US firm
White & Case
A US firm in Hong Kong since 1978, built on cross-border debt, private equity and disputes work, whose summer and winter internships feed a two-year training contract with a guaranteed six-month seat in an overseas White & Case office.
- Category
- US firm
- Origin
- New York, founded 1901
- HK presence
- In Hong Kong since 1978; part of an 80+ lawyer Greater China platform (Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai)
- HK strengths
- Debt capital markets & high-yield, banking & finance, M&A & private equity, projects, disputes & arbitration
The Hong Kong practice
What does White & Case's Hong Kong office actually do?
White & Case opened in Hong Kong in 1978, among the first international firms to plant a flag in the region, and the office has been its foothold in Greater China ever since. Today Hong Kong anchors a platform of more than 80 lawyers and legal professionals across Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, practising US, English and Hong Kong law from the same base. The office is built on cross-border debt capital markets and high-yield, banking and leveraged finance, private equity and investment funds, projects and energy, and a substantial disputes and international arbitration practice. It is less an IPO-sponsor shop than a firm you call when the money, or the fight, crosses a border.
That shows in the rankings and the client list. Chambers ranks the Greater China practice across corporate and M&A, energy and natural resources, investment funds and private equity, and projects and infrastructure; Legal 500 ranks the Hong Kong office for debt capital markets, corporate, funds, restructuring, and structured finance. The clients are Chinese and Asian corporates and financial sponsors, international investment banks, private equity houses, and development-finance institutions. On a single mandate a team will routinely run across Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, London and New York, which is the point of the office rather than a footnote.
For a trainee, that spread sets the work. Seats reach across debt finance, capital markets, M&A and private equity, funds and dispute resolution, and because the office is lean relative to the size of its deals, juniors get real responsibility early. In a finance or capital markets seat you sit close to a live bond or loan: due diligence, verification, drafting ancillary documents and building conditions-precedent checklists. In a corporate seat you run data rooms and diligence on an acquisition; in disputes you support HKIAC and ICC arbitration teams. And every Hong Kong trainee spends six months in another White & Case office abroad, so you practise the cross-border model rather than just reading about it.
Trainee & internship programme
How do you get into White & Case Hong Kong?
The route in is the internship, and the firm is blunt about it: White & Case fills its Hong Kong training-contract places through its internship programmes, and it tells applicants to apply for an internship in order to be considered for a trainee role. Source ↗ It runs summer and winter internships in the Hong Kong office, each around four weeks, aimed at law students who are fluent in Mandarin and want to qualify in Hong Kong. Interns take on real client tasks alongside a trainee or associate, sit in on client meetings, and can work on pro bono matters. You apply through an online application form rather than a long psychometric funnel, and the live dates sit on the firm’s Hong Kong early-careers hub.
The training contract is where the firm's pitch lives. It runs two years across four six-month seats: three in Hong Kong and one guaranteed six-month seat in another White & Case office overseas. The firm frames the destination as another office in Asia-Pacific, London or the Middle East, and while you are away it helps you relocate, keeps a dedicated supervisor and the same level of personal training in place, and pays a cost-of-living salary adjustment. Source ↗ Qualification is as a Hong Kong solicitor through the PCLL, and intake is small, so treat the internship as the real gate rather than a nice-to-have.
On selection, the firm is consistent about what it wants: ambitious trainees who want hands-on work from day one, an understanding of international commercial issues, and a genuine interest in cross-border work. Given the China-facing client base, Mandarin (spoken and written) is a real asset and is effectively expected on the internship route.
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, and White & Case runs its Hong Kong internships on its own summer and winter timetable, so check the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of last year's date. If you land a place, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert an internship into a training-contract offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has White & Case's Hong Kong office run?
These are the matters the Hong Kong office has publicly led or advised on, and they cluster where it is strongest: cross-border high-yield and debt, private equity financings and US securities work. They are the raw material for a good interview answer.
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Jio Platforms' proposed IPO, India's largest to dateJun 2026
White & Case is advising the bookrunning lead managers on the proposed Rule 144A and Regulation S IPO of Jio Platforms, the Reliance telecoms and digital arm that filed its draft prospectus in June 2026 and is reported as on track to be India's largest listing ever, at up to around US$3.8bn. The team includes Hong Kong local partner James Hsiao and Hong Kong counsel Royston Tan, a clean read on the office's US securities and equity capital markets reach across the region. Source ↗
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Wynn Macau's US$1bn senior notesAug 2025
White & Case acted as US counsel to Deutsche Bank's Singapore branch and 17 other banks, as initial purchasers, on Wynn Macau's US$1bn 6.750% senior notes due 2034, a Rule 144A and Regulation S high-yield offering by the Hong Kong-listed casino and resort operator that completed in August 2025. Source ↗
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Greentown China's US$500m notes and tender offerFeb 2025
White & Case advised Hong Kong-listed developer Greentown China Holdings on its US$500m 8.45% senior guaranteed notes due 2028 and a concurrent offer to buy back its 4.7% and 5.65% notes due 2025, reported as the first large-scale debt offering by a major Chinese property developer since 2023. Source ↗
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DayOne's Series A data-centre financingMar 2024
White & Case acted for the international data-centre business of Nasdaq- and Hong Kong-listed GDS Holdings (then GDSI, now DayOne Data Centers) on its Series A financing, which raised about US$587m in convertible preferred shares from investors including Hillhouse and Boyu Capital. China Business Law Journal named it a 2024 Deal of the Year for private equity and venture capital. Source ↗
Insider tip
Deals like these only help you if you can say what they mean: learn the framework in our commercial awareness guide. Weekly breakdowns of deals exactly like these, what happened, why it happened, and how to use it in an interview, are what the paid Weekly News Digest delivers.
Interview & selection intel
What does the White & Case Hong Kong selection process look like?
White & Case publishes less about its Hong Kong hiring than a Magic Circle firm does, and there is no public assessment-centre format to reverse-engineer. The front door is an online application form for the internship. Worth knowing: the firm does not use the Watson Glaser test. Its published UK process runs an application, a video interview and a face-to-face interview, and Hong Kong candidates report a recorded video interview as the first round, so rehearse talking to a camera rather than drilling verbal-reasoning papers.
On the interview itself, candidate accounts on Glassdoor describe partner interviews that are conversational and work through your CV in detail, with a Chinese-language element: some candidates report being asked to describe a legal case or scenario in Chinese. Difficulty is rated modestly, but conversational does not mean soft. At a US firm running lean teams on large cross-border deals, a partner is reading for judgement, commercial instinct and whether you actually understand what the office does. Expect the questions that follow from that: why a US firm rather than a UK or local one, why Hong Kong, why the guaranteed overseas seat and the cross-border model appeal to you, and whether you genuinely follow the debt, private equity and disputes stories that fill the office's work. 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 White & Case Hong Kong?
The firm screens on the written application before a lawyer meets you, and the internship is the real route to the training contract, so your edge comes from sharp paper, genuine cross-border deal knowledge, and any language advantage. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Win on the online application and CV. White & Case screens on the written application before a lawyer meets you, and the internship is the real route to the training contract, so the paper is the filter that matters. Every line has to pass the "So What" test: achievements and evidence of commercial motivation, not a list of modules and duties. Building that case is the core of the Law Firm Application Academy.
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2Talk about the office's real work: cross-border debt, private equity and disputes. This is not an IPO-sponsor shop, so walk in able to explain a recent high-yield bond or private equity financing cold: who was involved, why it happened, where the risk sat. It helps to know how firms mark case studies first. Build that structured deal analysis in the Online Case Study Centre, stay current through the Weekly News Digest, and rehearse full assessment days at the Mock Assessment Centre.
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3Rehearse the conversational partner interview out loud, and use any language edge. The interview rewards a precise answer to why a US firm, why Hong Kong and why the guaranteed overseas seat, and it punishes a generic one. If you have spoken and written Mandarin, make it visible, because it is effectively expected on the internship route and you may be asked to discuss a case in Chinese. Pressure-test all of it through in-person coaching before you sit in front of a partner.
Quick answers
White & Case Hong Kong, in five questions
How do you get a training contract at White & Case Hong Kong?
Through the internship programme. White & Case fills its Hong Kong training-contract places from its internships and tells applicants to apply for an internship in order to be considered for a trainee role. It runs summer and winter internships in the Hong Kong office, each around four weeks, and you apply through an online application form.
What does the White & Case Hong Kong training contract look like?
Two years across four six-month seats: three in Hong Kong and one guaranteed six-month seat in another White & Case office overseas. The firm frames the destination as another office in Asia-Pacific, London or the Middle East.
Does White & Case cover costs for the overseas seat?
It supports the move. The firm says it helps trainees relocate for the overseas seat, keeps a dedicated supervisor and the same level of personal training in place, and pays a cost-of-living salary adjustment while they are away. Confirm the current package with the early-careers team, because it is not published in full.
Does White & Case Hong Kong use the Watson Glaser test?
There is no Watson Glaser in the published process. The firm's UK route runs an application form, a video interview and a face-to-face interview, and the Hong Kong internship starts with an online application form. Candidates report a recorded video interview rather than a psychometric test, so rehearse speaking to camera instead of drilling verbal-reasoning papers.
What does White & Case look for in Hong Kong applicants?
Ambitious trainees who want hands-on work from day one, an understanding of international commercial issues, and a genuine interest in cross-border work. Given the China-facing client base, Mandarin is a real asset and is effectively expected on the internship route.