Dear Ms Christina Churchman,

I am a Master of Corporate Law graduate from University of Cambridge, and I would like to
apply for the Training Contract 2021/22 at White & Case.

1. Why a commercial solicitor?

After completing several mini-pupillages, I realised that I dislike the solo working lifestyle of
barristers. I first discovered my interest in the business world when working as a researcher on
corporate governance. I learnt how multinational companies like Alibaba have to adapt to
different legal and economic challenges. My curiosity for commercial knowledge then
prompted me to embark on academic research and publish commercial law articles. Although
I appreciated the academic side of law, I found that commercially driven projects excite me
more. These experiences pushed me to pursue a master's degree at Cambridge, where I learnt
how corporate transactions work and the role of a transactional lawyer. I learnt that a
commercial legal career offers the best opportunity to observe interactions between legal
regulation and business trends. As commercial lawyers are required to be both a legal and
business advisor, it allows me to combine my interest in law and business. Furthermore,
working as a paralegal for Eversheds Sutherland, RPC and Latham & Watkins gave me a first-
hand experience of the complex, multi-jurisdictional work undertaken by international law
firms. The challenge of tailoring legal advice to clients' business and sector appeals to me.
Therefore, I have determined that I would be most suited to a career as a commercial solicitor.

2. Why White & Case?

I previously watched a webcast interview with Partner Hugh Verrier regarding how the firm
was dedicated to creating a global integration of its offices that is necessary for client services
through "The International Bar Association" and was impressed by the firm's ambition. This
experience, alongside the firm's emphasis on organic growth and its preservation of a unified
partnership, has motivated me to apply for the Training Contract. White & Case particularly
appeals to me because of the culture of unity and communication between its various offices.
As the firm has built a fully-integrated network of 44 offices since 1901, with a majority of its
partnership based outside the US, it is able to coordinate advice throughout different
jurisdictions. The success of its integration was demonstrated, for example, in ICBC's €846
million financing of the acquisition of Radisson Group, one of the world's largest hotel
companies, in March 2019, where the firm's long-term client ICBC preferred using White &
Case as its leading partners in China, Sweden and Singapore were able to advise ICBC as a
cohesive unit. Notably, to facilitate the connectivity between its offices, it is necessary for the
firm to have people with an international outlook and a global ambition. While being born in
China (Guangdong), I studied law in Hong Kong and attended summer schools in places
including Oxford, Germany and Beijing. I further completed my postgraduate degree at
Cambridge. I not only worked in private practice at 6 different law firms in London and Hong
Kong, but also worked in a Shanghai court and an intergovernmental organisation
headquartered in Rome. Extracurricular wise, I took part in international mooting competitions
held in Australia, where I won numerous awards. I was also the only undergraduate student
invited to present a paper on international law at the 2017 Manfred Lachs International
Conference in Canada (organised in association with the United Nations), in front of a diverse
audience group including diplomats, UN officials, international lawyers and professors. As an
ambitious person with a global mindset and diverse experience, I will be a good fit for the firm.
I also hope that, in the next 7 years, I will become a qualified lawyer in England and Wales,
Hong Kong and New York, where White & Case has well-established offices. I am already
studying for the July 2019 New York Bar Examination. Therefore, my career aspiration clearly
aligns with the firm's ambitious five-year strategy plan aimed at creating a strong London-New
York axis. Furthermore, a training contract with the firm will provide me exposure to the best
quality international work and aid my goal of becoming a successful global lawyer.

3. My Skills (i.e. complex problem-solving, commercial instincts, teamwork)

I possess strong attributes for critical thinking and complex problem-solving. Within 3 years,
I published 2 book chapters and 6 articles in various peer-reviewed journals including the
European Review of Private Law, Asia Pacific Law Review, Nottingham Law Journal and
Hong Kong Law Journal, where I explore some of the most complicated issues in commercial
and international law (e.g. distinctions between German and English frustration rule, law of
estoppel, reform of fixed-term employment contracts). My ability to write articles of
publishable quality is a good correlation to a highly demanding workplace like White & Case
which requires consistently generating high-volume, high-quality work products. Additionally,
publishing scholarly articles as a law student is analogous to taking up extra labour-intensive
modules alongside school work, which requires ambition, hard work and a strong drive to
succeed.

I also developed strong commercial instincts and teamwork skills when learning how to build
a business from scratch and coordinating with varied personalities in an entrepreneurship
competition. As an undergraduate, I led a team of 9 and undertook commercialisation of a new
technology project. To increase efficiency, I restructured the team into three specialised groups
(i.e. technology, research and business). I organised team days and social events to mediate
ideas between members. Furthermore, I created a social business model that combines an
innovative antirape gadget with a mobile application transmitting videos and the user’s location,
and a call center monitoring the crime situation. My idea won the “My Own Discovery”
Contest among 170 teams and the funding support for IP registration. Therefore, I can drive
the firm's transactional teams to perform more efficiently and offer clients creative and
commercially viable solutions.

I thank you for your time, and very much hope to be invited for an interview.

Yours Sincerely,
Gordon Chung

IMP READING

Recently, I was invited by the European Space Policy Institute to write a new book chapter
on international space law. I am no expert in legal writing, but here’s are my five little tips:
1) Choose a captivating or unusual topic – my first dissertation is about a comparative
analysis of the doctrine of frustration in Hong Kong and Germany.
2) Write a little bit every day – If your dissertation is 10,000 words, write 300 words every
day.
 3) Rewrite each sentence for at least 5-10 times and select the best version out of them
4) Build a good structure to guide the reader – my first dissertation has 5 headings and 16
sub-headings
5) Don’t wait to start your writing until you have a crystal-clear conclusion. Make an
assumed conclusion first. As you keep researching and writing, you can adjust your
conclusion. With these tips, I published my dissertation in an European law journal as an
undergraduate. If someone like me – who got a 2:2 in his legal research & writing class in his
first two years of law school and whose mother tongue is not English – could publish an
article, every one of you can be a good writer. Never underestimate how great you can be!