White & Case

How many partners and lawyers does your firm have?

In Australia, we have 50 lawyers and 17 partners across Sydney and Melbourne Globally we have over 2000 lawyers

How many clerks are you intending to take on this summer?

We offer winter clerkships in our Sydney office, dates adjusted for trimesters We offer Hong Kong winter internships in December and summer internships in July 2021 for students interested in being considered for a Hong Kong training contract in 2023

How many graduate lawyers did you take on this year?

10 across Melbourne & Sydney 3 trainees in Hong Kong

How does your firm embody the notions of social and corporate responsibility?

Global Citizenship describes our role—as a business and as individuals—as active participants in the global community.

White & Case is committed to fair and ethical operations that respect the interests of our stakeholders and recognise the importance of our natural environment. All of our global citizenship activities, which include our pro bono work and environmental sustainability, are closely aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Our global Pro Bono practice is the centerpiece of our community engagement activities. Last year, lawyers in all our offices and in every practice devoted nearly 120,000 hours to pro bono matters.

As a graduate in Australia, you will have unparalleled opportunities to do cutting-edge pro bono work on the issues that matter most to you—both locally and cross-border— with many of the world’s leading NGOs.

Approximately 60 percent of our pro bono matters help strengthen human rights around the world. We expect every lawyer to complete a minimum of 20 pro bono hours each year.

108 Examples of Australia pro bono projects: • Justice Connect – Support for Domestic Building Legal Service • Structuring advice for foreign not-for-prowwfit organisations entering Australia World Bank - Benchmarking Infrastructure project Creating a disaster risk management law index for the International Red Cross Corporate and structuring advice for charities operating in Australia such as the Motor Neurone Disease Association of NSW Reviewing and updating legal compliance registers for the Western Region Centre Against Sexual Assault

What is the Firm’s stance on diversity and inclusion?

We say that diversity is in our DNA. Diversity and inclusion are inherent core values for us, embedded in all we do in our offices around the world. We are naturally diverse because of the work we do, the locations we’re in and the type of people and clients we attract. At White & Case, we promote equality at work and an inclusive culture by supporting employee-led diversity networks, flexible working and an open office environment. Our Australia offices host a number of events each year for employees and clients that support our Global Women’s Initiative and other global affinity groups such as LGBT+.

What opportunities does your firm uniquely offer that may be of interest to prospective graduates?

Most of our clients are multinational organisations, so almost everything you’ll work on will cover more than one jurisdiction. To help develop a taste for global thinking, we guarantee a six-month overseas seat in our offices across Asia-Pacific and the wider network, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo. Graduates describe this overseas seat as ’career changing’, as they gain valuable insight into the working practices of another jurisdiction and build professional contacts that will have a lasting impact throughout their careers.

What is the Firm’s approach to innovation?

We devote significant resources to organising and sharing information across our global platform through sophisticated knowledge management practices and integrating the latest legal technologies into our work. Investing in this area improves the quality of the services we provide, reduces risk and generates cost savings for clients.

We have a dedicated Practice Innovation team of lawyers and technologists who focus on new legal technology for transactional work, such as due diligence, document automation, closing-activity management and contract analysis and negotiation. Our team use AI-enabled due diligence review platforms, contract analysis technology, eDiscovery, Contract Generation software and Legal Project Management technology.

Together we make a mark

Kevin’s White & Case Story

Was the prospect of overseas opportunities an important factor for you when applying to White & Case?

The prospect of overseas opportunities offered at White & Case, including during its graduate program, was an exciting proposition that played an important factor in my decision to apply for the Firm. The opportunity to go overseas is rarely offered to graduates and junior lawyers, and the Firm’s commitment to invest in their development through opportunities like these had, in my view, distinctly set the Firm apart from its competitors. To highlight this, most of my 2018 graduate cohort at White & Case have, or are currently undertaking, an overseas rotation as a part of our graduate program. I was fortunate enough to have spent my second rotation in our Tokyo office as a part of the Project Finance team.

What was most exciting about your work when overseas? How was it different from what you had previously worked on?

The profile, scale and complexity of the international financing transactions that I worked on in Tokyo were particularly exciting, and often involved working with parties, legal counsel and Firm colleagues spanning several jurisdictions. I found that most of the work I was involved with in Tokyo were outbound transactions where we would advise Japanese clients on their investments or financings into companies or projects based outside of Japan. This provided a unique opportunity to learn more about the different market practices across regions and industries.

What was unexpected about the office, work culture or projects in your overseas office?

I found that as English was widely spoken within the Tokyo office, it was instead adapting to the Japanese business culture and etiquette that was most challenging. I quickly found myself learning to follow a certain protocol for the exchange of business cards (meishi), learning how to bow in a business context, and learning to appropriately introduce or address Japanese names in communications.

Tell us the top-three highlights of your overseas experience, both professional and personal.

My top-three highlights would be coordinating a Firm craft beer event, hiking in the Nagano prefecture and skiing in Japan.

Kevin Chen

Associate, Sydney

Apart from work, what did you most enjoy about living abroad?

Outside of work, I quite enjoyed exploring Tokyo as well as travelling around the country, including driving to the Fuji Five Lakes and catching the famous bullet trains to cities such as Kyoto and Osaka. Living abroad in Tokyo also gave me the opportunity to learn more about the Japanese culture and history, as well as to learn and practice a new language.

How do you think that the overseas seat will benefit your career?

Working overseas provided me with the opportunity to expand my network, as I met clients and colleagues within our Tokyo office with whom I hope to work in the future. It also provided me with a valuable perspective into Japanese culture, attitudes and way of conducting business which will be useful to keep in mind when liaising with Japanese clients in the future.