Tell us about your background

I was born and raised in Yuen Long, New Territories. Neither of my parents attended university and I studied at local public schools. Studying law was never on my radar, not because I wasn’t interested, but because I never knew it was an option for me.

After receiving my HKDSE exam results, I decided to apply to study law at HKU, with the encouragement of one of my teachers.

What was your root into Linklaters?

In 2017, I took part in the vacation scheme at Linklaters' Hong Kong office which resulted in a training contract offer from the firm. It was an exciting time for me but also very daunting. My background was a bit different to that of other students, and so at the time I didn’t see myself working here for long.

When I expressed my concerns, various individuals, including the Asia Managing Partner, reached out and shared their personal stories, including their own humble backgrounds which meant they had once been in a similar position. We came up with the idea of creating a programme to support young talents from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

How has Linklaters culture helped you thrive in your career?

For me, the key element has been the self-empowerment that the firm promotes. The environment here encourages people to talk about their ambitions and search for the right support internally to achieve them, from the best training through to mentoring and feedback sessions. It makes me feel in control of my career.

What training and development have you received over the last 5 years?

I’ve received so much training and developmental support and have found the firm’s learning and development programme to be very helpful, both in terms of technical and non-technical training.

For example, when I first started as a trainee, each seat would offer tailored training around specifics like commercial jargon and best practice. More recently, during one of our LAI global retreats, we had some fantastic training in communication, negotiation and networking from a renowned psychologist who talked to us about how to handle difficult situations.

In your experience, how is the firm doing in terms of innovation and technology?

We're definitely one of the pioneers in the industry. We started thinking about this many years ago and have since incorporated our own in-house technology in a variety of work streams.

I use our GenAI chatbot, Laila, regularly and find it really helpful in converting complex legal ideas to layman-friendly talking points. I’m also one of the members of the LAI Asia Innovation Forum, a technology taskforce within my practice group. We bring tech-related questions to the fore and investigate how these can be best resolved. A recent example of this was looking at the most efficient way to insert footnoting, bundling and transcribing for court proceedings.