Morinne Chane-Kuang-Sang and Lukas Kérouédan, winners of the 2024-2025 A&O Shearman Scholarship

Morinne Chane-Kuang-Sang: Having grown up on the island of Réunion, I came to the Sciences Po campus in Le Havre in 2020. My first two years of study, majoring in Politics and Government with the minor course Thinking Like a Lawyer, had a profound influence on my career aspirations. I am fascinated by American constitutional law and the US legal system, so I decided to pursue a dual degree with the University of California, Berkeley. The experience in California broadened my horizons and allowed me to explore the interactions between law, artificial intelligence and new technologies.

I’m currently in my first year of a Master in Economic Law at Sciences Po in Paris, and my aim is to combine my international experiences with French law, to gain the skills required for a legal career in France and abroad. 

Lukas Kérouédan: I'm now in the first year of the Master in Economic Law at Sciences Po and of the Master in Business Law (Magistère) at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. But law wasn't always an obvious choice for me.

I hesitated for a long time between studying law or economics. That's why, after obtaining a European baccalaureate in economics and social sciences, in 2020 I began a Bachelor of Economics with a law option at the Sorbonne. My first steps in the academic world brought a revelation: I had a real taste for legal science. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. The ideal of a serving both clients and the law had won me over.

So, after completing the first year of a Bachelor of Economics, in 2021 I decided to enrol in law at the Sorbonne. Being very keen on multidisciplinarity, I was delighted to join the Collège de droit, a selective programme where the teaching, delivered in the form of seminars, workshops and lectures, fed my curiosity in a wide range of legal disciplines as well as in the social sciences and economics. After two years of law, I'm grateful to have been accepted to the Magistère in Business Law, a first-class programme specialising in private and public business law.

The combination of a Master in Economic Law and a Master in Business Law (Magistère) fulfils all my expectations. First, it is an opportunity to transcend the Summa divisio of law, by learning the fundamentals of both private and public business law, which is the only way to become an all-round business lawyer. Second, it lets me retain a multi-disciplinary approach, since the two curricula combine courses with diverse and complementary theoretical and practical perspectives, as well as elective subjects relating to the humanities and global issues.

Morinne Chane-Kuang-Sang: The recruitment process for the A&O Shearman Scholarship is based on social and academic criteria and consists of two main stages. The first stage was a written application, including a cover letter for the scholarship and a voluntary project, proof of resources together with a provisional budget to finance the years of the Master’s programme, and documents attesting to our academic results and other achievements.

The second stage consisted of two interviews. The first, conducted exclusively by the firm's lawyers, aimed to clarify aspects of my background, get a better idea of my personality and look more closely at my social project. The finalists then had a final interview, similar to the first, but focusing more on an in-depth discussion about the social project. The interview was conducted with both lawyers and members of Sciences Po Law School leadership, and the results were announced at the end. 

This scholarship is one of a kind: as well as providing essential financial support to ease the financial burden of studying, it offers invaluable personal support to help us develop a project that we feel strongly about.

Lukas Kérouédan: The selection process for the A&O Shearman Scholarship comprised three stages. First of all, in late September, we were invited to apply for the scholarship with a portfolio including the collaborative project we wanted to carry out, our undergraduate academic results, our extracurricular activities, and proof of income together with a provisional budget for funding our years of Master's study. After Sciences Po reviewed the applications, around ten candidates were selected. Having been shortlisted, I was invited to the second stage of the selection process, which consisted of an initial interview at the firm's offices with several of its partners and human resource managers. The idea of this interview was naturally for candidates to defend their projects, but above all to give the panel a feel for who they are through a warm and open discussion. The very next day, I was informed that I had been selected for the final interview, and that I had already won a six-month internship with the firm. A week later, the third and final phase of the process took place, namely a final interview with some of the firm’s partners and human resources staff, senior staff from the Sciences Po Law School and business leaders. Following the deliberation after the interview, I am particularly grateful that the firm chose to give me their support and trust through this scholarship.

I'm particularly inspired and touched by the spirit of this scholarship. Having been born to British and American parents, brought up in France and abroad, and educated in the European section since middle school, I've always been immersed in a multicultural environment. In addition, my personal history drives my constant commitment to fighting discrimination and promoting inclusion. Through this collaborative project with A&O Shearman and Sciences Po, I'm keen to raise awareness among current and future lawyers about the inclusion of LGBT+ people, working with the Paris Bar. Indeed, although a charter with such a purpose already exists, I feel that a great deal remains to be done in this area. I would therefore like to offer seminars and workshops to raise awareness of these issues directly within firms and at Sciences Po, to ensure full equality of rights and treatment, to combat harassment and discrimination and to ensure respect for individuality and confidentiality. I'd also like to set up a think tank with the aim of drawing attention to these issues in an appealing way, to share personal accounts and, above all, to inform and raise awareness among professionals, particularly in French law firms.

Morinne Chane-Kuang-Sang: I would like to develop a project to improve legal access in places that are often neglected, particularly the French Overseas Territories. Having lived on Réunion, I have observed that our regions sometimes suffer from a lack of awareness of the law and essential support in terms of education. My goal is to help bridge that gap. This project, which is currently being thought through and finalised, will be put into practice during my Master’s programme.

In addition, I'm planning a gap year next year to explore different areas of law that appeal to me, in particular international arbitration and commercial law. This will help me to refine my vision, feed my curiosity about certain subjects and determine more precisely what kind of law I would like to practice. 

Finally, in the medium to long term, I plan to pass the French bar exam, as well as pursuing an LLM in the US. These two objectives would enable me to practise law in two jurisdictions while furthering my interest in American law and combining it with my French legal knowledge.

Lukas Kérouédan: Next year, I'm planning to take a gap year to confirm my choice of career. To that end, I first intend to do a six-month internship at A&O Shearman to learn about M&A in particular. Then, I'm planning to do an exchange semester abroad to take advantage of new learning opportunities. At the end of my gap year, I hope to be able to narrow down my affinities in terms of specialisations, before taking the Paris Bar exam to start practising as a lawyer.