HK & regional
Fangda Partners
A leading PRC firm rather than a Magic Circle or US import, whose Hong Kong office has become PRC counsel of choice on the recent wave of Chinese-company HKEX listings, at one of the hardest law firms in China to get hired by.
- Category
- HK & regional (leading PRC / Red Circle firm)
- Origin
- Shanghai, founded 1993 by six partners
- HK presence
- Opened April 2012, based at One Exchange Square, Central; part of a roughly 800-lawyer PRC platform
- HK strengths
- Equity & debt capital markets (HKEX IPOs, panda bonds), cross-border M&A, dispute resolution & arbitration
The Hong Kong practice
What does Fangda Partners' Hong Kong office actually do?
Fangda Partners was founded in Shanghai in 1993 by six partners and is regarded as one of the preeminent Chinese law firms, one of the first genuine private partnerships built under mainland China's modern legal system. It opened in Hong Kong in April 2012 after recruiting Peter Yuen, then a litigation partner at Freshfields, and the office now sits at One Exchange Square in Central, close to the exchange floor its lawyers spend so much of their time working around. Source ↗ The wider firm, roughly 800 lawyers and about 180 partners across Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, plus Singapore since August 2024, operates as one integrated partnership rather than a network of allied offices. Source ↗ It has a reputation, widely reported in the Chinese legal press, as one of the hardest law firms in China to get hired by and one of the most profitable per partner.
Legal 500 places Fangda in its "PRC firms in Hong Kong" bracket, alongside JunHe and Zhong Lun rather than the Magic Circle or US firms, and Chambers has ranked its Hong Kong capital markets team for 14 straight years running. Source ↗ Source ↗ The clearest specialism is acting as PRC counsel when a mainland Chinese company lists on the HKEX: corporate head Colin Law works the healthcare and technology side, Jeffrey Ding leads on listings more broadly, and Christine Chen runs the international debt and panda bond practice. Clients span from platform businesses like Deliveroo's Hong Kong entity to TCL Technology Group. Alongside the transactional side sits a genuinely serious dispute resolution team under Peter Yuen, around 15 lawyers in Hong Kong with more than 50 further back in mainland China, handling HKIAC and CIETAC arbitrations, cross-border fraud and shareholder disputes, and matters as specific as Hong Kong courts recognising mainland bankruptcy proceedings.
For a trainee, that translates into PRC-law-heavy corporate and capital markets work: verification and due diligence on HKEX listings run in parallel with mainland counsel, drafting that has to satisfy Hong Kong and PRC regulators at once, and, on the contentious side, disputes where the money and the witnesses often sit across the border. It is a narrower, more specialist practice than a Magic Circle or US firm's Hong Kong office, without the same roster of international secondment cities, and it suits someone who wants real PRC law exposure more than someone chasing a global brand name.
Trainee & vacation scheme programme
How do you get into Fangda Partners Hong Kong?
Fangda publishes far less about its Hong Kong recruitment than the Magic Circle and US firms it competes with for mandates. There is no Legal Cheek firm profile, and the firm's own careers page says only that campus recruitment for law students runs each autumn, announced through Fangda's official WeChat account, with a separate email route (hr@fangdalaw.com) for experienced hires. Source ↗ Glassdoor's listings confirm the firm runs a winter vacation scheme, candidates have left interview reviews for one, but its length, its pay, and its Hong Kong intake are not published anywhere public. Treat any specific figure you hear secondhand as unverified until the firm confirms it directly.
What the firm does say, on its own site, is that it wants people who show "the highest standards of legal excellence, driven by innovation, dedicated to collaboration, and inspired by both idealism and a long-term vision," inside a culture it describes as built on inclusivity, openness, equality and integrity. Read alongside the client base, that matters in a practical sense: Fangda practises PRC and Hong Kong law side by side, so fluent Mandarin, plus reading and writing Chinese, is in practice close to essential even where it is not written down as a formal requirement. A qualifying law degree and the PCLL remain the baseline for any Hong Kong training contract, Fangda's included.
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, so check the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of trusting last year's date. If you land an interview or a scheme place, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert it into an offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has Fangda Partners' Hong Kong office run?
These are the listings the Hong Kong office has publicly advised on as PRC counsel, and they are the raw material for a good interview answer. They cluster around the current wave of Chinese-company HKEX listings, from AI chips to lidar and biotech spin-offs.
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Biren Technology's HK$5.6bn HKEX IPOJanuary 2026
Fangda advised on PRC law, led by partners Jeffrey Ding, Wang Mengjie and Brian Liu, as the AI chip designer raised around US$717m including over-allotment, with shares opening more than 80% above the issue price and pushing its market value past HK$100bn. (Law.asia; Bloomberg.) Source ↗
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Hesai Group's dual-primary Hong Kong listingSeptember 2025
Fangda counselled on PRC law, again led by Jeffrey Ding, Wang Mengjie and Brian Liu with Gil Zhang and Li Huihui on data compliance, as the lidar maker raised around HK$4.16bn, reported as the largest IPO yet in the global lidar sector. (Law.asia; Asian Legal Business.) Source ↗
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QuantumPharm's (XtalPi) Chapter 18C listingJune 2024
Fangda advised on PRC law as the AI-driven drug discovery group became the first company listed in Hong Kong under the Chapter 18C specialist technology regime, raising around HK$989m. (Law.asia; FinanceAsia.) Source ↗
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WuXi XDC's US$470m HKEX spin-off listingNovember 2023
Fangda advised on Hong Kong and PRC law for WuXi XDC's spin-off listing from WuXi Biologics, and separately acted as Hong Kong and US counsel to WuXi Biologics as controlling shareholder, on what ranked as Hong Kong's third-largest IPO that year. (Wilson Sonsini; Asian Legal Business.) Source ↗
Insider tip
Deals like these only help if you can say what they mean, so learn the framework in our commercial awareness guide. Weekly deal breakdowns like these, what happened, why it matters, and how to use it in an interview, sit at the core of the paid Weekly News Digest.
Interview & selection intel
What does the Fangda Partners Hong Kong selection process look like?
Public detail here is thinner than for almost any other firm on this site. There is no Legal Cheek write-up and no structured assessment-centre account. Glassdoor lists interview reviews across Fangda's offices with a firm-wide 83% positive experience rate and an average reported difficulty of 2.8 out of 5, though those figures are not broken out by office or role, so read anything Hong Kong-specific into them cautiously. Reviewers who do describe the process point to something fairly conversational: introductions, a walk through your background, a why-this-firm question, and partners probing your understanding of the role, sometimes including a direct question about salary expectations, with time at the end to ask your own questions.
Strip out the specifics and prepare for what an interview at a top PRC firm's Hong Kong office actually tests. Expect a harder version of "why this firm" than at a Magic Circle office: why a PRC firm rather than an international one, and whether you understand what a genuinely PRC-law-heavy practice involves day to day. Expect your Chinese-language ability to matter in a way it might not elsewhere, and expect to be asked about a live HKEX listing or China-related story with enough detail to hold a real conversation, not just recite the headline. 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 Fangda Partners Hong Kong?
Because the office exists to do PRC-facing capital markets and disputes work, your edge comes from a China-specific application, real detail on a live HKEX listing, and rehearsed answers on language and fit. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Make your application about China work specifically, not law firms generally. Fangda's Hong Kong office exists to do PRC-facing capital markets and disputes work, so an application that reads like it was written for any Magic Circle firm will not land. The Law Firm Application Academy shows how to build a specific, evidenced case for wanting that work.
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2Be able to talk about the current HKEX listing wave in real detail. Fangda has been PRC counsel on some of the biggest recent Chinese-company listings in Hong Kong, from AI chip makers to lidar and biotech spin-offs, so know one of them properly rather than in headline form, and know how firms mark case studies so you frame it the way they reward. The Online Case Study Centre builds that habit, and the Weekly News Digest keeps the deal list current.
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3Prepare for the language and cultural-fit questions directly. A firm built on PRC and Hong Kong law together will test your comfort working in Chinese and your genuine interest in mainland practice, not just your grades. Pressure-test your answers to those questions through in-person coaching before you sit in front of a partner.
Quick answers
Fangda Partners Hong Kong, in five questions
How do you get into Fangda Partners Hong Kong?
Campus recruitment for law students runs each autumn, announced through Fangda's official WeChat account, with a separate email route for experienced hires. Glassdoor confirms the firm also runs a winter vacation scheme, though its length, pay and Hong Kong intake are not published anywhere public.
Does Fangda Partners publish its Hong Kong trainee intake?
No. Fangda publishes far less about its Hong Kong recruitment than the Magic Circle and US firms it competes with, and the length, pay and Hong Kong intake of its vacation scheme are not public. Treat any specific figure you hear secondhand as unverified until the firm confirms it directly.
Do you need Chinese to work at Fangda Partners Hong Kong?
In practice, close to it. Fangda practises PRC and Hong Kong law side by side, so fluent Mandarin, plus reading and writing Chinese, is in practice close to essential even where it is not written down as a formal requirement.
What qualifications do you need for a Fangda Partners Hong Kong training contract?
A qualifying law degree and the PCLL remain the baseline for any Hong Kong training contract, Fangda's included.
What does Fangda Partners' Hong Kong office specialise in?
Acting as PRC counsel when a mainland Chinese company lists on the HKEX, alongside international debt and panda bonds, cross-border M&A, and a serious dispute resolution and arbitration team. Chambers has ranked its Hong Kong capital markets team for 14 straight years.