UAA Justice grad from Mongolia now working for Mongolia Ministry of Justice

Munkh in his office at the Ministry of Justice in Ulaanbaatar.

Munkh-Erdene Tsend-Ochir, Justice '13/Paralegal Certificate '13, came to UAA from Mongolia where he had earned a Bachelor's of Law degree in 2003 and worked as a defense lawyer.  He journeyed to the U.S. to improve his English and to expand his experience and knowledge in the field of justice - with the goal of putting his skills to use in his home country.

After receiving his Justice degree, Munkh returned to Mongolia and is now serving as the Officer of Foreign Relations and Cooperation for the Ministry of Justice. He is in charge of legal assistance and extradition and transfer of convicts, which includes the transfer of foreign convicts from Mongolia to their own countries, and the return of Mongolian convicts from overseas.

Munkh was born in Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city in Mongolia. He practiced law there as a criminal defense attorney for a juvenile justice project, a defense lawyer for human trafficking victims, and later as a public defender at the Legal Aid Center for Indigent People. Ulaanbaatar is growing quickly as Mongolians move from rural areas to the city to find work, and most of Munkh's indigent clients were from this population.

He recently wrote to his former faculty advisor, Dr. Allan Barnes, Justice faculty, expressing his gratitude for all he learned while at UAA, and wishing Happy Holidays to the UAA community.