UK & international
DLA Piper
A UK-and-US-founded global firm whose Hong Kong office pairs a fast-growing capital markets practice with broad-based disputes, IP and employment work, and channels most trainees through one four-week paid summer internship, with the PCLL fully sponsored.
- Category
- UK & international
- Origin
- Formed 2005 by merger of DLA (UK), Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (US)
- HK presence
- China/HK practice since 1988; 130+ fee-earners at Three Exchange Square, Central
- HK strengths
- Capital markets & IPOs, disputes, IP, employment, real estate and tax (Chambers Band 2 across seven Greater China areas)
The Hong Kong practice
What does DLA Piper's Hong Kong office actually do?
DLA Piper's Hong Kong office is a broad-based practice with capital markets pulling ahead. Rather than one flagship group, Chambers' 2026 Greater China guide ranks the office in Band 2 across seven practice areas at once: dispute resolution, employment, insurance, intellectual property, hedge funds, real estate and tax. Its roots go back to 1988, though the firm in its current form dates to 2005, when UK firm DLA merged with Baltimore's Piper Rudnick and San Diego's Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich to create what was then one of the largest law firms in the world. The scale still shows: DLA Piper reports 80 offices in more than 40 countries and more than 4,000 lawyers, with global revenue near US$4.6bn in 2025. The Hong Kong office runs out of Three Exchange Square in Central; Legal Cheek puts headcount at 130+ fee-earners, led by managing partner Susheela Rivers, a real estate specialist.
The sharper recent story is capital markets. In February 2026 the firm hired Sherlyn Lau, previously deputy head of Sidley Austin's China corporate and finance practice, as APAC head of capital markets and corporate finance, bringing a 12-lawyer team with her, a deliberate push into Hong Kong IPO work as the city reclaimed the title of the world's busiest listing venue in 2025. The deal list below shows what that looks like in practice: five Hong Kong IPOs since March 2025, several run under HKEX's newer Chapter 18A (pre-revenue biotech) and Chapter 18C (specialist technology) listing regimes. Recent press releases name trainee solicitors on those deal teams directly (Bernie Wong on the Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical and 160 Health listings, Lily Choi on Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining), so a capital markets seat here means real due diligence and verification work, not just watching from the back row.
The other Band 2 groups route trainees elsewhere: intellectual property, where three of the firm's Asia partners were named 2025 Managing IP Stars; contentious Hong Kong litigation; and the employment and restructuring advice multinationals need when they reorganise Asia headcount. Trainees rotate through four six-month seats over the two-year contract, and the firm's own materials cite international secondments to offices including Thailand and Australia.
Trainee & vacation scheme programme
How do you get into DLA Piper Hong Kong?
The Hong Kong route in is a single four-week paid summer internship, in-person, around 35 hours a week, and interns are assessed for a place on the training contract across the scheme itself. There is no separate open training-contract application to sidestep it: the internship is the decision. It allows one application per person, per year, to a single office.
- Route inA single four-week paid summer internship, in-person, around 35 hours a week. Interns are assessed for a training-contract place across the scheme, and the firm recruits roughly two years ahead of the actual start date. Source ↗
- Intake sizeThe firm publishes up to seven Hong Kong training contracts a year, a wider intake than several peers of similar size. Source ↗
- Who can applySecond-year students on three-year law degrees, third-year students on four-year law degrees and final-year law students, plus final-year non-law students, graduates, career changers and anyone who has completed the PCLL, provided you already have the right to work in Hong Kong. The firm does not sponsor a visa for the internship itself. Source ↗
- The contractTwo years across four six-month seats, with international secondments cited to offices including Thailand and Australia. Source ↗
- MoneyDLA Piper sponsors the PCLL in full, to be completed before the training contract starts. Source ↗
- What they wantA 2:1 (or a GPA around 3.0) and fluency in English and Chinese, spoken and written, which lines up with how mainland-facing the recent deal list is. Source ↗
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, so check the current dates on the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of trusting last year's date. If you land the internship, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert it into an offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has DLA Piper's Hong Kong office run?
These are the deals the Hong Kong office has publicly led or advised on, and they are the raw material for a good interview answer. They cluster where the firm is pushing hardest: Hong Kong IPOs, several run under HKEX's newer Chapter 18A and 18C listing regimes.
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SEER Robotics' HK$1.067bn Hong Kong IPOJune 2026
DLA Piper advised sole sponsor CICC Hong Kong Securities on the Main Board listing of Shanghai Seer Intelligent Technology under HKEX's Chapter 18C specialist technology regime, with H-shares trading from 24 June 2026. Source ↗
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Nsing Tech's HK$1.03bn A+H listingMarch 2026
The firm advised on the Hong Kong H-share listing of the Shenzhen integrated-circuit design and battery-materials group, led by newly arrived capital markets head Sherlyn Lau. Source ↗
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B&K Corporation's HK$674m IPODecember 2025
DLA Piper advised joint sponsors Huatai Financial Holdings and CITIC Securities on the Main Board listing of the Qingdao biopharmaceutical group behind a pipeline of PDGF wound-healing drugs. Source ↗
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Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical's HK$781m IPOOctober 2025
The firm advised the sole sponsor and underwriters on this Chapter 18A pre-revenue biotech listing, whose retail tranche was oversubscribed more than 4,900 times, one of the year's hottest new issues. Source ↗
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Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining's HK$2.8bn IPOMarch 2025
DLA Piper advised on the H-share listing of one of China's largest private gold producers, the largest Hong Kong mineral-sector IPO under Chapter 18 since 2023 and a dual Shanghai/Hong Kong listing. Source ↗
Insider tip
Deals like these are the raw material of a DLA Piper interview, but only if you can say what they mean. Learn the framework in our commercial awareness guide, and the Weekly News Digest breaks down one Hong Kong deal a week and tells you what to actually say about it.
Interview & selection intel
What does the DLA Piper Hong Kong selection process look like?
DLA Piper publishes more about its Hong Kong process than most peers do. Its careers site lays out four stages in order: an online application (CV, personal details and motivational questions), an untimed Watson Glaser test with about five working days to finish once invited, a behavioural phone interview with the early-careers team, and an in-person assessment centre combining exercises with a one-to-one interview.
What isn't public is the exact content of that assessment centre. Detailed candidate accounts of DLA Piper's Hong Kong exercises are thin on Glassdoor and student forums compared with some peers, so treat the four-stage structure above as confirmed and the substance of the exercises as unknown until you're inside it.
Strip it back and a four-stage process like this is built to test the same things most Hong Kong assessment tracks do: real critical reasoning under the Watson Glaser, which is untimed but still a genuine gate; fluency and ease across English and Chinese given how mainland-facing the work is; and, since offers are decided across a four-week internship rather than a single day, the everyday work ethic that holds up over a month on the desk. 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 DLA Piper Hong Kong?
Because offers are decided across a four-week internship you have to earn first, your edge comes from clearing the Watson Glaser cleanly, evidencing real motivation on paper, and going in fluent on DLA Piper's actual Hong Kong story. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Take the Watson Glaser seriously even though it's untimed. Five working days is generous, but DLA Piper places it before the phone interview as a genuine screen, so a weak score ends the process early. Learn how to master the Watson Glaser test first, then build the reasoning patterns it rewards in the Watson Glaser Academy.
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2Treat the written application and phone interview as the door into the real test: four weeks on the desk. With up to seven Hong Kong contracts filled mostly from one internship intake, sustained everyday work ethic matters as much as any single interview. The Law Firm Application Academy shows how to evidence real motivation instead of generic global-platform flattery.
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3Go in fluent on DLA Piper's actual Hong Kong story: a capital markets practice hiring hard right now, on top of Band 2 disputes, IP and employment work. Naming a real listing, ideally one run under the newer Chapter 18A or 18C regimes, reads as homework done. Build that command in the Online Case Study Centre and the Mock Assessment Centre, then pressure-test your delivery with in-person coaching.
Quick answers
DLA Piper Hong Kong, in five questions
How many training contracts does DLA Piper offer in Hong Kong?
The intake is wider than several similar-size peers. DLA Piper publishes up to seven Hong Kong training contracts a year, filled mostly from its summer internship intake.
How do you get a training contract at DLA Piper Hong Kong?
Through a single four-week paid summer internship. Interns are assessed for a place on the training contract across the internship itself, and the firm recruits roughly two years ahead of the actual start date. It allows one application per person, per year, to a single office.
Does DLA Piper Hong Kong use the Watson Glaser test?
Yes. Its process includes an untimed Watson Glaser critical-thinking test, with about five working days to complete it once invited. Untimed does not mean easy: it sits before the phone interview as a genuine screen.
What does the DLA Piper Hong Kong training contract look like?
Two years across four six-month seats, with international secondments to offices including Thailand and Australia. DLA Piper sponsors the PCLL in full, to be completed before the training contract starts.
What does DLA Piper look for in Hong Kong applicants?
A 2:1 (or a GPA around 3.0) and fluency in English and Chinese, spoken and written, which lines up with how mainland-facing the recent deal list is.