Pros
- Great exposure to legal industry. You will learn from different jurisdictions and speak directly to law firm partners. You will learn as much as the effort you put into your job. - Decent pay for a fresh graduate in HK (I have heard otherwise for London counterparts). Workload is okay but starting to inundate. - Multiple trips a year to attend conferences and visit law firms (pre-covid). Expect China to be a big part of your role. - Supportive local management who will listen and is proactive in taking lengths to ensure you have a good working environment. Will encourage you if you want to launch new initiatives. Genuine interest in your career development. - Flexible work. There is tacit understanding that you are responsible for your work and you will get things done on your own. No demand for face time in the office. - Friendly relationship with local colleagues, who are generally of similar age. Office is diverse with people of many different backgrounds. Friday drinks is a thing. - Great benefits: generous annual leave (far beyond HK average), good medical coverage, gym subsidy, standing desks
Cons
- Work is extremely repetitive and boring. You will rinse and repeat every 6 months. Role can feel detached from the rest of the office. - Training is abysmal and essentially non-existent. There are only two researchers in HK. You must keep pushing and reminding more experienced colleagues in London for help, which often comes too late after you’ve figured things out yourself. - An abusive manager in London who will micromanage and gaslight his team. Poor communication and unwilling to listen or discuss concerns. This has been recently rectified by having a HK manager act as an intermediary. However, you may feel isolated by the distance, which also gives the illusion of independence. High turnover in London research team. - HK team has little to no say in their work. London seems to not realise how difficult it is to work with China and developing jurisdictions, yet you must get involved in other projects and add on to your workload. Such training, again, is limited and comes from London. - Many reviews have pointed out the company’s recent obsession with sales, which has a direct impact on the HK research team. You are increasingly asked to do extra work, announced to you at the whim of London with little heads up and time to complete it. New non-sales headcount seem to take a long time to come through. - Career growth is limited and a new role is easily revoked (see covid redundancies). They are often empty promises, which can be disheartening. Expect to constantly ask upper management for new opportunities you want to pursue, and they will take a long time, if ever, to materialise. - Despite years of complaining, systematic administrative tasks have not improved. There were talks of making changes but seemed to have been abandoned in favour of prioritising systems for sales. - Following the 2018 merger, HK has increasingly limited say. Be aware that London makes all big decisions, including new headcounts. - Severely reduced dental benefits. - Bonus is no longer a thing post-merger. Pay raise was frozen for 2021. Unclear if cuts were actually made to management pay and how much. - Salespeople are not your friends.