Following the announcement that Norton Rose will be extending training contracts to its Australian offices, one trainee preparing to join the ‘Australian invasion’ shared his thoughts on the opportunities that have opened up in Hong Kong and other Asian cities and how young expat lawyers need to prepare for six months in an Asian office, including the differences in culture.

David Varne, 25, originally joined the Perth office of what was then Deacons, before this firm merged with Norton Rose. He stayed on with the international firm and has now been selected in the first round of trainee secondments to Asia. Varne will complete his third training rotation in Hong Kong and is due to start with the office on February 21.

Typical of these opportunities, whether or not he makes that deadline will depend on how soon his business visa comes through. “Everything is subject to the outstanding business visa”, he stressed. Varne and the other trainees were told to apply for secondments in December last year, and this has not left much time to prepare for their overseas experience. However, this hasn’t fazed any of the trainees from either Australia or Asian jurisdictions, according to him.

Varne said all trainees felt it made sense for Norton Rose Australia to align the LLP model, and the Hong Kong office looks after a ‘very major’ Chinese banking conglomerate who he already knows he will be doing quite a bit of work for. “I’m just preparing myself for whatever comes next,” he said.
When asked whether he expected to feel culture shock either at work or outside, Varne was confident of coping with the differences, thanks to the fact he has travelled for extended periods of time throughout South-East Asia, including Hong Kong and China. In terms of work volumes, he did recognise that this would be different. “The Hong Kong work ethic is quite huge but that is an expectation I hold myself – I consider myself pretty independent and self-disciplined. I can look after myself and have travelled alone quite a few times.”  He did say that Hong Kong Norton Rose lawyers start later at 9 am, but are expected to stay later.

While the banking & finance group may be extremely busy, Varne doesn’t anticipate being overloaded compared to his Australian colleagues. He thinks the sacrifice is worth it for the opportunity. “The first few months are always expected to be a steep learning curve,” he said. Varne’s  colleagues in Sydney and Perth, as well as Norton Rose’s other offices, were looking forward to welcoming graduates from Hong Kong, the first of which arrive in May 2011 to complete rotation in the Sydney corporate team.

 Here are David Varne’s tips for other trainees preparing to enter training: