a wonderful experience for me in terms of my introduction to U.S. jurisprudence," he said. "I still remember almost every case from that course. I enjoyed my life at the Buffalo Law School tremendously."

That affection has stayed with him – and has led him to establish another "first." Kim, a 1975 graduate of the Law School, has become the first lifetime member of the UB Law Alumni Association. Other life members are Eric Ian Robins '03 and Karen Mathews '80.

"It was a fun atmosphere," Dr. Kim remembers. "The professors, even if they saw me at a far distance, they raised their hands – 'Hey, Mr. Kim!' I think they did this to almost every student."

Not that life in the classroom was stress-free. These were the days of relentless Socratic method. "I hated each moment of being called on to answer questions," Kim says. "But I decided not to yield to the pressure. I always took the very front seat, so I was called upon in almost every class."

He speaks also about his struggles with writing, even as a member of the Buffalo Law Review. "My articles were always the very last piece," he says. "I never learned how to compose well, even in Korean. One of the senior students, who was sympathetic to my plight, told me how to write. He spent just a little time with me: 'Let me read one page of your sample. Have you ever learned how to write? Do you know what "topic sentence" means? Do you know what "connecting sentence" means? Do you know about paraphrasing?' It took him just a few minutes to explain it all to me, and after that I could write an essay that passed without any rejection. This was in 1974, and I was 32 years old. So at age 32, writing can be taught!

"It was a very difficult period in my life, but it was the best educational experience I can imagine. That's why whenever the Buffalo Law School name is mentioned, I have nothing but absolute affection for it."

Following Law School, Kim worked for Exxon Corp. for three years in the United States before returning to Korea. Now he practices mainly intellectual property law with the First Law Offices of Korea, in Seoul. "We are the second-largest IP firm in volume," he said, "and we like to think we are the first in quality."