Clifford Chance

I was fortunate to secure a role at a think tank in Hong Kong where I focused on land and housing policy research. Whilst working there, I was tasked with a lot of legal research (mostly relating to land and public law) and became a point of contact for anything with a legal focus. This was my first experience of having people come to me for my skills in a particular topic and I really enjoyed it, cementing my decision to become a lawyer.

I joined the Hong Kong Vacation Scheme in 2018 as a part of my Training Contract application. During the four weeks, I rotated through the Global Financial Markets and the Corporate groups, giving me a well-rounded view of what the firm offered. I was surprised by how much attention we received as interns as people seemed to be energised by having us around. I was delegated tasks that allowed me to really understand the role of a junior commercial lawyer including reviewing circle-ups, due diligence, prospectus drafting and legal research.

The vacation scheme gave me insight into what makes a firm like Clifford Chance successful – having several of our teams work with the same client on different projects across practice areas; the manpower to coordinate and complete cross-border tasks seamlessly; the technology and software that the firm gives to lawyers to make their role easier and the sheer size of the global databases and know-how that the lawyers have at their fingertips.

My advice

Don’t be afraid to try different things during your law journey – whether it’s a different role or some volunteering experience. Getting into this career is not a race and diversifying your perspectives will always be beneficial for your future career.