2023

1,000 words in total across the four questions, to be allocated how each candidate sees fit

K&S What do you consider to be the key attributes of a lawyer in business?  What kind of qualities and expertise do you think they should have?  Can you give us an example of where you have demonstrated these qualities?  

Technical expertise and business awareness 

Having undertaken a range of legal placements, I have come to observe that business lawyers possess technical expertise in numerous areas of law. These include corporate, contract, employment, tax, competition and intellectual property law. They will need to keep up with various laws/regulations affecting the client’s key sectors and tailor legal advice accordingly. Additionally, they will also have a strong market awareness in anticipating how their firm can be best positioned to capture work from future trends.

At Tiang & Partners (T&P), I delivered a partnership pitch on how its existing client, ING Bank N.V. could best enter Asia’s digital banking sector. Through analysing internal bid records, ING Bank N.V.’s annual report and external consultant reports, I highlighted several emerging market trends, the strategic benefits of capitalising on these trends before discussing how different practices could assist. I also highlighted sector-specific risks on potential GDPR implications and barriers in foreign investment laws. This presentation was given high praise for demonstrating strong sector and commercial awareness by the managing partner in attendance. 

Change agile 

Given that business lawyers often advise clients in response to economic, political or commercial shifts in various jurisdictions and time zones, I believe a business lawyer’s ability to be change agile is key to continue serving clients' needs in a dynamic and global context. This means having strong organisation/time management skills and the ability to adapt to fast-moving circumstances. 

This ability is best demonstrated during my time at Rouse, where my role was split between two line managers in different divisions. Work between these divisions is not coordinated which meant I often exercised judgement on task allocation. To manage, I created an Excel file tracking all my deliverables including columns for deadlines, “steps” to complete a task and updates to feedback/comments on how I should amend my work. I then prioritised tasks in accordance with these columns which allowed me to deliver within expected timelines, despite the various changes required before a piece of work I produced is published.  

Communication 

Finally, I believe good business lawyers are able to communicate complex commercial concepts – and provide actionable legal advice – in a concise manner. My ability to communicate effectively has been demonstrated in a professional and volunteer capacity. At HKIAC, I was tasked to summarise legal and factual points in client-facing and committee-facing documents. This required a keen understanding of commercial relevancy as I was expected to summarise a 15–20-page pack of documents into four dot points. As Head of Legal at No Impunity, I was similarly tasked with verbally explaining relevant regulations to colleagues with IT backgrounds. Not only did this require issue-spotting, but it also required “translating” legal concepts into actionable steps my colleagues understood. 

Please tell us about your non-academic activities, interests and any hobbies.Please include some details about these interests and list any positions of responsibility you have held. 

I enjoyed mooting throughout law school. My proudest achievement was representing Tsinghua University at the Willem C. Vis Moot as a procedural speaker and team captain in 2020. As captain, I personally managed the team’s timeline to ensure we filed the submissions on time. I also coached individual members and independently linked with practitioners to provide additional input. These proactive efforts led Tsinghua to rank 6th nationally. I was also selected as Best Oralist, an honour given to 20 best-performing speakers out of 700 participants. 

Since September 2022, I actively participate in a range of social mobility programmes including SEO London, Rare Recruitment and Strive. I was also selected for two competitive scholarship programmes at Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers (REAL) and was then invited to write about my experiences in REAL’s biannual newsletter. Recently, as one out of 450+ candidates, I was selected to participate in a highly competitive 2-year mentoring programme for early career professionals at the Young International Council of Commercial Arbitration for 2023-2024. 

I enjoy solo travel to gain a greater perspective of the local communities in the countries that I visit. My most recent trip is to the Scottish Highlands. A memorable experience in Portree, Isle of Skye where I visited the local archives centre and had a meaningful conversation with an archaeologist about lost knowledge of weaving techniques in the Highlands. This greatly interested me as I could draw similarities to the erosion of native culture in places including North America and Australia. 

How did you find out about King & Spalding International LLP?  

I found out about King & Spalding International LLP (K&S) by searching Chambers & Partners and Legal500 rankings. As I have a specific interest in international arbitration, I wanted to start a training contract at a firm that ranked highly in this particular area. Having then conversed with Rebecca Babb, Alex Tivey and Catherine Munro, I became convinced training at K&S would be the perfect fit for me in terms of practice offering and training prospects. 

How do you think King & Spalding sets itself apart from other law firms? What attracts you to the firm?  

K&S sets itself apart from other law firms in London by its leading arbitration practice and sectoral strengths in oil & gas and construction. Having noted the findings in the Queen Mary University of London and Pinsent Masons LLP’s joint report “Future of International Energy Arbitration” that 73% of respondents selected Europe as a region most likely to see an acceleration of energy-related disputes, K&S’s unique mixture of strengths solidifies its market leader status, particularly as it is able to draw upon expertise across its global offices in key disputes jurisdictions in Dubai and Singapore. I am drawn to this aspect because it strongly aligns with my academic and professional interests. I would be very keen to work on sector-specific commercial and ICSID matters under the guidance of leading practitioners such as Tom Sprange K.C in the London office.

The prospect of training at K&S attracts me because of the firm’s entrepreneurism. I first picked this up through a conversation with Rosie Watterson which she explained drew her to the firm’s fast-growing Corporate, Finance & Investment department – an area of law in which I am also keen to explore. The close-knit trainee intake and lean team structures at K&S additionally match my natural preference to take initiative and learn on my feet. 

2023

What do you consider to be the key attributes of a lawyer in business?  What kind of qualities and expertise do you think they should have?  Can you give us an example of where you have demonstrated these qualities? 

Technical expertise and business awareness

Having undertaken a range of legal placements, I have come to observe that business lawyers possess technical expertise in numerous areas of law. These include corporate, contract, employment, tax, competition and intellectual property law. They will need to keep up with various laws/regulations affecting the client’s key sectors and tailor legal advice accordingly. Additionally, they will also have a strong market awareness in anticipating how their firm can be best positioned to capture work from future trends.

At [redacted law firm], I delivered a partnership pitch on how its existing client, [redacted client] could best enter Asia’s digital banking sector. Through analysing internal bid records, [redacted client]’s annual report and external consultant reports, I highlighted several emerging market trends, the strategic benefits of capitalising on these trends before discussing how different practices could assist. I also highlighted sector-specific risks on potential GDPR implications and barriers in foreign investment laws. This presentation was given high praise for demonstrating strong sector and commercial awareness by the managing partner in attendance.

Change agile

Given that business lawyers often advise clients in response to economic, political or commercial shifts in various jurisdictions and time zones, I believe a business lawyer’s ability to be change agile is key to continue serving clients' needs in a dynamic and global context. This means having strong organisation/time management skills and the ability to adapt to fast-moving circumstances.

This ability is best demonstrated during my time at [redacted company], where my role was split between two line managers in different divisions. Work between these divisions is not coordinated which meant I often exercised judgement on task allocation. To manage, I created an Excel file tracking all my deliverables including columns for deadlines, “steps” to complete a task and updates to feedback/comments on how I should amend my work. I then prioritised tasks in accordance with these columns which allowed me to deliver within expected timelines, despite the various changes required before a piece of work I produced is published. 

Communication

Finally, I believe good business lawyers are able to communicate complex commercial concepts – and provide actionable legal advice – in a concise manner. My ability to communicate effectively has been demonstrated in a professional and volunteer capacity. At [redacted company], I was tasked to summarise legal and factual points in client-facing and committee-facing documents. This required a keen understanding of commercial relevancy as I was expected to summarise a 15–20-page pack of documents into four dot points. As Head of Legal at No Impunity, I was similarly tasked with verbally explaining relevant regulations to colleagues with IT backgrounds. Not only did this require issue-spotting, but it also required “translating” legal concepts into actionable steps my colleagues understood.

Please tell us about your non-academic activities, interests and any hobbies.  Please include some details about these interests and list any positions of responsibility you have held.

I enjoyed mooting throughout law school. My proudest achievement was representing [redacted] University at the [redacted name] Moot as a procedural speaker and team captain in 2020. As captain, I personally managed the team’s timeline to ensure we filed the submissions on time. I also coached individual members and independently linked with practitioners to provide additional input. These proactive efforts led [redacted university] to rank 6th nationally. I was also selected as Best Oralist, an honour given to 20 best-performing speakers out of 700 participants.

Since [redacted month/year], I actively participate in a range of social mobility programmes including [three redacted diversity/social mobility initiatives] I was also selected for two competitive scholarship programmes at [redacted diversity initiative] and was then invited to write about my experiences in REAL’s biannual newsletter. Recently, as one out of 450+ candidates, I was selected to participate in a highly competitive 2-year mentoring programme for early career professionals at the [redacted arbitration court] for 2023-2024.

I enjoy solo travel to gain a greater perspective of the local communities in the countries that I visit. My most recent trip is to the Scottish Highlands. A memorable experience in Portree, Isle of Skye where I visited the local archives centre and had a meaningful conversation with an archaeologist about lost knowledge of weaving techniques in the Highlands. This greatly interested me as I could draw similarities to the erosion of native culture in places including North America and Australia.

How did you find out about King & Spalding International LLP?

I found out about King & Spalding International LLP (K&S) by searching Chambers & Partners and Legal500 rankings. As I have a specific interest in international arbitration, I wanted to start a training contract at a firm that ranked highly in this particular area. Having then conversed with Rebecca Babb, Alex Tivey and Catherine Munro, I became convinced training at K&S would be the perfect fit for me in terms of practice offering and training prospects.

How do you think King & Spalding sets itself apart from other law firms? What attracts you to the firm? 

K&S sets itself apart from other law firms in London by its leading arbitration practice and sectoral strengths in oil & gas and construction. Having noted the findings in the Queen Mary University of London and Pinsent Masons LLP’s joint report “Future of International Energy Arbitration”that 73% of respondents selected Europe as a region most likely to see an acceleration of energy-related disputes, K&S’s unique mixture of strengths solidifies its market leader status, particularly as it is able to draw upon expertise across its global offices in key disputes jurisdictions in Dubai and Singapore. I am drawn to this aspect because it strongly aligns with my academic and professional interests. I would be very keen to work on sector-specific commercial and ICSID matters under the guidance of leading practitioners such as Tom Sprange K.C in the London office.  

The prospect of training at K&S attracts me because of the firm’s entrepreneurism. I first picked this up through a conversation with Rosie Watterson which she explained drew her to the firm’s fast-growing Corporate, Finance & Investment department – an area of law in which I am also keen to explore. The close-knit trainee intake and lean team structures at K&S additionally match my natural preference to take initiative and learn on my feet.