Ken Duong (JD/MBA and Honors Lawyering Program 08)

Why did you decide to go to law school?

Truly, the law is a means to an end for me. I am more fascinated with business and starting up a green-field investment. The law provides me a means to open my own law firm and operate it as a business. In the future, I plan to have a small multinational firm specializing in providing comprehensive total financial planning.

In the future, I want to start a non-profit organization to provide for the economic advancement of Vietnam. Help build a legal, economic, and social infrastructure to allow for the Vietnamese people to live in a society free from communism or socialism.

Tell me something special or interesting about your law school experience.

The Golden Gate University School of Law community has been supportive since my matriculation into law school, but the full extent of this generosity was shown when I was training for the 2007 ING AIDS Miami Marathon in Miami. All the students, faculty, and administrators supported the cause either financially, emotionally, or physically. By the time I ran the marathon, I felt that I was representing the entire GGU community.

After the marathon, many GGU Griffins asked me about the marathon, my experiences, and how I managed to do it. During that time period, I felt proud of being a part of the GGU community.

What is your greatest source of motivation/support as you work towards your JD?

The movie Journey From the Fall, directed by Ham Tran and produced by Nam Nguyen, solidified the reasons why my mother is the main motivational factor for all my successes in life. She sacrificed so much to bring our family to America, worked so hard to improve our family's economic and social status in America, and has continued to support and encourage me every day. Every step I have taken in my life has been attributed to the thought of making my mother proud.

One of her proudest moments was not the fact that I graduated from UCLA, but rather that I spent every Tuesday feeding the homeless in Santa Ana. She is always proud to say that I am helping someone. She will be just as proud to say that I am helping others on a larger, scale, i.e. with my legal degree.

What is your favorite thing you do when you are not at law school?

I love to play sports, especially basketball and tennis. Those are activities which I try to partake in at least once a week because it helps me de-stress from the rigors of academia, socializing, and finding a job. Moreover, the competition drives me to work harder and think smarter in order to improve my skills or perfect a certain aspect of my game. The mental concentration aids in the legal thinking process and the physical exertion allows for a good night's sleep.

If not at GGU, where can we find you?

I usually study at home, so I am not at school unless I am doing a school-related activity, day or night classes, or researching. People can find me at the Marathon Plaza 24-hour fitness weight-lifting, UCSF Mission Bay facility playing basketball, or Golden Gate Park running or biking.