UK & International
HFW
Holman Fenwick Willan is Hong Kong's shipping and aviation heavyweight — in the city since 1978, Band 1 for shipping litigation, and running winter and summer vacation schemes you apply to by email.
- Category
- UK & International
- Origin
- London; operating in Hong Kong since 1978
- HK presence
- Largest office outside London — 17 partners, 40 lawyers at its 2025 move to Alexandra House
- HK strengths
- Shipping, aviation, commodities, construction, insurance disputes
The Hong Kong practice
What does HFW's Hong Kong office actually do?
HFW is a sector firm, not a general commercial firm — and the sectors are the point: shipping, aviation, commodities, construction, energy and insurance. It has been operating in Hong Kong since 1978, and the office anchors a Greater China team of around 80 lawyers across Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Chambers Greater China 2026 ranks the firm Band 1 for shipping litigation, with further rankings in aviation finance, construction, contentious insurance, shipping finance and litigation, and The Legal 500 puts its Hong Kong shipping practice in Tier 1.
The firm's own description of trainee life is unusually concrete, and worth quoting because it doubles as a work-type checklist: you could find yourself assisting with the financing arrangements for a new aircraft, working on a cross-border fraud or insolvency case, arresting a ship, or attending an international commodities arbitration or a construction dispute mediation. Very few Hong Kong firms can honestly promise a trainee a ship arrest.
That focus should shape your decision. If you want IPOs and M&A league tables, look elsewhere. If the physical economy — vessels, aircraft, cargoes, building sites and the insurance behind all of them — actually interests you, HFW offers market-leading work in a genuinely distinctive niche, with the chance of secondment to one of its international offices.
Vacation schemes & training contract
How do you get into HFW Hong Kong?
Two doors, both wide open: HFW runs winter and summer vacation schemes in Hong Kong every year, and every scheme student is guaranteed an interview for the training contract. You can also apply for a training contract directly without doing a scheme — the firm is currently recruiting trainees for contracts commencing in 2028. Applications go by email, not portal.
- Route inWinter or summer vacation scheme, or a direct training-contract application. The 2026 winter scheme ran 5–16 January (deadline 31 October 2025); the 2026 summer scheme ran in three two-week batches — 1–12 June, 15–26 June and 29 June–10 July (deadline 28 February 2026).
- The guaranteeAll vacation scheme students are guaranteed a training-contract interview — the scheme is the highest-percentage route in.
- How to applyEmail your CV, covering letter and academic transcripts — university transcript AND HKDSE/IB certificate — to hk.graduates@hfw.com. First-year JD students can send transcripts as soon as first-semester results arrive. Details on the HFW Hong Kong early careers page.
- What they wantStrong academics and analytical skills, enthusiasm, and a passion for law and commerce. Mandarin is desirable but not essential — rare among Hong Kong international firms.
- MoneyA competitive salary and benefits package, plus a contribution towards your PCLL studies.
Watch out
HFW asks for your HKDSE or IB certificate alongside your university transcript — the single most commonly forgotten document in email applications, and an avoidable reason to be screened out. Dates above are the 2026-cycle references; check the current windows on the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker before you send anything.
Recent news worth knowing
Which recent HFW Hong Kong moves should you know about?
Shipping and insurance disputes rarely come with press releases naming the client, so HFW's public trail is about growth and rankings. The pattern is easy to read — and easy to use in an interview: this is a firm investing in Hong Kong while others shrink.
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A 22,000 sq ft bet on Hong Kong: the move to Alexandra HouseFebruary 2025
After almost three decades in its old premises, HFW took two floors — around 22,000 square feet — in Central's Alexandra House. Hong Kong managing partner Peter Murphy put it plainly: "We have ambitious growth plans in Hong Kong", with the office at 17 partners and 40 lawyers. Firms cutting back do not sign leases like this. Source ↗
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Band 1 for shipping litigation in Greater China2026 guide
Chambers Greater China 2026 ranks HFW Band 1 for shipping litigation, alongside rankings in aviation finance, construction, contentious insurance, shipping finance and litigation — six ranked departments and ten ranked lawyers across the region. Source ↗
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Tier 1 for shipping in The Legal 500 Hong Kong2026 guide
The Legal 500 keeps HFW's Hong Kong shipping team in Tier 1, led by Henry Fung, covering charterparties, shipbuilding and carriage contracts as well as wet work — collisions, groundings and pollution claims. Learn what a charterparty dispute actually is before interview and you are ahead of most of the field. Source ↗
Insider tip
HFW interviews reward sector fluency: freight rates, sanctions on cargoes, airline restructurings. Build the habit with our commercial awareness guide, and the Weekly News Digest breaks down one Hong Kong story a week and tells you what to actually say about it.
Interview & selection intel
What does the HFW Hong Kong selection process look like?
The published process is deliberately simple: a complete email application — CV, covering letter, transcripts including your HKDSE or IB certificate — then the firm screens and shortlists the candidates who best meet its requirements. There is no online testing gauntlet, no video-interview stage, no games-based assessment on the public record.
That simplicity changes where the competition happens. With no test scores to hide behind, the covering letter carries unusual weight: it is your only chance to prove you understand what a sector firm does before someone decides whether to meet you. A letter that could have been sent to any commercial firm is a rejection; one that talks intelligently about shipping, aviation or commodities work gets read twice.
For scheme students, the guaranteed training-contract interview means the two weeks in the office are the real assessment — how you handle tasks, ask questions and behave in a small, tight-knit team. Our guides to the Hong Kong vacation scheme interview and how to shine during your vacation scheme cover both halves of that equation.
How to stand out
How do you stand out for HFW Hong Kong?
Because the application is an email and the assessment is the scheme itself, your edge comes from a flawless document set, a genuinely sector-literate covering letter, and performing calmly once you are in the building. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Send a complete, sector-specific application. Attach every document — including the HKDSE/IB certificate almost everyone forgets — and write a letter about HFW's actual work, not "international exposure". Run it against our top mistakes on HK applications first; the Law Firm Application Academy drills the covering-letter craft line by line.
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2Learn the sectors before you arrive. You do not need to be a mariner, but you should know why a ship gets arrested, what a charterparty is and why insurers sit behind every HFW matter. Practise applying that thinking to real problems in the Online Case Study Centre, and pressure-test yourself in the Mock Assessment Centre.
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3Treat the scheme as a two-week interview with a guaranteed final round at the end of it. How you take feedback, handle unfamiliar sector work and hold a conversation over coffee all count. One-to-one coaching is the fastest way to fix the habits that lose offers.
Quick answers
HFW Hong Kong, in five questions
Does HFW run a vacation scheme in Hong Kong?
Yes — two of them. HFW offers winter and summer vacation schemes each year in Hong Kong. For the 2026 cycle, the winter scheme ran 5 to 16 January 2026 (deadline 31 October 2025) and the summer scheme ran in three two-week batches across June and July 2026 (deadline 28 February 2026).
How do you apply to HFW Hong Kong?
By email. Send your CV, a covering letter and your academic transcripts — the university transcript and your HKDSE or IB certificate — to hk.graduates@hfw.com. The secondary-school certificate is the document applicants most often forget, and an incomplete application is an easy one to screen out.
Does the HFW vacation scheme lead to a training contract?
Every vacation scheme student is guaranteed an interview for the training contract, and you can also apply for a training contract directly without doing a scheme. HFW Hong Kong is currently recruiting trainee solicitors for training contracts commencing in 2028, and contributes towards trainees' PCLL studies.
Do you need Mandarin for HFW Hong Kong?
No — it helps, but it is not a filter. HFW says it looks for strong academics and analytical skills, enthusiasm and a passion for law and commerce, and that Mandarin language skills are desirable but not essential. That makes HFW rarer than most Hong Kong international firms, many of which require written Chinese.
What does HFW's Hong Kong office actually do?
Sector work: shipping, aviation, commodities, construction and insurance. HFW has been in Hong Kong since 1978, holds the Band 1 ranking for shipping litigation in Chambers Greater China 2026 and Tier 1 for shipping in The Legal 500, and Hong Kong is its largest office outside London, with 17 partners and 40 lawyers at the time of its 2025 office move.