By Andrew Cohen
Hayley Cheung is one of the youngest students to ever graduate from UC Berkeley Law. Just 20 when she started the school’s executive track LL.M. program in summer 2024, she received her degree in July at 21.
But Cheung’s powerful drive to build community — buoyed by her strong identity as a “third culture kid” — fueled confidence to not only earn not only an LL.M. degree, but also obtain all three certificates of specialization available in her program (Business Law, Law and Technology, and AI Law & Regulation) and create a LinkedIn page for the school’s LL.M. alumni.
The term “third culture kids” describe people raised in a different culture than their parents for most or all of their childhood, and who as a result get exposed to a broader range of cultural influences than those raised in one cultural setting. The first culture refers to what the parents grew up in, the second to the culture in which the family now resides, and the third is the fusion of both.
“We moved 10 times before I turned 16 due to my dad’s job, making me a third culture kid at my core,” Cheung says. “Never knowing where or when we would move next, change and instability were second nature. Having adopted a blend of cross-cultural mannerisms from my various ‘worlds,’ I was seen as too foreign for here, but also too foreign for home — a foreigner everywhere.”
With no siblings, Cheung continually had to leave friends behind with every family move. This fortified her adaptability, and the ability to fare well in unfamiliar environments. Increasingly viewing her circumstances as positive — and viewing herself as an internationally-minded global citizen fortunate to visit many countries and absorb their cultures — she learned that “people are more similar than we think.”
“I am diverse, well-rounded, and resilient,” Cheung says. “My ability to find common ground with almost anybody is also something I am immensely grateful for. I no longer feel as though I do not belong anywhere, because the truth is that I can belong everywhere.”
On the fast track
Because Cheung skipped fifth grade, she finished high school and started her Bachelor of Laws studies at the University of Hong Kong at age 17. After her junior year, she began her two-summer LL.M. track at UC Berkeley Law, with her senior year sandwiched in between.
While UC Berkeley Law typically requires candidates to have a prior degree in law before starting its LL.M. Program, Cheung says the school waived that requirement for her because of the University of Hong Kong’s standing as one of its partner institutions.
“The only condition was that I needed to have completed my first law degree by the time I graduated from Berkeley, as opposed to already having it before I started,” says Cheung, who skipped her undergraduate commencement because it was 11 days before her LL.M. graduation.
As an undergrad, Cheung spent two years as a legal research assistant focusing on arbitration and dispute resolution for Professor Shahla Ali, the University of Hong Kong’s dean of international affairs — and a UC Berkeley Law alum (J.D. ’05, Ph.D. ’07).
“When I heard my incredible research assistant Hayley was planning to attend Berkeley Law, I was delighted,” Ali says. “She is bright, thoughtful, creative and globally minded. I am happy to learn that she has been honored as one of the LL.M. Program’s youngest alums. It has been especially meaningful to keep connected with Berkeley Law through our ongoing LL.M. Pathways collaboration and the mobility of some of our brightest minds.”
Cheung also spent a year studying at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, and says she was the only undergraduate in her classes alongside J.D. and LL.M. students. Yet she received the highest grade in her Entertainment Law course, and true to form cultivated community through involvement with the Trojan Debate Society, Southern California Moot Court, Prison Education Project, and Gamma Phi Beta sorority.
Fears quickly resolved
Coming to Berkeley, Cheung knew she would be much younger than many of her peers — and wondered if that would make it challenging to find friends.
“Looking back, I didn’t have anything to worry about,” she says, noting that she was embraced by the LL.M. Program’s powerful sense of community and relished the cultural exchanges. “This is what makes the program so unique. We come from all corners of the world and from various walks of life, yet our paths have found a time and place to converge.”
Knowing full well the struggle of keeping in touch with friends after moving, Cheung took the initiative to develop and launch UC Berkeley Law’s new LL.M. LinkedIn page — not just for her class, but for all LL.M. alums from the school.
“I was hoping that it would be a way for us to stay connected after graduation,” she says. “After all, the opportunity to make global legal connections is a major benefit of the Berkeley LL.M. Program.”
Cheung will soon move to France for the year to study French — her fourth language after English, Cantonese, and Mandarin — and plans to return to the U.S. to earn her J.D. next fall.
“I’m a big believer in the notion that education extends beyond the classroom walls,” she says. “I have therefore applied for a working holiday visa and plan to spend around eight months in France working jobs. During my time in Europe, I also plan to visit my LL.M. classmates in neighboring countries.”