Mayer Brown

The Hong Kong practice

What does Mayer Brown's Hong Kong office actually do?

For sixteen years the Mayer Brown name in Hong Kong meant Mayer Brown JSM, the 2008 combination of the US firm with Johnson Stokes & Master, a full-service local practice founded in Hong Kong in 1863. That is no longer how it works. On 2 December 2024 the two sides separated. Johnson Stokes & Master reverted to an independent Hong Kong firm (Legal Cheek and Law.asia put it at roughly 128 lawyers and 45 partners across Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing), and Mayer Brown Hong Kong LLP was set up as a separate office of more than 20 lawyers, led by capital markets partner Tom Kollar and aligned to the firm's international strategy.

So the office you are applying to now is deliberately narrow. Mayer Brown lists its Hong Kong focus as capital markets, M&A, finance, projects and infrastructure, insurance, energy, and IP and cybersecurity. The engine is debt capital markets. The Hong Kong team acts for the investment banks and issuers behind cross-border bonds across Asia and the emerging markets: sovereigns, financial institutions, structured and high-yield deals, and liability-management work. Legal 500 ranks it in the third tier for Hong Kong debt capital markets and lists clients including Bank of China and Prologis. This is not the HKEX-IPO machine that the Magic Circle offices run. It is an international-platform office built around US and English-law debt work.

For a would-be trainee, that shapes what you would touch and how much of it there is. A seat close to the capital markets team would put you on bond mechanics: verification, conditions-precedent checklists, drafting ancillary documents, and sitting on working-group calls with banks and trustees. The flip side is honesty about scale. A 20-plus lawyer office is a fraction of the old Mayer Brown JSM, and the large, traditional Hong Kong training operation went with JSM, which matters for how you plan your applications below.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2026

How does The Legal 500 rank Mayer Brown in Hong Kong?

The current Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2026 guide ranks the firm’s Hong Kong practice across 7 practice areas. Open any area below to see the corresponding Legal 500 table and editorial.

• Tier 2Aviation finance ↗; Data protection and cyber security ↗; Intellectual property ↗
• Tier 3Banking and finance ↗; Capital markets (debt) ↗; Structured finance and securitisation ↗; TMT ↗

These are third-party market rankings, not recruitment rankings. The tables can change with each edition; this summary was checked on 23 September 2026.

Hong Kong recruitment

How do you get into Mayer Brown Hong Kong?

Recruitment update — 23 September 2026: Mayer Brown’s current students and graduates site lists programmes in the Americas and Europe. We did not find a published Hong Kong student scheme or training-contract timetable. Check the current careers site for new openings and confirm the location of any programme before applying.

Mayer Brown Hong Kong LLP and Johnson Stokes & Master have operated separately since December 2024. JSM runs its own Hong Kong graduate recruitment. An application to JSM is therefore a separate application to a different firm.

For Mayer Brown, use an advertised vacancy or the firm’s recruiting contacts to establish whether there is a suitable entry-level role. A London vacation-scheme timetable, salary or assessment format does not establish the terms of a Hong Kong position. Prepare around the Hong Kong office’s capital markets, finance, insurance and cross-border transactional work, and explain the qualification route you are pursuing.

Recent matters worth knowing

Which recent deals has Mayer Brown's Hong Kong office run?

Mayer Brown's public Hong Kong record splits in two: the reorganisation that redrew what the office is, and the debt capital markets deals that show what it does. Know the split first, then know one or two of the deals well enough to talk about them.

1. Pacific Life Re's first Hong Kong asset-intensive reinsurance transactionSeptember 2026

   Mayer Brown advised Pacific Life Re on a completed transaction covering a block of whole-of-life liabilities written by a pan-Asian insurer. Hong Kong partner Allison Lee worked with the firm's US and London teams. It is a useful current example of the reconstituted Hong Kong office's cross-border insurance work. Official source ↗

2. HK managing partner named Dealmaker of the YearSep 2025

   Tom Kollar, who leads Mayer Brown Hong Kong LLP, was named Dealmaker of the Year at the 2025 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards, and the firm was recognised in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific awards the same year. A signal that the reconstituted office is still winning high-end cross-border mandates. Source ↗

3. Mayer Brown separates from JSM in Hong KongDec 2024

   Mayer Brown split its Hong Kong operation into two firms: Mayer Brown Hong Kong LLP, a focused office of more than 20 lawyers aligned to the firm's international strategy, and Johnson Stokes & Master, which reverted to an independent full-service Hong Kong firm. The single most important thing to understand before you apply. Source ↗ Law.asia ↗

4. Republic of Indonesia US$2.05bn global bondJan 2024

   The Hong Kong debt capital markets team acted for the joint lead managers on Indonesia's US$2.05bn three-tranche SEC-registered bond, reported as the first Asian sovereign bond issue of 2024. Source ↗

5. Shriram Finance US$750m senior secured notesJan 2024

   The office advised Shriram Finance, the Indian non-bank lender, on its US$750m 6.625% senior secured notes under a US$3.5bn medium-term note programme, with the order book roughly four times covered. Source ↗

6. Mongolian Mortgage Corp liability managementJan 2024

   The team represented Mongolian Mortgage Corporation and MIK Holding on an exchange offer for their 2024 notes and a concurrent US$225m issue of 11.5% senior notes due 2027, the kind of structured liability-management work the office is built for. Source ↗

Interview & selection intel

What does the Mayer Brown Hong Kong selection process look like?

We did not find a current, separately published Hong Kong graduate assessment process. Confirm the stages, eligibility and any tests with the recruiter for the specific vacancy.

For preparation, be able to explain why the present Mayer Brown Hong Kong practice appeals to you, discuss a recent bond, financing or insurance transaction, and distinguish its work from the independent JSM practice. These are preparation suggestions, not a confirmed interview script.

How to stand out

How do you stand out for Mayer Brown Hong Kong?

Because the firm hires on an online reasoning stage and an assessment day rather than an internship, your edge is a capital-markets-specific application, a cleared reasoning gate, and structure under pressure. Here is where to put your preparation.

• 1Make the written application specific to Mayer Brown's capital markets identity. This is a debt capital markets and finance office, not a general-service giant, so a form that engages with Asian bond markets and cross-border deals reads as commercial rather than generic. The Law Firm Application Academy shows how to evidence real commercial motivation instead of listing tasks.

• 2Prepare for the actual vacancy. Check its qualification and language requirements, then follow the assessment instructions you receive. General reasoning practice can be useful, but we have not verified a Hong Kong Watson Glaser or immersive-assessment stage.

• 3Rehearse the assessment day and interview under pressure. A written test, a group exercise and a strengths-based interview all reward people who stay structured and commercial when challenged. Knowing how firms mark case studies tells you what the written work is graded on; drill it in the Online Case Study Centre and the Mock Assessment Centre, then pressure-test your answers with in-person coaching.

Quick answers

Mayer Brown Hong Kong, in five questions