DPW HK vs White & Case NY? Forum

[Anonymous User]

----Thank you to all who answered ----

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

[Sackboy]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

Maybe OP likes hosting visitors

[gasfard]

Why decide now if they're pre-OCI offers? You'll have more after OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Agree with the other poster that you should wait until after OCI to make a decision. DPW HK is pretty selective and definitely no less selective than DPW NY. If you can get an offer from DPW HK, chances are you can get something better than White & Case NY.

[p910]

Agree with the other poster that you should wait until after OCI to make a decision. DPW HK is pretty selective and definitely no less selective than DPW NY. If you can get an offer from DPW HK, chances are you can get something better than White & Case NY.

Unfortunately, DPW offer will expire before OCI, and according to my school data W&C's GPA average matches mine.

Is there any pitfalls, career wise, in starting in HK market? I'm leaning towards accepting DPW HK as it offers COLA on top of lockstep pay.

[Anonymous User]

Agree with the other poster that you should wait until after OCI to make a decision. DPW HK is pretty selective and definitely no less selective than DPW NY. If you can get an offer from DPW HK, chances are you can get something better than White & Case NY.

Unfortunately, DPW offer will expire before OCI, and according to my school data W&C's GPA average matches mine.

Is there any pitfalls, career wise, in starting in HK market? I'm leaning towards accepting DPW HK as it offers COLA on top of lockstep pay.

Quoted anon here. I was in the same boat two summers ago and I asked a lot of people this question. Two things:

The general perception is that the quality of work in the HK market is inferior. Coming back to the US might be difficult. Internal transfer is always possible but you will have to wait for an opportunity.

Corporate (especially capital markets) hours are significantly worse than NY. DPW HK has a small securities litigation/investigation/dispute settlement team in HK. If you are not dead set on corporate, talk to the litigation partners/associates.

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong for almost a decade growing up, I find your self pretentious American conception of Hong Kong or China in general profoundly fragmented, ludicrous, and even miserable tbh.

DPW Hong Kong is predominantly capital markets. Work culture is much worse than US but post tax earnings are much higher.

[Anonymous User]

I would be very hesitant to start in HK. Many companies (many of which DPW does work for) have or are planning to move out and relocate to other parts of Asia less vulnerable to CCP hegemony.

[Anonymous User]

I would be very hesitant to start in HK. Many companies (many of which DPW does work for) have or are planning to move out and relocate to other parts of Asia less vulnerable to CCP hegemony.

The vast majority of their clients are actually mainland Chinese companies. These clients are going nowhere.

[rc8]

how much is the davis polk HK COLA? does it stay the same or does it ever increase?

[Anonymous User]

Agree with the other poster that you should wait until after OCI to make a decision. DPW HK is pretty selective and definitely no less selective than DPW NY. If you can get an offer from DPW HK, chances are you can get something better than White & Case NY.

Unfortunately, DPW offer will expire before OCI, and according to my school data W&C's GPA average matches mine.

Is there any pitfalls, career wise, in starting in HK market? I'm leaning towards accepting DPW HK as it offers COLA on top of lockstep pay.

Quoted anon here. I was in the same boat two summers ago and I asked a lot of people this question. Two things:

The general perception is that the quality of work in the HK market is inferior. Coming back to the US might be difficult. Internal transfer is always possible but you will have to wait for an opportunity.

Corporate (especially capital markets) hours are significantly worse than NY. DPW HK has a small securities litigation/investigation/dispute settlement team in HK. If you are not dead set on corporate, talk to the litigation partners/associates.

Which firm did you ended up choosing, if you don't mind answering, and why?

[Iowahawk]

Given the news out of Hong Kong and China over the last couple of days, I would not personally feel comfortable living there if I had a single dissenting bone in my body. The situation in Hong Kong is clearly deteriorating rapidly and unpredictably at this point. But that's obviously a personal decision.

[midwestrocks]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong for almost a decade growing up, I find your self pretentious American conception of Hong Kong or China in general profoundly fragmented, ludicrous, and even miserable tbh.

DPW Hong Kong is predominantly capital markets. Work culture is much worse than US but post tax earnings are much higher.

Yes, clearly pretentious and miserable to criticize HK/China. Nothing to see re mass arrests happening right now.

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong for almost a decade growing up, I find your self pretentious American conception of Hong Kong or China in general profoundly fragmented, ludicrous, and even miserable tbh.

DPW Hong Kong is predominantly capital markets. Work culture is much worse than US but post tax earnings are much higher.

Yes, clearly pretentious and miserable to criticize HK/China. Nothing to see re mass arrests happening right now.

I grew up in HK and I lived in the US for more than 5 years. Just like many of my American friends, you think you know about HK/China but you don't know shit. I won't even waste my time trying to explain. But maybe you should be less pretentious and arrogant.

[eastcoast_iub]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong for almost a decade growing up, I find your self pretentious American conception of Hong Kong or China in general profoundly fragmented, ludicrous, and even miserable tbh.

DPW Hong Kong is predominantly capital markets. Work culture is much worse than US but post tax earnings are much higher.

Yes, clearly pretentious and miserable to criticize HK/China. Nothing to see re mass arrests happening right now.

I grew up in HK and I lived in the US for more than 5 years. Just like many of my American friends, you think you know about HK/China but you don't know shit. I won't even waste my time trying to explain. But maybe you should be less pretentious and arrogant.

If you grew up there and haven't been there for a long time, you will be in for a surprise. HK has lost its special status and is rapidly losing its freedoms, I would not be comfortable there any more. Look at what happened to the Canadians arrested for no reason after Meng Wenzhou was arrested, anyone can be a target, not just protesters. This has happened to Australians as well.

What is it exactly that we're missing about this beacon of freedom, please enlighten us?

[nealric]

Moderator note: please refrain from discussing the politics of HK and keep the discussion to the relative merits of the OP's decision. If something political would have a specific impact on the OP's choice, you can talk about it- but please keep it specific and on point.

[eastcoast_iub]

Moderator note: please refrain from discussing the politics of HK and keep the discussion to the relative merits of the OP's decision. If something political would have a specific impact on the OP's choice, you can talk about it- but please keep it specific and on point.

Risk of arrest is a rational consideration in deciding between firms. Is the CCP a sponsor of the site?

[nealric]

Moderator note: please refrain from discussing the politics of HK and keep the discussion to the relative merits of the OP's decision. If something political would have a specific impact on the OP's choice, you can talk about it- but please keep it specific and on point.

Risk of arrest is a rational consideration in deciding between firms. Is the CCP a sponsor of the site?

You can discuss the politics of HK all you want in the off topic forum. A generalized reference to the political situation is fine, but I think we are past that now.

[Anonymous User]

Agree with the other poster that you should wait until after OCI to make a decision. DPW HK is pretty selective and definitely no less selective than DPW NY. If you can get an offer from DPW HK, chances are you can get something better than White & Case NY.

Unfortunately, DPW offer will expire before OCI, and according to my school data W&C's GPA average matches mine.

Is there any pitfalls, career wise, in starting in HK market? I'm leaning towards accepting DPW HK as it offers COLA on top of lockstep pay.

Quoted anon here. I was in the same boat two summers ago and I asked a lot of people this question. Two things:

The general perception is that the quality of work in the HK market is inferior. Coming back to the US might be difficult. Internal transfer is always possible but you will have to wait for an opportunity.

Corporate (especially capital markets) hours are significantly worse than NY. DPW HK has a small securities litigation/investigation/dispute settlement team in HK. If you are not dead set on corporate, talk to the litigation partners/associates.

Which firm did you ended up choosing, if you don't mind answering, and why?

My other choice was a NYC V10 so it was easier to make a decision. If I were you I'd probably still go for White & Case NY or whatever better offer you get from OCI. It's always much easier to relocate to HK from NYC if that's what you want to do down the line. It's significantly more difficult the other way around. Unless you have a personal reason to start out in HK, I would recommend against it.

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to live in a flawed democracy where you can speak your mind without fear of arrest, or an authoritarian dictatorship where one slip of the tongue can result in an unexpected knock on your door in the middle of the night? That would heavily color my decision.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong for almost a decade growing up, I find your self pretentious American conception of Hong Kong or China in general profoundly fragmented, ludicrous, and even miserable tbh.

DPW Hong Kong is predominantly capital markets. Work culture is much worse than US but post tax earnings are much higher.

Yes, clearly pretentious and miserable to criticize HK/China. Nothing to see re mass arrests happening right now.

I grew up in HK and I lived in the US for more than 5 years. Just like many of my American friends, you think you know about HK/China but you don't know shit. I won't even waste my time trying to explain. But maybe you should be less pretentious and arrogant.

If you grew up there and haven't been there for a long time, you will be in for a surprise. HK has lost its special status and is rapidly losing its freedoms, I would not be comfortable there any more. Look at what happened to the Canadians arrested for no reason after Meng Wenzhou was arrested, anyone can be a target, not just protesters. This has happened to Australians as well.

What is it exactly that we're missing about this beacon of freedom, please enlighten us?

A woman political dissident was shot today in capitol building. Do you really think the US is any better than HK ??? HK police would never shoot their own people.

Today is a disgrace to the country. No doubt about it. And Trump and his enablers bear full responsibility. But they are not our country. We don't know all the facts yet, but I would bet you she was armed or otherwise posing a serious threat to law enforcement. At least in the U.S. you won't be involuntarily rendered for calling out a despicable politician like Trump though.

Hahahahaha we were born in Hong Kong, grew up and witnessed everything in Hong Kong, and still have most of our families in Hong Kong, yet somehow you Americans still think you know more about Hong Kong than us just because we haven’t gone back for a few years and you have been following the American news. And you just play the brainwash card whenever we disagree with your ridiculous naive opinions on our homeland.

Miserable and funny. More funny than miserable tbh.

Going back to the original question: DPW Hong Kong is heavy on capital markets. Most of your clients will be Chinese companies and you will deal with American investors (that’s why Hong Kong offices of US law firms have a strong demand for US JDs). The work culture is way worse: very toxic and hierarchical, but won’t be as bad if you’re a white person. If you consider yourself politically active, worse case scenarios your posts on the internet get deleted (just like facebook and twitter do here). You will have to literally plot to protest violently and declare independence for Hong Kong to get yourself a visit by the police (again i don’t think US is any different in that respect).

[iamthe1guy]

Hi guys OP here. Yes, I am well informed of the political situation in HK, please no more mudslinging. I have friends and family in both HK and mainland China who can provide good first hand information about the situation, which is why it wasn't really part of my question.

[Anonymous User]

MOD NOTE: OFF TOPIC DISCUSSION DELETED

Back to the point. HK work culture is toxic. Lawyers/bankers there are kind of proud of billing 3,000 hours a year. That's why many of my friends chose to stay in the US even the US firms would pay them COLA if they went back.

[Anonymous User]

Agreed with the posts above re DPW practice and culture. To add, their HK office seems to have a reputation of firing people when there isn't enough work and then hiring additional bodies when there's too much work. So if you want a semblance of job security (to the extent it exists in the biglaw world), I'd avoid DPW HK.

[Iowahawk]

@ the CCP enthusiast who may or may not be one guy talking to himself using anon

Moderator note: please refrain from discussing the politics of HK and keep the discussion to the relative merits of the OP's decision. If something political would have a specific impact on the OP's choice, you can talk about it- but please keep it specific and on point.

Risk of arrest is a rational consideration in deciding between firms. Is the CCP a sponsor of the site?

You can discuss the politics of HK all you want in the off topic forum. A generalized reference to the political situation is fine, but I think we are past that now.