HK Law Firm Directory
Hong Kong Law Firm Profiles
Researching firms takes hours, so we did the heavy lifting for you. This database brings all the essential firm intel into one place. Find out what the teams actually do, the real size of their trainee intakes, and what to expect on assessment day.
Magic Circle
Freshfields
Market-leading M&A and capital markets, handing out only a handful of training contracts a year, almost all to its own summer interns.
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Magic Circle
Clifford Chance
Runs on capital markets and finance, advising Chinese issuers and international banks on the IPOs and bond deals that fill the HKEX.
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Magic Circle
Linklaters
Big-ticket China capital markets, M&A and finance, with a four-week summer scheme feeding a two-year Hong Kong training contract.
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Magic Circle
A&O Shearman
Rebuilt by the 2024 Allen & Overy and Shearman merger, running English and US law side by side on the region's biggest bond and IPO deals.
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Magic Circle
Slaughter and May
A deliberately small HK office built on corporate, M&A and capital markets, with roughly eight training contracts a year and a hard door.
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Silver Circle
Ashurst
China-facing capital markets, banking and fintech-regulatory work, now part of Ashurst Perkins Coie after the 2026 transatlantic merger.
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Silver Circle
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
The largest arbitration and litigation practice of any international firm in the city, now merged with New York's Kramer Levin.
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UK & International
Simmons & Simmons
Genuine specialisms in investment funds, ETFs and employment law, with two summer sessions into a small, four-seat training contract.
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UK & International
DLA Piper
A fast-growing capital markets practice with broad disputes, IP and employment work, and up to seven training contracts a year.
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UK & International
Hogan Lovells
Mid-cap HKEX listings and a heavyweight disputes and restructuring practice, from its first and largest office in Asia.
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UK & International
Bird & Bird
A technology-and-IP-led firm whose small office punches above its headcount, with roughly three Hong Kong training contracts a year.
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UK & International
Norton Rose Fulbright
Capital markets and finance since the 1970s, with paid vacation schemes twice a year and PCLL fees and a maintenance grant covered.
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UK & International
Stephenson Harwood
Made its name on shipping, private wealth and disputes, and is now rebuilding its corporate bench to chase Hong Kong's IPO boom.
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UK & International
Clyde & Co
An insurance and shipping specialist since 1981, running the region's marine casualties, aviation incidents and insurance disputes.
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UK & International
Eversheds Sutherland
China-facing corporate and capital markets work, hiring trainees through a four-week summer scheme with rolling offers.
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UK & International
Pinsent Masons
Hong Kong's dominant construction and infrastructure practice, with a paid three-week summer placement into a small trainee intake.
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UK & International
Kennedys
A global insurance and litigation specialist recruiting trainees through a summer scheme that stays open until seats fill.
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UK & International
Withers
The city's largest private wealth and tax team, taking a handful of trainees through four four-week vacation places each summer.
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UK & International
RPC
Hong Kong's insurance-disputes firm: Band 1 for contentious insurance, a two-week summer scheme, and just two training contracts an intake.
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UK & International
HFW
Hong Kong's shipping and aviation heavyweight since 1978, Band 1 for shipping litigation, with winter and summer schemes you email into.
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UK & International
Taylor Wessing
No longer has a Hong Kong office: the practice split off in November 2025 and the UK firm merged into Winston Taylor in June 2026.
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UK & International
CMS
The market's growth story: the old Lau, Horton & Wise became CMS Hong Kong in 2025 and has been hiring whole teams since.
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UK & International
Charles Russell Speechlys
A private wealth specialist serving the families behind Asia's money, with a paid two-week placement into its training contract.
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UK & International
Dentons
The world's largest firm by lawyer numbers, back in association with Beijing Dacheng, with a small December-window trainee intake.
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US Firm
Kirkland & Ellis
Private equity, big-ticket M&A and the restructuring of China's largest corporate defaults, on US-scale pay.
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US Firm
Latham & Watkins
The IPOs, high-yield bonds and finance deals linking China and Asia with global capital, with two summer schemes into a training contract.
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US Firm
Cleary Gottlieb
A lean office anchoring the firm's entire Greater China practice, with a trainee intake of just two or three a year.
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US Firm
Sidley Austin
Runs on HKEX IPOs and equity capital markets, known for leading the exchange's first-of-a-kind listings under its reformed rules.
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US Firm
Reed Smith Richards Butler
A HK fixture since 1980 and Band 1 for shipping litigation, with summer and winter schemes into roughly six training contracts a year.
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US Firm
Skadden
Big-ticket cross-border M&A and China capital markets, with an eleven-week summer associate programme and a separate HK trainee route.
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US Firm
Simpson Thacher
Wall Street's leading private equity firm, running marquee buyouts, take-privates and HKEX listings from a lean, language-gated office.
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US Firm
Gibson Dunn
Deliberately small at around 50 lawyers, built on private equity, investigations and disputes, and taking just one or two trainees a year.
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US Firm
Paul Hastings
One of the market's busiest China IPO practices, where the only way into the training contract is to first win an internship.
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US Firm
Mayer Brown
Rebuilt around capital markets after its 2024 split from Johnson Stokes & Master, running cross-border bond deals across the region.
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US Firm
Morrison Foerster
Private equity, M&A and capital markets for Chinese and cross-border clients since 1983, with two summer sessions into a training contract.
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US Firm
Baker McKenzie
Among the first internationals into Hong Kong, running cross-border China corporate, capital markets and disputes, with a larger intake.
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US Firm
White & Case
Cross-border debt, private equity and disputes since 1978, with a guaranteed six-month seat in an overseas White & Case office.
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US Firm
Sullivan & Cromwell
A white-shoe office running Greater China M&A and capital markets, taking just four trainees a year, recruited two years ahead.
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US Firm
Davis Polk
Wall Street securities law and HK law on the IPOs taking China's tech and biotech public. Its largest office anywhere outside the US.
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US Firm
Jones Day
The first US firm licensed in Hong Kong law, training its own solicitors through a two-year contract fed by a four-week summer internship.
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US Firm
Morgan Lewis
Funds, finance and disputes for China and Asia, taking up to four trainees a year from twin summer and winter internships.
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US Firm
K&L Gates
A full-service US firm expanding fast in capital markets, corporate and funds, with a four-seat contract fed by a summer internship.
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US Firm
Wilson Sonsini
Silicon Valley's law firm, built around US-China tech listings, with no published student scheme and an unconventional way in.
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Hong Kong Firm
Howse Williams
An independent firm built in 2012, full-service from corporate finance to clinical negligence, taking around eight trainees a year.
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Hong Kong Firm
Deacons
Hong Kong's oldest and largest independent firm, strongest in investment funds, IP, insurance and disputes, with roots back to 1851.
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Hong Kong Firm
Tanner De Witt
Restructuring, insolvency and disputes teams on the region's biggest collapses, including Evergrande, with up to four trainees a year.
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Hong Kong Firm
JSM
Founded in Hong Kong in 1863, it left Mayer Brown to relaunch as an independent firm in 2024, recruiting trainees two years ahead.
Read the intel →Hong Kong Firm
TN Partners
A boutique in the PwC network (formerly Tiang & Partners), with a three-seat contract fed by summer internships.
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Hong Kong Firm
Robertsons
A wholly independent full-service firm since 1980, best known for criminal defence, taking 5 to 6 trainees a year.
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PRC Firm
Fangda Partners
A leading PRC firm and counsel of choice on the recent wave of Chinese-company HKEX listings, one of the hardest firms in China to join.
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PRC Firm
Han Kun
One of mainland China's elite corporate firms, taking just two trainees a year and picking both from its own interns.
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PRC Firm
Zhong Lun
One of China's largest firms, full-service in Hong Kong but recruiting juniors ad hoc rather than through a scheme.
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Australian
King & Wood Mallesons
A global firm built out of China, the default call for cross-border China capital markets and M&A, with a clerkship into a two-year programme.
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Australian
MinterEllison
The Australian network's HK partnership: Band 1 for litigation, with a structured clerkship-to-trainee pipeline and published deadlines.
Read the intel →No firms in that category yet.
Off the beaten path
No published scheme — worth a speculative approach
These offices had no published, structured vacation scheme or trainee programme at the time of writing. That does not mean they never hire juniors — several will read a strong speculative application, and some take trainees off the back of one. Treat this as a prompt to do your own digging: always check the firm's own careers page before you write, because an ad-hoc route today can become a formal scheme next cycle.