Company Visit Experience Sharing

Company Visit Programme - Experience Sharing

Dentist Mr. Hon Ki Adrian July 13 2019

Barrister-at-law Mr. Kenneth Lam @ Jason Pow SC’s Chambers (WYCHK 1996) June 25 2019

Lee Lap Ki (Class of 2018)
The visit started with a short hearing session in the High Court, where our mentor, Mr. Kenneth Lam, read a short statement in front of the court to mark the end of a settled defamation case. After that, Mr. Lam explained the significance of such seemingly useless court procedure in a defamation case while having a nice breakfast in the High Court Complex. Following another short experience in the High Court hearing a judicial review case, we expressed our concerns and fear of entering into the legal field to Mr. Lam during a nice lunch nearby. He kindly shared his personal experiences, especially those special moments in his life which he was proud of.

As a Year One Law student, I found the event especially meaningful because Mr. Lam gave me a clear picture of my future career and the challenges ahead. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Mr. Lam, who spared his time guiding us in this competitive industry. In his efforts, I saw the marvelous bonding within the Wah Yan community.

Leung Hei Long (F.5)
The Job Shadowing programme has definitely broadened my horizons as well as given me a chance to have a more in-depth look at my desired legal career.

Starting at 9:15 a.m., we gathered in Mr. Lam’s chamber at One Pacific Place and headed towards the High Court together with other law students.

We were all delighted to see the open court statement for the first time. After the files and papers were ready on the benches and wigs were worn, the case about defamation between two parties formally started. To our great surprise, the whole process lasted less than a few minutes. Our minds were filled with questions and suspicions.

It was not until Mr. Lam took us to the cafeteria after the court hearing that the mystery was finally solved. As he explained the case in detail, we discovered that the case had officially come to a close and its brevity was customary for defamation cases. Though it might have seemed meaningless to third parties, those who were involved could finally give a sign of relief as told by Mr. Lam.

Prior to this experience, I had visited the High Court to participate in a mock trial; nonetheless, this experience totally differs from my previous visit and perception. Mr. Lam gave us a lot of insight into what is involved in being a barrister and the barriers that we may encounter during our career paths. He also shared his stories and personal experience with us.
Mr. Lam also mentioned Father Chow, the current supervisor of our college, who was once his teacher. He recalled that Father Chow had asked his class to think about what they would like people to say about themselves at their funerals when they passed away. Father Chow then asked them to bear that in mind and encouraged them to adopt that as their life goals. Mr. Lam believed that we too should use this as a reference when deciding what we really want to become after we graduate.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Elvis Lam and all the teachers who were involved in this invaluable experience, and Mr. Kenneth Lam for offering his time to meet us and provide us with his unique insight into the legal field.

Solicitor Mr. Johnson Lam @ Origins Business Consultancy July 25 2018 - July 27 2018

Ho Sin Him, Marco (F.5)

The company visit program has provided me a golden opportunity to know more about the career I am interested in, Johnson let us know that not only can a solicitor provide legal advice to the clients, but a solicitor can also provide business consultant services.

On the first day of the program , Johnson led Jethro and I to different offices of government department such as Intellectual Property Department , Business Registry and District Court . He taught us details of applying for registration of a new business and intellectual property and also the difference between trademarks, patents, designs and copyright.

On the second and third day, Johnson let us try to draft an email for his client. It required lots of specific knowledge and wordings that we have never come across before, so it was a difficult challenge for us. Although our draft was not that good and professional, this was still a very good experience for me as this was my first time to write and formal email in a "business tone".

All in all, I have reaped a lot in the visit and I would like to thank Johnson and the Careers team for this visit. I am confident that this great experience would be crucial to my success in the future.

Yam Chun To, Jethro (F.6)
Overall, this company visit experience is certainly a fruitful one and I definitely learnt a lot from it, not only having more professional knowledge in the legal field but also on how to deal with different clients.

In the three days I spent on this programme, Marco and I worked as somewhat like an intern at the Origin Business Consultancy, which is established by an alumnus of the school, Mr. Johnson Lam. As for the work of the company, it mostly focuses on legal translation regarding intellectual property law, especially on trademarks.

I did a lot of different things during my visit at Origin including an introduction to the legal industry and thorough explanation of intellectual property law in Hong Kong, we even got a chance to have a court visit and I went to a lot of different departments in the high court which I have never been to before. However, most notably, I had an opportunity to work with a colleague of Mr. Lam, on helping a big local company to register their trademarks. I got to read through a lot of documents about revocation of trademarks and even appeals for rejected applications. It was really a memorable experience as I never expected the work to be like that there. As I’ve participated in a mock trial competition before which I acted as a barrister, such work as a solicitor really is new to me.

However, I would like to make a few comments to help improve the programme so that students in the future could have a more comprehensive experience in this programme. I think it would be better to arrange the students to meet with their mentor before their official days at the company under the company visit programme. This would allow students to have a closer relationship with the mentor as well as having a clearer understanding of what they will be doing during the programme so as to be more well-prepared to handle the problems they would encounter during their time there.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Johnson Lam and all his colleagues at Origin for hosting us in those three days, they were all extremely nice and were willing to answer our questions with very in-depth answers which certainly increase my knowledge on intellectual property laws in Hong Kong or even other Asian countries. I would also like to thank Mr. Elvis Lam and the school’s career team for providing me with such a unique opportunity to experience work at a business consultancy that handles work similar to a law firm.

FinTech Start-up Mr. Derek Lee @ Qupital August 7 2018

Lo Marcus (F.6)

Apple, Google, Facebook…… they are all tech startups emerged in recent decades, but turned out creating impacts that are greater than any companies ever existed. Working in a fast-growing startup has been my dream since young age, though I have never got a chance to have an in-depth observation on a startup’s actual operation. As suggested by the book ‘How Google Works’, employees in startups are energetic, entrepreneurial, and always eager to disrupt the conventional status quo. My visit to Qupital reaffirms this philosophy. When me and my schoolmate John first entered the firm in the busy morning, the Sales and Marketing Team staff were engaging in various conversations through calls, conferences, emails; We first settled in the conference room to undergo an in-depth research on Qupital’s business and were arranged to pitch the firm’s Directors and President as if they are the company’s potential investors and customers. Our pitch recalled Jacky’s memory, ‘that’s how exactly our founders Winston and Andy pitched their first batch of investors.’ We really saw ourselves as entrepreneurs even we were just merely student visitors back then. But we are certain that it is the passion and strong will that won over others’ trust and got the brightest pioneers on board. With the shared belief in innovation, we had fruitful discussions with the administration about the company’s growth, the FinTech industry as well as our personal developments. Following the ‘mini-conference’, we were invited to have a lunch with them. It has been another wonderful chatting session for us! In the afternoon, we were not assigned any task, but we were allowed to talk to anyone in the company. That being said, we take the initiative to decide how much we want to learn. We first entered the Technology Team’s floor, what we saw in the first scene was that everyone working on a desk accompanied by several monitors showing the cold codes and data. Yet, the people there are warm and friendly. You could see different skin colors and hear different languages being spoken on the floor; In particular, ‘smiles’ was one thing we saw the most. Impressed by the inclusive and charming culture, we began the conversation with Sunny, the Head of Engineering. Other than discussing the ‘technology’ side of the business: data science, machine learning, he also unveiled some hidden benefits of working in tech startups: free fruits, snack and drinks. Like most Silicon Valley tech firms, startups are trying its very best to build up a sense of belonging among its internal community through showing cares to staff via those unnoticeable details. There were still far more insights gained from all the bright staff there as we walked through the Sales & Marketing Team and the Credit Control Team afterwards. I still recalled one of the seniors said, ‘people here are not individualistic, rather, we are more like a family. Like, when we’re in need, the tech guy at that room would feel free to offer a help with our admin work’. This big family really attracted us and we actually stayed there till 6:30pm, the official time they leave from work.

Steve Jobs once said, ‘Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people’. With one innovative idea, the Qupital team is definitely a team of great people, thrive to add value to the business world through solving the liquidity problems of SMEs. ‘Energetic, entrepreneurial, and always eager to disrupt the conventional status quo’, these were what I have observed from the company and what I set as guidelines for my future development.

Wong Chun Kuen (F.5)
On 7th August, Marcus Lo and I went to Qupital—a fin-tech startup which focuses on invoice finance for a company visit. We were first assigned to be the salesmen of the company to sell the idea to two groups of stakeholders, one being the potential investors of Qupital and the another being the potential buyers of the invoice. Then we were allowed to walk around the company and talk with employees in the different departments such as tech team, marketing and administration.

I am much benefited from the visit. First of all, I have more understanding of the culture of a startup company in contrast to a conventional one. Not only the relations between the executives and the employees are more harmonious, the employees have a deep sense of belonging to the company. This is because the staff structure is less rigid than that in more matured companies, resulting in a closer relation among the members including the directors and the founders. Furthermore, being able to witness the company expand also allow the employees to develop solidarity, eventually contributes to higher work motivation and productivity. Apart from that, I learnt how to effectively persuade my targets from my more experienced partner, Marcus, because he has nurtured his interest in the business field for quite a long time, it may help me to produce a stronger and more persuasive speech later in my life.

It has to be admitted that I can still improve my performance during the visit. Although I have done research on what service Qupital provides before the visit, I haven’t found out how the company makes profits. Fortunately, the director gave us enough time to do the research to formulate our persuasion. If I have another of job shadowing or company visit, I would do a more in-depth background research on the institution.

Technical Start-up Mr. Alex Ho @ Ensec Solutions July 24 2018

Chan Chit Ki (F.6)

Overall speaking, the visit to ENSEC soltions is great on and I have learnt lots about the company.

The visit started in the morning of 24 July 2018 at around 10am and the first section was a presentation about the company given by Gary, who is the financial controller of the company. He let me know about what products and services are provided to customers by ENSEC. Then, Ricky who is from the sales team told me about the daily operation in the company and how do they serve their customers. After that, a staff from the technical department, Kin, showed me more details of the products and how do they function. At last, I had a chat with Alex, the managing director of the company, about how the business was started, the attitude of being a leader in a company and his viewpoints of starting up a business.

Throughout the whole visit, I have learnt more about the industry of security system. Also, during the discussion with Gary and Ricky, they have showed me that they are not just selling the products which are the cctv or other security devices, but providing the most suitable service to the customers and let them feel the company is reliable and responsible to them. Moreover, Ricky said that in order to give the customers more accurate details of the services and products, staff from the sales team have gotten some license and qualifications about the security system. This makes me think that this company are treating their customers seriously.

Besides the discussion with them about the company, chatting with Alex is especially inspiring. From his words, I have learnt that starting up a business or being an entrepreneur does not always depend on creativity or innovation only, gaining experience before starting up your own business is more essential because we need to know which market or industry is available for new comers to join. And determination is necessary for making the company continue, as Alex has said that he didn’t make any profit in the first three years but he didn’t give up and this year is the 10th anniversary of the company. Moreover, he has also told me about the attitude of a leader and how to work with his subordinates, which is pointing out their mistakes directly is always better than being kind to everyone because he needs to make them improve but not just building a good relationship with them. Also, he told me about a suitable attitudes I should have in the workplace which are spending more time on the work and take it seriously because the performance is most important.

In conclusion, I consider the visit is a precious opportunity and I am grateful for having this experience . Thank you for giving me this chance of having such career exposure.

Barrister-at-law Mr. Kenneth Lam @ Jason Pow SC’s Chambers (WYCHK 1996) June 6 2018

Allen William Judge (F.6)
The general flow of the day involved us attending the Court of Final Appeal as a spectator and visiting his chambers subsequently. Prior to the experience, I had two opportunities as a mini-pupil, this was a different experience in a sense that this was a high profile case. I enjoyed this experience because it gave me another perspective to the law field.

It was a new experience going to the court of final appeal because the procedures differ from those of lower courts (e.g. magistrates and district). Hence my understanding of the field increased. Furthermore, prior to the experience I had never gone through cases involving the likes of slander, defamation, special damages and so on. Such an experience gives me better insight to the specifics of the field

However, I would also like to make a few comments regarding the experience without being unappreciative. As prospective law students, the case would seem rather tricky and confusing, as it would require very specific knowledge that we could only obtain by studying law (hence criminal cases seem more suitable). The case also involved many bundles hence we were unsure how much or what we had to study so that we could understand the process better. Furthermore, I do feel that only having one day with the barrister would discount the experience. It would perhaps be better if we were given more guidance throughout the process. We only got to talk to the barrister for a short period of time after trial.

I would like to thank Mr Lam and the Careers Team for the opportunity. The experience was pretty special and I do think that this experience was beneficial to me as a prospective law student.

Poon Hung Hei (F.6)
Job shadowing has been hailed as a golden opportunity for students to explore the careers they are interested in. Personally, it has provided me with more grounded knowledge about legal career which I am interested in, the following are the details of this experience:

At around 10 am in the morning, we gathered together at the public gallery of the Court of Final Appeal, No.8 Jackson Road in Central. A case regarding slander and malicious falsehood was courted there, with Mr. Kenneth Lam as the barrister of the defendant (Chan Pui Kwan, AKA Chan Pui Chun). Allen and I sat aside in the court and listened to the arguments given by barristers from both sides. At around 1 pm, we had a quick lunch at central and discussed about the details of the case, during which Mr. Lam gave us some comments on the case which we had not thought about. After we had our lunch finished as well as the debate ended, we visited Mr. Lam's chambers at One Pacific Place, and ended the fruitful day in triumph.

This job shadowing experience does fulfil its purpose by allowing me to look more in-depth into the legal career that I am interested in. More than that, it shows me the process of evolving into a good lawyer. For examples, during our lunch, Mr. Lam shared his insight of analysing a judge stance and background through his or her raised questions. Furthermore, this experience enlightens me the actual difficulties a barrister usually encounters, for instance, reading loads of references yet couldn’t find any clues for a case and paying high rent for office ($60K per month as he mentioned) during the times of economic depression. This reminds me that a coin has both sides. Last but not least, through our conversation, I could acquire insights on how to prepare myself to face new challenges in this valuable summer period, in an unbeatable spirit and attitude.

The job shadowing is of no doubt beneficial to students and, in my opinion, should be continuously organised for the sake of students’ improvements. At the last resort, I hereby express my greatest gratitude to teachers involved in organising such a delightful event.