Hands-on Financial Services Experience in a New Market
Taking advantage of BU Law’s ties to the Greater Boston financial service industry, Alvaro Ruiz Ostos’s internship will complement his LLM in Banking & Financial Law.
When Alvaro Ruiz Ostos (LLM in Banking & Financial Law’19) visited the United States for the first time, the corporate lawyer from Venezuela knew he wanted to work here.
“It just shocked me how big the market is and how important financial institutions are to this country,” he says. “If you want to go into banking or finance, this is the country.”
After witnessing the ongoing economic crisis in his home country, Ruiz Ostos recognized the power of corporate lawyers to do good. “I realized that transnational companies are still [in Venezuela],” he says. “They’re having major losses and they stay there because of course they want to keep their share of market, but at the same time they want to help their people—their employees and their immediate payrolls.”
“That’s what made me realize there was another side of corporate and banking and financial law. I started researching development banking and how many countries have used tools like capital markets.”
With that focus on development banking in mind, Ruiz Ostos joined Boston University School of Law to earn an LLM in Banking & Financial Law. Launched in 1984, the program equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to handle the regulatory, transactional and compliance needs of financial services clients in today’s global economy. Concentrations include compliance management, securities transactions, and financial services transactions.
With classes that have allowed him to study pooled funds, consumer financial services, transnational lending, and even cryptocurrencies, Ruiz Ostos has explored a broad range of topics that will help him enhance his career after graduation.
To complement the doctrinal coursework, he sought out an opportunity to gain real-world experience with a firm in the US. He reached out to Jim Scott, former director of the LLM in Banking & Financial Law program, who leveraged his ties to the Boston financial services industry to connect Ruiz Ostos with local investment advisory group, NEPC LLC.
“The graduate program provides students with the exposure to the US law environment,” says Scott, who often serves as a reference for employers, speaking to a student’s professional competence gained through the internship program. “If a student finds an external internship opportunity, advisors will incorporate the experience into the context of the Financial Services Internship course.”
At NEPC, Ruiz Ostos helps advise the firm’s diverse array of clients, ranging from private pension funds to the state government. The practical experience, he says, has been “super helpful” with his coursework, giving him the opportunity to explore topics that have not yet come up in his classes and go more in depth with those that have. His favorite part is working with the clients and watching his class lessons “actually happen.”
“For me, all of this is super new. To see it theoretically, it’s completely different than in practice,” Ruiz Ostos says. “Practicing something, you get to fully understand how it goes.” He says it’s also an opportunity to ask questions and “make mistakes so you don’t make them as a hired person.”
After graduation, he hopes to hone his skills in the American market. He credits his internship with softening the culture shock he first felt and introducing him to the scope of the United States market and its legal practices.
“To actually work in that [environment], and actually be advising people and knowing what your duties [are for] your clients. It has been amazing.”
Reported by Josee Matela (CAS/COM’20)
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