I am a newly qualified associate in the Hong Kong office. I joined the firm in September 2009. I am from Australia and I studied a combined B Commerce / B Laws degree at The University of Sydney.
What makes us different?
I think Herbert Smith is quite special in the sense it has a very strong reputation in both dispute resolution and corporate. At the same time, I think it is also very well regarded in terms of its specialist practices such as insurance, energy and competition and I think that really stands out at a professional level.
International work
From my experience during the training contract, I have been fortunate to have had exposure on quite a number of international matters. In my litigation seat, I was involved in a large international aviation reinsurance arbitration involving foreign parties. Recently, in a corporate deal, I was involved in a large international corporate transaction involving Indian and African companies and I am about to go on an international secondment to Hong Kong in the dispute resolution division.
Exposure to clients
I think trainees have the opportunity to get exposure to clients throughout their training contract and each trainee has a different experience. I have been quite fortunate in my litigation seat to be able to interview witnesses during preparation for trial. In my corporate seat, I attended negotiation meetings - meeting the clients face-to-face gives you a much better understanding of their needs.
Why London?
I think a lot of Australian lawyers see London as an international financial centre and a place where you can get exposed to a lot of very large deals and cases that you might not get back home. Australia will always be home, but I think the exposure, especially as a junior lawyer, and the skills that you can develop at a firm like Herbert Smith, certainly stand out. We have lawyers here at Herbert Smith with diverse backgrounds from Europe and Asia. It’s a truly international firm and a lot of partners and associates go abroad and interact frequently with other offices - it is a real global network as opposed to multiple separate offices.