UK & International

Eversheds Sutherland

Q: Does Eversheds Sutherland run a vacation scheme in Hong Kong?

Yes. Eversheds Sutherland runs a four-week Summer Vacation Scheme in its Hong Kong office, in two batches (June and July). You spend time in two fee-earning departments, and performing well on the scheme is how you earn a training contract offer.

Q: When do Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong applications open and close?

In the last published cycle, applications opened on 7 September 2025 and closed on 11 January 2026, with interviews, assessments and vacation scheme offers made on a rolling basis. Training contract offers for the 2028 intake follow the Law Society of Hong Kong guidelines, from 1 August 2026.

Q: What grades does Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong ask for?

A minimum 3.3 GPA, the equivalent of a 2:1 degree, or being on track for a 2:1, plus a law qualification such as an LLB or JD. The firm also cites a HKDSE score of mostly Level 5*s or above (or equivalent), and welcomes JD and CPE candidates from non-law backgrounds.

Q: What does the Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong training contract look like?

Four six-month seats over two years, including Banking, Corporate and Litigation, with the possibility of a secondment to an overseas office after your first six months. PCLL tuition fees are fully reimbursed with a stipend during study, and trainees get up to 44 working days of leave across the two years.

Q: What does the Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong selection process involve?

An online application form, then a video interview of roughly 15 minutes covering competency questions and your knowledge of the industry, then a face-to-face interview with an Eversheds Sutherland lawyer plus assessments in the office. The face-to-face stage is a structured interview built on your application form.

A global firm whose Hong Kong office runs China-facing corporate, capital markets and technology work, and recruits its trainees through a four-week summer vacation scheme with rolling offers.

Category: UK & International
Route in: Summer Vacation Scheme (two four-week batches, June & July)
The contract: Four six-month seats: Banking, Corporate, Litigation + possible overseas secondment
HK strengths: Corporate/M&A, debt capital markets, technology, data & cyber

The Hong Kong practice

What does Eversheds Sutherland's Hong Kong office actually do?

The Hong Kong office is a corporate and finance shop with a China-facing book. Its corporate team, led by Hong Kong head of corporate Dickson Ng, acted as Hong Kong legal adviser to Korea's CJ CheilJedang on the US$854m sale of its Asian feed business to Royal De Heus Source ↗, and its debt capital markets lawyers led the firm's work on China Hongqiao's US$300m senior notes issue Source ↗.

The office is also building hard in technology. In December 2025 it hired Albert Yuen, the former head of Linklaters' Hong Kong TMT practice, as a partner and head of its technology, data and cyber practice in Asia, with a brief spanning telecoms transactions, data infrastructure, fintech, cybersecurity and AI Source ↗.

For a trainee, the practical shape of the office shows in the training contract itself: the firm's own careers pages fix Banking, Corporate and Litigation as the core seats, so those three engines are where you will spend most of your two years Source ↗.

Trainee & vacation scheme programme

How do you get into Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong?

Through the Summer Vacation Scheme. Eversheds Sutherland runs four-week schemes in its Hong Kong office in two batches, June and July, and says plainly that performing well on the scheme is how you may be offered a training contract. Applications, interviews and offers all run on a rolling basis, so early applicants get looked at first. The full programme detail lives on the firm's Hong Kong student recruitment pages.

4six-month seats in the two-year training contract

15minutes of video interview at the screening stage

44working days of leave across the training contract

Route inSummer Vacation Scheme: four weeks in the Hong Kong office, two fee-earning departments, research and drafting on live work, plus group exercises and presentations. Strong performers are considered for the training contract.
Key datesLast cycle: applications opened 7 September 2025 and closed 11 January 2026; interviews, assessments and scheme offers rolled continuously. Training contract offers for the 2028 intake follow Law Society of Hong Kong guidelines from 1 August 2026.
Who can applyPenultimate-year law undergraduates, plus graduates and career changers. JD and CPE candidates from non-law backgrounds are explicitly welcomed.
AcademicsMinimum 3.3 GPA or a 2:1 (achieved or on track), an LLB or JD, and HKDSE results of mostly Level 5*s or above (or equivalent).
LanguagesExcellent language skills required; candidates proficient in written English and Chinese and trilingual in English, Cantonese and Mandarin get preference, though all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.
MoneyPCLL tuition fees fully reimbursed plus a stipend during study. Trainees get up to 44 working days' leave over the two years, private medical cover and an optional rental reimbursement scheme.

Watch out

Rolling recruitment means the published deadline is the last possible moment, not the target. Firms fill schemes as they go, and each cycle's dates move. Check the current windows on the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker before you plan your applications.

Recent matters worth knowing

Which recent deals has Eversheds Sutherland's Hong Kong office run?

These are matters the Hong Kong office has publicly led or been named on, and they map the office's three engines: debt capital markets, cross-border M&A and the growing technology practice.

China Hongqiao's US$300m senior notesApril 2024

The Hong Kong team, led by partner Roger Zhou with partner Stephen Mok, advised the Hong Kong-listed aluminium giant on its issue of US$300m 7.75% senior notes, with UK and US colleagues in support. Source ↗
CJ CheilJedang's US$854m feed business saleOctober 2025

Eversheds Sutherland acted as Hong Kong legal adviser to the Korean food group on the sale of CJ Feed & Care's Asian operations to Royal De Heus, a five-country deal led from Hong Kong by head of corporate Dickson Ng. Source ↗
Albert Yuen joins to head Asia technologyDecember 2025

The firm hired the former head of Linklaters' Hong Kong TMT practice as partner and head of technology, data and cyber for Asia, a statement of intent in data infrastructure, fintech, cybersecurity and AI work. Source ↗

Insider tip

The video interview explicitly tests "knowledge of the industry that both we and our clients operate in" — that is a commercial awareness question with a camera on. Build the habit with our commercial awareness guide, and the Weekly News Digest hands you one Hong Kong deal a week with the "so what" already worked out.

Interview & selection intel

What does the Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong selection process look like?

The firm publishes its process in unusual detail. You complete an online application form; shortlisted candidates sit a video interview of roughly 15 minutes covering competency questions and your knowledge of the industry the firm and its clients operate in. Do well and you are invited to a face-to-face interview with an Eversheds Sutherland lawyer, plus assessments completed in the office.

Two details reward preparation. First, the face-to-face stage is a structured interview built on your application form — every claim you wrote is fair game, so know your own form cold. Second, everything runs rolling: interviews and offers go out continuously between September and the new year, which punishes late, polished applications and rewards early, good ones.

The in-office assessments are not publicly specified, so treat any account of their exact format with caution. What is safe to assume at this tier: competency stories with evidence, a commercial view on the industries the firm serves, and clear answers on why Hong Kong and why this firm. Our guide to the Hong Kong vacation scheme interview shows how these conversations actually run.

How to stand out

How do you stand out for Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong?

The firm lists what it screens for — problem-solving, commerciality, communication, organisation, motivation — which means you can prepare against the actual marking scheme rather than guessing. Here is where to put the work.

1Rolling recruitment makes the application form your first and possibly only shot, and the later interview is structured around what you wrote. Draft it early, evidence every claim, and cut the filler — the top mistakes on HK applications shows what sinks most forms, and the Law Firm Application Academy drills the written craft.

Law Firm Application Academy →
2The 15-minute video interview tests competency stories and industry knowledge under time pressure, and the office round adds live assessments. Rehearse case-style commercial thinking out loud — start with how firms mark case studies, then pressure-test yourself in the Mock Assessment Centre.

Online Case Study Centre →Mock Assessment Centre →
3The scheme itself is the final interview: four weeks across two departments, with group exercises and presentations watched by the people who decide offers. How you take feedback and think out loud is a rehearsable skill — one-to-one coaching fixes the habits that lose offers before they cost you one.

In-person coaching →

Quick answers

Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong, in five questions

Does Eversheds Sutherland run a vacation scheme in Hong Kong?

Yes. Eversheds Sutherland runs a four-week Summer Vacation Scheme in its Hong Kong office, in two batches (June and July). You spend time in two fee-earning departments, and performing well on the scheme is how you earn a training contract offer.

When do Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong applications open and close?

In the last published cycle, applications opened on 7 September 2025 and closed on 11 January 2026, with interviews, assessments and vacation scheme offers made on a rolling basis. Training contract offers for the 2028 intake follow the Law Society of Hong Kong guidelines, from 1 August 2026.

What grades does Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong ask for?

A minimum 3.3 GPA, the equivalent of a 2:1 degree, or being on track for a 2:1, plus a law qualification such as an LLB or JD. The firm also cites a HKDSE score of mostly Level 5*s or above (or equivalent), and welcomes JD and CPE candidates from non-law backgrounds.

What does the Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong training contract look like?

Four six-month seats over two years, including Banking, Corporate and Litigation, with the possibility of a secondment to an overseas office after your first six months. PCLL tuition fees are fully reimbursed with a stipend during study, and trainees get up to 44 working days of leave across the two years.

What does the Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong selection process involve?

An online application form, then a video interview of roughly 15 minutes covering competency questions and your knowledge of the industry, then a face-to-face interview with an Eversheds Sutherland lawyer plus assessments in the office. The face-to-face stage is a structured interview built on your application form.