Studying a Masters from Myanmar

For lawyer Rowan Kendall, working in Brisbane, London and now Myanmar has been no barrier to completing Melbourne Law School’s Master of Competition and Consumer Law.

Rowan Kendall is an associate at Baker McKenzie, currently working in the energy, mining and infrastructure team in Myanmar. He decided to enrol in the Master of Competition and Consumer Law because he is working towards becoming a competition law expert, with the support of Baker McKenzie.

“For me, this course is very important, especially in developing my personal brand and adding strings to my bow to make me more competitive in the market,” Rowan said.

“The masters has been great because it has allowed me to take a defined step towards becoming a competition law specialist.”

Since enrolling in the course, Rowan has worked for the Baker McKenzie offices in Brisbane, London and now Myanmar.

“This is a really intense period of career building as an associate and to be able to fit my masters subjects around that has been excellent,” he explained.

Rowan has flown from both Brisbane and London to take several intensive subjects on campus, while also taking full advantage of the online subjects on offer in the Global Competition and Consumer Law Program.

“To be able to study while I have worked and travelled around multiple continents has been invaluable,” he said.

“I had a three to four year time frame for completing my masters. I wouldn’t be able to achieve that without the ability to study online.”

Rowan has found that one of the advantages of online study has been the diversity of the student cohort.

“The online discussion board has a lot of varied personalities contributing content.”

“There’s students from Romania and Kenya who also work in competition law – it’s very interesting to hear perspectives from those different competition law regimes," he said.

Rowan has found that his studies have directly informed the work he is currently doing in Myanmar.

“I was recently drafting an advice for a client in relation to a complaint against them in Myanmar, and I found I was focusing on why the complaint didn’t comply with standard international competition law principles,” he explained.

“I was able to do that because my studies have helped me understand the nuts and bolts of international competition law; not just how the provisions work, but the fundamental theory.”

The decision to move to Myanmar was not necessarily something he had been planning.

“It wasn't a lifelong goal, but an opportunity arose and those are the chances that you have to take,” he said.

“Myanmar is a fascinating country. It's at a really interesting stage of its development and there is a huge need for skilled corporate lawyers. They've recently implemented a new competition law and other new laws are frequently introduced."

“Also, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I absolutely love travelling!”

When he’s not busy in the office or completing his course work, Rowan takes the time to explore the hidden gems of his new home.

“Tourism is coming, but hasn't yet reached most places in Myanmar,” he said.

“So it is a really nice place to travel, and a very rewarding place to live.”

Find out more about the on-campus and online subjects available for 2018 here.

To learn more about our wholly online Global Competition and Consumer Law Program visit our website.