UK & international
Ashurst
A UK-founded firm whose Hong Kong office runs China-facing capital markets, banking and fintech-regulatory work, now part of Ashurst Perkins Coie after 2026's transatlantic merger, with a four-week vacation scheme the main route into a two-year training contract that covers your PCLL stipend and fees.
- Category
- UK & international
- Origin
- London, founded 1822; merged with US firm Perkins Coie in 2026 to form Ashurst Perkins Coie
- HK presence
- In Hong Kong since 2008, from Jardine House in Central; part of the combined firm's 52-office global network
- HK strengths
- Equity & debt capital markets (incl. green & digital bonds), banking & finance, fintech regulation, corporate/M&A, disputes
The Hong Kong practice
What does Ashurst's Hong Kong office actually do?
Ashurst opened its Hong Kong office in 2008 and works out of Jardine House in Central, practising Hong Kong and US law. In 2026 the firm combined with the US firm Perkins Coie to form Ashurst Perkins Coie, a top-20 global law firm by revenue with more than 950 partners across 52 offices. In Hong Kong the practice covers banking and finance, financial regulation, derivatives and structured products, equity and debt capital markets, corporate and M&A, private equity, investment funds, restructuring and disputes, under managing partner Ben Hammond, who joined from Slaughter and May and also leads the financial regulation practice.
Capital markets sits at the centre of the office, and the client base is heavily China-facing: mainland companies listing on the HKEX, and the investment banks underwriting them. Legal 500 rates the debt capital markets team technically strong and highly responsive on Greater China international debt work, an area where green and digital bond mandates now sit alongside more standard issuance, built on Hammond's fintech-regulatory expertise. That combination showed up in November 2025, when Ashurst advised HSBC as platform counsel on a HK$10bn digital bond for the Hong Kong Government, the largest digital bond issuance in the world to date (below). Alongside the debt work, the equity capital markets team ran a steady flow of HKEX IPOs for mainland issuers through 2024 and 2025.
For a trainee, that shape sets what you touch. The training contract runs two years across four six-month seats, planned with you, and one seat is likely to be an international secondment; Hong Kong itself is a secondment destination for trainees from the firm's other offices, and HK trainees can be sent the other way. In a capital markets or finance seat you sit close to live IPOs and bond issues: due diligence, verification, drafting ancillary documents and disclosure, and working-group calls with banks and other advisers. Because so much of the client base is mainland Chinese, Chinese-language ability is not just useful, the firm lists it as a requirement alongside English.
Trainee & vacation scheme programme
How do you get into Ashurst Hong Kong?
The summer vacation scheme runs four weeks in the Hong Kong office, open to penultimate- and final-year law students and graduates. You rotate through practice groups under a qualified solicitor, sit close to real client work, and go through internal workshops and training sessions alongside it. The firm's own Hong Kong graduate guidance is direct: you are strongly encouraged to do the vacation scheme before applying for a training contract, which makes it the main pipeline rather than one route among several.
The training contract runs two years across four six-month seats, agreed between you and the firm, with one seat likely to be an international secondment. You need to be on track for a strong 2:1 in your law degree, with strong English and Chinese (extra languages are a bonus), and you must complete the PCLL before the contract starts. Ashurst pays a stipend in instalments through your PCLL year and reimburses the course in full once you begin. Beyond the academic and language bar, the firm's recruitment materials describe wanting analytical ability, commercial instinct, communication and teamwork, flexibility and drive, the same qualities it asks for firm-wide, applied here to a bilingual, China-facing practice.
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, so check the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of trusting last year's date. If you land the scheme, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert it into an offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has Ashurst's Hong Kong office run?
These are the matters the Hong Kong office has publicly led or advised on, and they cluster where it is strongest: record-setting digital-bond work and a steady flow of HKEX IPOs for mainland issuers. They are the raw material for a good interview answer.
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HSBC's HK$10bn digital bond on the Orion platformNov 2025
Ashurst advised HSBC as platform counsel on a Hong Kong Government digital bond issuance, a record HK$10bn across four currency tranches that drew over HK$130bn in total subscriptions, the world's first digital bond to settle using tokenised central bank money (e-CNY and e-HKD). The team was led by Hong Kong managing partner Ben Hammond. Source: Ashurst press release. Source ↗
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HXPharma's HK$993.6m HKEX IPOOct 2025
Ashurst acted as Hong Kong and US counsel to Fujian Haixi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (HXPharma) on its global offering of shares and listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, acting for the issuer rather than the underwriters. Source: Ashurst press release. Source ↗
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Butong Group's HK$781.84m HKEX IPOSep 2025
The firm advised the underwriters, led by joint sponsors CITIC Securities and Haitong International, as Hong Kong and US legal advisers and drafting counsel on the Hong Kong listing of the nursery-products group behind the BeBeBus brand. Source: Ashurst press release. Source ↗
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Cloudbreak Pharma's ~HK$522m HKEX IPOJul 2025
Ashurst acted as counsel to the joint sponsors and underwriters on the Hong Kong listing of the clinical-stage ophthalmology biotech, which made its trading debut on 3 July 2025. Source: Ashurst press release. Source ↗
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Shanghai Voicecomm's US$85m HKEX IPOJul 2024
The firm acted as US counsel to Shanghai Voicecomm Information Technology, a mainland conversational-AI and voice-technology company, on its listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with the team led by Hong Kong-based partner Li Jiang. Source: National Tribune (Ashurst release). Source ↗
Insider tip
Deals like these only help you if you can explain what they mean, so build the framework in our commercial awareness guide. Weekly breakdowns of deals exactly like these, what happened, why it happened, and how to use it in an interview, are what the paid Weekly News Digest delivers.
Interview & selection intel
What does the Ashurst Hong Kong selection process look like?
Ashurst does not publish a detailed breakdown of its Hong Kong interview process, so most of what circulates comes from candidate accounts on Glassdoor and student forums rather than the firm itself. Treat it as indicative, not a fixed script.
The application reportedly runs through Revelian's online psychometric suite (Cognify for analytical and problem-solving reasoning, Emotify for interpersonal skills, and a Values Fit questionnaire for cultural alignment) before any human reviews your file. Candidates who clear that stage describe a phone interview with HR, followed, for Hong Kong specifically, by a Chinese-language test and an interview with two of the firm's associates, with the vacation scheme itself serving as a further, longer assessment before any training-contract offer.
Strip out the specifics and the pattern fits the practice. A China-facing capital markets and fintech-regulatory office at this tier is testing whether your English and Chinese both hold up under pressure, whether you can talk about HKEX deal flow with some fluency, and whether you have the stamina for document-heavy, deadline-driven seats. Our guide to the Hong Kong vacation scheme interview walks through how these conversations actually run.
How to stand out
How do you stand out for Ashurst Hong Kong?
The psychometric stage is only a gate; your edge comes from a written application specific to Ashurst's China-facing capital markets work, a deal you can explain in English and Chinese, and rehearsed associate interviews. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Clear the psychometric stage without treating it as the whole test. Cognify and Emotify are a gate, not the assessment itself, so practise the format, then put your real effort into a written application that is specific to Ashurst's China-facing capital markets and fintech-regulatory work, not vague enthusiasm that could apply to any firm; our guide to the top mistakes on HK applications shows what to cut. The Law Firm Application Academy shows how to build that case.
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2Be able to talk about a Hong Kong capital markets deal, and the bilingual reality behind it. This office runs on mainland issuers listing on the HKEX and on the debt and digital-bond work behind its fintech-regulatory practice, so walk in able to explain a recent one cold, in English and ideally with the Chinese vocabulary for it too. Build that structured reasoning in the Online Case Study Centre and keep current with the Weekly News Digest.
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3Rehearse the associate interview and the Chinese-language test before you sit either live. Both are reported stages in Ashurst's Hong Kong process, and neither rewards a first attempt done for real. The Mock Assessment Centre and in-person coaching let you run through both under pressure before it counts.
Quick answers
Ashurst Hong Kong, in five questions
How do you get a training contract at Ashurst Hong Kong?
The main route is the summer vacation scheme, which runs four weeks in the Hong Kong office and is open to penultimate- and final-year law students and graduates. The firm's own guidance says you are strongly encouraged to do the vacation scheme before applying for a training contract, which makes it the main pipeline rather than one route among several.
Does Ashurst Hong Kong use psychometric tests?
Yes. The application reportedly runs through Revelian's online psychometric suite, Cognify for analytical and problem-solving reasoning, Emotify for interpersonal skills, and a Values Fit questionnaire for cultural alignment, before any human reviews your file. For Hong Kong specifically, candidates then describe a Chinese-language test and an interview with two of the firm's associates.
Does Ashurst pay for the PCLL in Hong Kong?
Yes. Ashurst pays a stipend in instalments through your PCLL year and reimburses the course in full once you begin the training contract. You must complete the PCLL before the contract starts.
What does the Ashurst Hong Kong training contract look like?
Two years across four six-month seats, agreed between you and the firm, with one seat likely to be an international secondment. Hong Kong is also a secondment destination for trainees from the firm's other offices, and Hong Kong trainees can be sent the other way.
What does Ashurst look for in Hong Kong applicants?
You need to be on track for a strong 2:1 in your law degree, with strong English and Chinese (extra languages are a bonus). Beyond that the firm looks for analytical ability, commercial instinct, communication and teamwork, flexibility and drive.