Technology law may be perceived as one of the more fashionable practice areas, but according to Gabriela Kennedy, IPMT partner at Hogan Lovells’ Hong Kong office, there is no such thing as a ‘tech lawyer’ per se. Instead, she says that lawyers working in the IT field draw on a wide range of legal areas: contract, tort, criminal and IP law – but most importantly of all, dispute resolution and litigation: “IT litigation tends to be complex and require a lot of evidence - such cases rarely reach trial in Hong Kong largely because of alternative dispute resolution provisions in the contracts being used here,” she said.

The missing ingredient, Kennedy finds, for the work performed at the highest level is experience in dispute resolution and litigation practice. She also said that she sees a lot of CVs which encompass only very specialised transactional IT work, missing that important court experience.

Whilst she agreed that transactional experience will stand a candidate in good stead, Kennedy said that flexibility and a willingness to tackle advisory, data protection and contentious work (especially given the crossover with IP work) coupled with enthusiasm, is more likely to lead to success.

Which are the leading firms in IT law? Hogan Lovells, along with Freshfields, Pinsent Masons, Clifford Chance and MoFo (spell out in full) are the firms best known for their technology practices in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Kennedy: “Those are the firms with established, well respected technology practices. They have the expertise and they are the firms which will look at recruiting,” she said.