US firm
Morrison Foerster
A US firm that has run its Hong Kong office since 1983, working private equity, M&A and capital markets deals for Chinese and cross-border clients, with two four-week summer sessions feeding a two-year Hong Kong training contract.
- Category
- US firm
- Origin
- San Francisco, founded 1883
- HK presence
- Opened 1983, the firm's first office outside the US; around 38 lawyers as of 2024, after Beijing closed into Hong Kong and Shanghai
- HK strengths
- Private equity & M&A, capital markets, investment funds, dispute resolution
The Hong Kong practice
What does Morrison Foerster's Hong Kong office actually do?
Morrison Foerster opened in Hong Kong in March 1983, its first office outside the United States, and the firm marked 40 years in Asia in 2023. Source ↗ In 2024 it announced the closure of its Beijing office as the lease expired, folding that work into Hong Kong and Shanghai instead. At the time of the move, reporting put the Hong Kong office at around 38 lawyers against 12 in Shanghai, making Hong Kong the larger and senior of the firm's two remaining Greater China bases. Source ↗
The office is built on private equity, M&A and capital markets. Legal 500 ranks the Hong Kong team across private equity, corporate M&A, investment funds, TMT and tax. Source ↗ Global private equity co-chair Marcia Ellis leads work for clients including Ally Bridge Group, PAG, Macquarie and Hony Capital, and corporate partner Xiaoxi Lin joined from Linklaters in January 2025 to deepen the private equity and M&A bench. The client base leans toward technology, life sciences and data-centre investors. Source ↗ On the strength of that work, the Asia private equity practice was named Private Equity International's Asia-Pacific Law Firm of the Year for Transactions for a second consecutive year, announced in 2026, off more than 70 matters worth a combined US$223.4bn. Source ↗
Litigation sits alongside the deal work. Benchmark Litigation's 2026 Asia-Pacific guide recognises the firm across ten dispute resolution and litigation categories spanning Hong Kong, China, Japan and Singapore, and names Hong Kong partner Timothy Blakely a litigation star for commercial and white-collar work. Source ↗ For a trainee, that mix means seats that run from live private equity and M&A deals to capital markets work to contentious matters, inside an office small enough that a trainee sits close to partners rather than behind several layers of associates.
Trainee & vacation scheme programme
How do you get into Morrison Foerster Hong Kong?
There are two public ways into the Hong Kong training contract. Most students start with the summer internship: two four-week sessions, one in June and one in July, capped at six students each on the firm's live careers page. It is aimed at penultimate- and final-year law students heading toward the PCLL and a Hong Kong training contract, interns sit on real client matters with an associate mentor, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis rather than against one fixed deadline. The firm says completing the internship first is strongly preferred but not a hard requirement before applying for a training contract directly.
The training contract itself runs two years across four six-month seats, and the firm's careers page is specific about the shape: every trainee sits in capital markets, M&A/private equity and litigation, with a final repeated seat guided by preference, plus the option of a three-month secondment to an international office. Contracts start every September. Source ↗ The firm does not publish a Hong Kong trainee intake number; the internship cap of six students a session is the honest guide to scale. Trainees get PCLL exam and course fees covered, a stipend during study, and what the firm describes as a joining salary highly competitive with the other premier firms in the market. Source ↗
On selection, the firm is explicit about two things: a strong academic record (a 2:1 degree or roughly a 3.3 GPA from a well-regarded university) and genuine bilingual or trilingual ability, with reading and writing Chinese called out specifically given how cross-border the work is. Beyond that, MoFo's own recruiting language talks about wanting drive, a "can-do attitude" and an entrepreneurial streak, which reads as firm-speak for wanting people who are comfortable with a leaner team and more early responsibility than a larger competitor would give a junior.
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, so check the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of trusting last year's date. If you land the summer internship, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert it into an offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has Morrison Foerster'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 strongest: private equity, M&A and cross-border capital markets.
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A Paradise Acquisition Corp.'s US$1.2bn de-SPAC with EnhancedMay 2026
A Hong Kong-led M&A and private equity team, headed by partner Xiaoxi Lin, advised A Paradise Acquisition Corp. on completing its business combination with sports-performance company Enhanced Ltd., taking the combined business onto the NYSE as Enhanced Group Inc. Source ↗
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Blue Pool Capital leads the AUBL Series A roundApril 2026
The firm advised Hong Kong-based Blue Pool Capital, the investment vehicle tied to Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai's family office, as lead investor in a Series A round for the Asian University Basketball League, alongside Hong Kong's Nan Fung Group and other investors. Source ↗
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CPE's US$350m Burger King China joint ventureNovember 2025
MoFo advised Asia-based alternative asset manager CPE on its joint venture with Restaurant Brands International to take over and grow Burger King's China business, with CPE injecting US$350m of new capital for roughly an 83% stake. The Hong Kong-led deal was later named a China Business Law Journal 2025 Deal of the Year. Source ↗ Award ↗
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A Paradise Acquisition Corp.'s US$200m Nasdaq IPOJuly 2025
MoFo acted as the company's US counsel on the Nasdaq listing of A Paradise Acquisition Corp., a Hong Kong-based blank-check company, which priced its IPO to raise US$200m. Source ↗ PR Newswire ↗
Insider tip
Deals like these are the raw material of a Morrison Foerster 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 Morrison Foerster Hong Kong selection process look like?
Morrison Foerster publishes very little about its Hong Kong interview format, and no candidate-review site has built up the kind of detailed, stage-by-stage account that exists for the Magic Circle firms. What is public points to a simpler front door than a Magic Circle assessment centre: a CV, transcript and cover letter submitted online, then reviewed and interviewed on a rolling basis rather than against a single fixed deadline.
Treat everything past that as unconfirmed, and prepare for what a leaner US firm's Hong Kong office tends to test. Expect a conversation more than a set-piece exam: why a US firm rather than a Magic Circle or local firm, why Hong Kong, and whether you can talk with some fluency about the private equity and M&A work the office is known for. Because the office runs lean, interviewers are also listening for whether you would hold up under real client contact early, not just whether you can pass a written test. 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 Morrison Foerster Hong Kong?
With no long online form or psychometric funnel, a lean written application and a real conversation about the office's deal work carry most of the decision. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Treat the written application as the main event. There is no long online form or psychometric funnel here, so a CV, transcript and cover letter are doing all the work of getting you an interview, and every line needs to earn its place. Avoid the top mistakes on HK applications and build that case in the Law Firm Application Academy.
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2Be able to talk about a Hong Kong private equity or M&A deal, not just an IPO. This office is built on PE, M&A and capital markets for Chinese and cross-border clients, so know a recent matter, like the CPE/Burger King China joint venture, well enough to explain who was involved and why it happened. Build that reasoning in the Online Case Study Centre and keep current with the Weekly News Digest.
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3Make your bilingual ability and your reasoning visible under pressure. Reading and writing Chinese is called out explicitly in what the firm wants, and a leaner team means interviewers are testing whether you can hold a real conversation, not just deliver a rehearsed answer. Pressure-test it with in-person coaching or the Mock Assessment Centre before you're in the room.
Quick answers
Morrison Foerster Hong Kong, in five questions
How many trainees does Morrison Foerster take in Hong Kong?
The firm does not publish a Hong Kong trainee intake number. The pipeline is set by the summer internship, two four-week sessions capped at six students each, and new training contracts start every September.
How do you get a training contract at Morrison Foerster Hong Kong?
There are two public routes. Most students start with the summer internship: two four-week sessions, one in June and one in July, capped at six students each on the firm's careers page. The firm says completing the internship first is strongly preferred but not a hard requirement before applying for a training contract directly.
Does Morrison Foerster Hong Kong use the Watson Glaser test?
No. What is public points to a simpler front door than a Magic Circle assessment centre: a CV, transcript and cover letter submitted online, then reviewed and interviewed on a rolling basis. There is no long online form or psychometric funnel here.
What does the Morrison Foerster training contract look like?
It runs two years across four six-month seats: every trainee sits in capital markets, M&A/private equity and litigation, with a final repeated seat guided by preference, plus the option of a three-month overseas secondment. Contracts start every September, and trainees get PCLL exam and course fees covered, a stipend during study, and a joining salary the firm describes as highly competitive with other premier firms in the market.
What does Morrison Foerster look for in Hong Kong applicants?
A strong academic record (a 2:1 degree or roughly a 3.3 GPA from a well-regarded university) and genuine bilingual or trilingual ability, with reading and writing Chinese called out specifically. The firm also talks about wanting drive, a can-do attitude and an entrepreneurial streak.