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Background | Practice | Clerkship Review | Clerkship Review 2

Background

JSM is one of Asia 's leading law firms offers first class legal advice on commercial issues throughout the region to an international and domestic client base. Founded in 1863, JSM has offices in Hong Kong, Mainland China , Thailand and Vietnam .

With over 200 lawyers qualified in Hong Kong and international jurisdictions, JSM offers a broad spectrum of legal services and it is considered as the biggest officer in term of no. of people among all law firms in Hong Kong.

Site: http://www.jsm.com

Practice:

Aviation, Banking & Finance, Company Secretarial Services, Construction, Corporate and Commercial, Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency, E-Business, Employment & Employee Benefits, Environmental, Financial Services, Hospitality & Leisure, Insurance & Professional Indemnity, Intellectual Property, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Private Client/Tax, Private Equity, Project Finance, Property, Shipping & Marine Insurance, Shipping Projects & Finance, Technology & Communications

No. of clerkship and trainees intake per year (if appropriate):

Around 40 interns and 10 trainees

Position(s) of the clerk being interviewed:

Construction

Insurance

Job description:

• Legal research
• Compiling briefs
• Drafting emails and letters of advice to clients in both Chinese and English
• Court attendance

Interview tips:

General interview tips for all law firms:

• Don’t lie. HRs can tell when you’re lying. Just tell the truth, your future employers will appreciate that.
• Be confident
• Have a big smile on your face

Comments:

I had a lot of fun during my time at JSM. The trainees, lawyers and partners are friendly and there appeared to be very few conflicts between the people there. I made a lot of great friends within the firm and also with people from other firms through the other interns and trainees. In terms of the work, I was given a fair amount of work with reasonable deadlines so that I was never idle, but at the same time, I never had to overwork myself. As part of the internship program, we all had to do an individual presentation. At first, I was a bit concerned about getting up and speaking in front of the partners, lawyers and trainees in the firm, but it turned out to be an invaluable experience, and the amount of work involved was not so great that it interfered with my day-to-day work.

Position(s) of the clerk being interviewed:
Professional Support/Litigation

Job description:

• Completing research for supervising partner and other solicitors

• Searching for and applying legislation

• Preparing bundles/files for court

• Maintaining and creating data/standard forms/precedents for company information management system

• Individual research essay and presentation to firm partners and solicitors

Interview tips:

• Speak clearly and confidently during phone interviews

• Think carefully about what differentiates you from the one hundred other interviewees, so scrutinize and evaluate yourself to identify your individual strengths and points of differentiation

• Promote your strengths and communicate these clearly, repeating if necessary b/c it is more difficult to communicate via phone interviews (due to lack of body language and other non-verbal forms of expression and reaction)

• Try to make phone interviews as interactive and responsive as possible, so that your interviewer is comfortable speaking to you (as opposed to bored or impatient)

• Research the firm thoroughly before the interview so that you can articulate why you want to work at that particular firm and how it stands out from others

• Sound genuinely enthusiastic about and interested in the firm you are speaking to and ask insightful questions

• Talk about any previous related work experience you may have had, language skills, or previous leadership roles

Comments:

• Don’t get depressed if you are not accepted, as it may simply be that the particular firm is not suitable for you. Rather, reflect on how perhaps you could have improved on your interview responses, learn from these mistakes for later interviews and then move on to concentrate on future employment opportunities

• Don’t compare yourself to other people or your friends: everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and each firm looks for different types of people