Trainees

Recruitment process

We start our trainee solicitor recruitment process normally around the end of the year for the following year's intake. Selected candidates will be invited for first interview with the recruitment partner. Candidates short-listed from the first interview will be invited to attend a second interview to meet a recruitment panel comprising partners of major departments of the Firm. Offer to a successful candidate would be conditional on him/her passing the PCLL examination on first attempt.

What kind of training will a trainee solicitor receive?

The Firm offers a comprehensive training programme to trainee solicitors. A trainee will be rotated to work in at least our three major departments, namely, conveyancing, corporate and commercial and litigation. Our PRC practice is part of our corporate and commercial department.

At WKLL, our trainees will gain exposure to a wide range of cases and transactions at different departments. Either working under a partner's direct supervision or as a team with a solicitor, the work exposure of trainees depends on the size and nature of individual cases or transactions. From teamwork or under direct supervision, trainee solicitors will be able to acquire, amongst other things, the relevant legal skills and knowledge, problem-solving techniques and the way team spirit works. In a team, division of labour is employed in which trainees will be assigned specific tasks. Throughout an entire project, however, junior members of a team will have opportunities to pick up skills applied by senior team members. We expect our trainee solicitors to exhibit enthusiasm, initiative and commitment in their participation of the projects in which they are involved. Creative ideas within the legal framework are also encouraged.

Most trainees will be involved in some China work in the course of their training, particularly during the time they will spend in our corporate and commercial department. Although we do not currently post our trainees to our Beijing office for a fixed period of time, most trainees will travel to various parts of Mainland China from time to time to work on transactions involving companies, businesses and other investments of our PRC clients and non-PRC clients.

What are the kinds of work a trainee will get involved in?

Trainees will be involved in various nature of works including meeting with lay clients, on occasions in the presence of other professional parties, to take client's instructions as well as to provide preliminary legal advice and/or to participate in negotiation on client's behalf during meetings. We consider it an important aspect of our training through which our trainees will see and learn for themselves our interactions with lay clients and with professionals acting for the other parties. These practical experiences will interest those who are aspired to be shrewd and capable legal adviser acting as negotiator on client's behalf.

As our trainee solicitor, you will not just be a spectator. In the office, our trainees will benefit from the learning opportunities in assignments of drafting and commenting on legal documents. We expect our trainee solicitors to be eager learners and responsible team players who are ready to contribute their thoughts and knowledge to the team as a whole with diligence and care. From the experience, trainees will be able to acquaint themselves with the unique features of each project as well as other considerations, which may be taken into account when advising clients.

Your senior colleagues of the firm are ready to listen to and discuss with you your views on client-related legal issues in question. We expect our trainee members to be prompt, responsive and intellectually capable in conducting research independently under the guidance of senior members of the firm. We consider it a vital part of our training since legal research involves organizational skills in terms of synthesizing and analysing issues of complexity. It also forms the basis on which solutions to legal problems are formulated.

Offer of employment

Offer of post-admission employment with the Firm is dependent on the trainee's performance and the Firm's requirement at the time.

How to apply?

Applicants should send their curriculum vitae and contact information to the 'Partner in charge of Trainee Solicitors recruitment' either in writing or by E-mail.