Hong Kong Internship & Trainee Programs

Established in 1994 and located in Asia Pacific’s financial hub, Sidley’s Hong Kong office offers a fully integrated service to international, regional and local clients. Our team includes more than 100 legal professionals who are qualified to practice Hong Kong, English, United States, Singapore and Australian law. Our lawyers speak fluent Cantonese, Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, Korean, Tagalog and Bahasa Malaysian, as well as English.

We have a strong capital markets practice in Hong Kong focusing on public and private offerings in debt and equity securities. Our corporate finance team is one of the largest and most active in Hong Kong in terms of listings on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. We also have a well-regarded debt capital markets practice, including a top-tier high-yield debt practice. Our investment funds team is recognized as a leader in the industry and has worked on a number of groundbreaking transactions.

Our litigation team has been consistently ranked among the top contentious practices in Hong Kong and acts on commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, and provides advice on regulatory and compliance issues, including those related to privacy, data protection, payments and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We have also been involved with significant mergers and acquisitions as well as restructuring, real estate, energy, life sciences, project finance and structured finance transactions throughout Asia Pacific.

During winter and summer we run various internship sessions aiming to attract the right talent for our trainee program. Our internship program is designed to provide law students in their penultimate year of university with a window into Sidley’s practice and culture.

As an intern, you will meet lawyers from different practice groups and participate in activities that will broaden your understanding of the work we do in Hong Kong and firmwide. You will be engaged in real legal work, such as conducting research or due diligence, or drafting memoranda or agreements under the guidance of our lawyers. Through hands-on participation you get to observe how Sidley lawyers help solve problems and create opportunities for our clients.

Our two-year trainee program features seats in three or four different practice groups. You may gain experience in the following areas: capital markets, M&A and private equity, investment funds, international finance, dispute resolution, energy, project finance, life sciences, and regulatory and compliance.

You will be assigned mentors at both the partner and associate levels, ensuring that you receive individual training and multi-tiered feedback. As part of your development, you will attend various training seminars approved for Continuing Professional Development credits issued by The Law Society of Hong Kong. In addition, we provide financial assistance to take the PCLL courses and exams.

We aim to provide our trainees with great exposure and the opportunity to build a career at Sidley for the long term.

For more details, please read our graduate recruitment brochure.

We’re looking for people who are bright, with outstanding academic qualifications. You’ll need to have, or be anticipating, at least a 2.1 degree or equivalent in law. Beyond pure academic ability, we’re looking for people who are genuinely intrigued by the commercial world, can work well with others and get on well with clients. You must be able to demonstrate a strong ability to analyze and learn, and have perseverance and initiative. Fluency in both English and Mandarin is a prerequisite.

Our 2024 Summer Intern application is open now. Please apply online at https://graduate-sidleyapac.icims.com on or before 31 December 2023. For those who are interested in our 2023 Winter Internship Program, please apply on or before 31 October 2023. The assessment process will be on rolling basis. Candidates will need to complete our internship as part of the training contract application.

If you have any questions, please contact hkgraduaterecruitment@sidley.com.