"legal intern"

Lets see if e-mail posting works...


It's been 2 weeks since I started interning at the firm. This is the Hong Kong office of a US law firm. None of the 5 lawyers are American though: 3 British, 1 Aussie and 1 New Zealand/HK. In addition to the lawyers there are 2 secretaries, so it's a very small office. But I like it this way. Even though the firm is one of the top 40 law firms (by revenue) in the world, it's unlike the "Magic Circle" law firms in the City (in London). The office is generally quite quiet, with the lawyers usually keep to their own rooms. So it's just the 2 secretaries and I in the open plan.

During the first few days there was another intern. He's attending Columbia Law School (studying for a JD - Juris Doctor - as law degrees are postgraduate degrees in the US), and he seems to know his stuff very well. He did a presentation before I came but I heard that the lawyers were really impressed. Matt (the partner, who gave me the (unpaid) internship) has given me a presentation to do as well. I have to prepare for a know-how session on BIT claims (bilateral investment treaties). (BITs remind me of the Extended Essay I wrote in Year 12 - I wrote about foreign direct investments). After hearing how well the other intern did, I started feeling the pressure. I know they don't really expect that much from me, but I want to impress, so I know I've got a lot to do in the coming fortnight.

Obviously since I'm a non-law student, I'm not expected to know much about law and everyone has been very kind and helpful. I'm glad that even though I haven't studied law before, they've given me tasks that involve some kind of responsibility. On my first day Matt took me to a meeting at a client's office. The project is a M&A (merger and acquisition; and this one is a BIG one, involving very large figures), and since then I've been sort of responsible for the verification notes. The v notes is not necessary a very interesting thing to look at, it's just a document which lists all the things written in the offer document (offer to acquire shares of the target company), and the documents that verify the statements. It's not a difficult task to do, but at least it's quite important and I am learning new things about commercial law.

Even though this internship is unpaid, I'm really grateful that I was given the opportunity because it's a great experience and it'll certainly look good on my CV. I wanted to do it because I'm still trying to find out what I want to do after graduation. I think my first choice is still diplomacy (with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), but that is very competitive. So is law, but it seems slightly less competitive since there are many law firms but just one FCO! But then law means 2 more years of study (which could be entirely paid for if I manage to secure a training contract). I don't know if law is my thing. I know I can handle the workload, I can make use of my multilingual skills, the financial reward is great, and I know law is something I should know about because it pops up in daily life. But I'm just not sure if I can be really enthusiastic about it.

(just checked - e-mail posting works!)