The Legal Cheek View
In Hong Kong, CMS provides both local and international legal advice to support clients doing business in the Asia Pacific region.
The firm has over 25 lawyers and eight partners across two offices in Hong Kong (Central and Quarry Bay). The office in Central will be your home during the training contract. Located on 8/F of the Nexxus Building (which is a maze!) the office is open plan with partners and some associates having their own rooms. There are a selection of restaurants and fancy private members clubs hidden away on the lower floors of the building.
Every year the firm recruits two trainees from 24 interns on the summer vacation scheme. The scheme runs for over three weeks and eight interns take part per week. Interns gain experience working in the firm’s core areas of practice including corporate, finance, disputes, commercial and intellectual property. Those lucky to be kept on then rotate through four six-month seats during the two-year training contract, with one of those seats typically being a secondment to the London CMS office. The firm has a reverse secondment arrangement for one Hong Kong trainee to go to the UK on secondment and vice versa. It also has various other collaborations and associations across the Asia Pacific region. Follow its exploits on LinkedIn.
The perks are standard and include health insurance, life insurance, a dental plan and a rental reimbursement scheme. Beyond this, we hear there’s free coffee and snacks in the office pantry.