Voice of Experience: Lorna Chen, Partner, Global Asset Management Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Hong Kong

Welcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long!

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

Lorna Chen, a Partner in the Global Asset Management Group at Shearman & Sterling’s Hong Kong office, wasn’t always sure where her career would take her, but she always knew that she would do something great. “If you ask me what made me what I am today, it is my subconscious belief in myself,” said Chen.

“I was born and grew up in Beijing as a native Mandarin Chinese speaker. I completed all of my schooling in Beijing and as an undergraduate and in graduate school, I specialized in English Language and Literature and American Studies. This turned out to be a very firm foundation for my future.”

Career in Law

“I think it was destiny that after I finished graduate school, I met a group of people who were opening up their own law firm. This was right around the time that China was beginning to open its doors and privatize the legal industry. I decided to join them because it was very challenging and interesting to work for a law firm.” She continued, “I took the first National Exam ever administered in China to become a trademark agent and I ranked first. My job was to go to the Chinese administration and address issues around major trademarks being copied without permission.”

This experience motivated Chen to take the bar exam in China despite not having her law degree, a practice that was, and still is, allowed in China. It was a very exciting time, explained Chen, since China was just starting their legal system. “Originally, I planned on attending business school to earn my MBA, but after I passed the bar exam, I decided that if I was going to stay in the legal field, I needed to get a law degree to become a lawyer.”

In 1997, Chen took advantage of a unique opportunity to spend six months in Frankfurt as an international associate for a leading German law firm that was considering expanding their practice into China. “Because I spoke English very well, I was the only person chosen out of about 2,000 lawyers to go to Germany. This experience started my journey in the legal profession outside of Beijing,” said Chen.

“I had already started to take charge in my firm, so I had a first mover advantage upon going to Frankfurt,” explained Chen. After accumulating so much experience in Beijing and Frankfurt, Chen decided the time was right to start applying to law schools in the United States. However, she was asked by the partners of the Frankfurt firm to stay on board for the rest of the year because one of their mid-level associates in their Hong Kong office was leaving the firm. “The year I spent working for Bruckhaus was very valuable and really opened my eyes to what it was like to work as an international associate.”

Coming to America

Chen applied for the LLM program at Columbia University, which would normally require international students to have a law degree from their home country. But, because Chen had already passed the Chinese bar exam and had experience working in law firms, Columbia admitted her under special consideration. “They told me that they knew I would make it,” recalled Chen.

After one year studying in the LLM program, Chen decided to switch to the full JD program at Columbia. “In 2000, I joined Shearman as a summer associate and have spent my entire career with the firm,” said Chen. Once again, destiny seems to have played an important role in moving Chen’s career forward in the right direction when she was assigned to Capital Markets during her summer at Shearman, which was one of the practice areas she was most interested in. “Two mentors I met with in Capital Markets were fund lawyers and I learned everything from them. That summer I spent half of my time working in M&A and the other half working in funds,” said Chen.

After graduation, Chen was assigned to Shearman’s Asset Management team, which was a highly specialized niche at the time. After a split occurred in the asset management team, Chen decided to stay with Shearman & Sterling because she felt a strong connection to the firm. “Shearman was the right platform for me because it was very internationally focused compared to other law firms at the time,” explained Chen.

Getting Back to Her Roots

“Shearman had a sabbatical program for senior associates where you could choose to spend a few months in one of their international offices or you could spend one month doing something you love. I decided to tell the firm that I wanted to use that time to go to Asia to visit our offices and explore the fund world there,” said Chen. As a result of her sabbatical in Asia, Chen was able to secure a couple of new clients for Shearman who wanted to hire Chen to help them start up their private equity funds.

In 2008, after Chen gave birth to her second child and her husband had been working in Beijing for two years, she decided to start a conversation with the firm about the possibility of her relocating to Asia to work in the investment fund practice, which hadn’t quite gotten off the ground yet. “The Asian partners were very supportive and very willing to accept me,” said Chen. She continued, “I didn’t even consider whether or not I would be successful. I just knew I wanted to go to Asia and be the only person working in the investment fund practice.”

Chen moved from New York to work in Shearman’s Hong Kong office in 2008, right after the financial crisis hit the global economy. “After five years, we have developed one of the largest investment fund practice teams in Asia.” Chen adds, “I am very proud of the success we have had.”

Secret to Her Success

When Chen was setting up the investment fund practice in Hong Kong, there was a big boom in the fund industry in Asia, especially China, as financial institutions were looking for ways to take advantage of the financial crisis and establish themselves. Chen said, “We were a first mover in helping financial institutions from Asia expand into the world.” Being a native Mandarin speaker also became one of Chen’s most effective business tools as she helped Shearman grow its global investment fund practice.

According to Chen, her success as a female partner in Asia stems from three places. “You need the support of your firm’s partners, support from your family, and of course support from your team.” Having this strong support system in place gave Chen the ability to take on major clients and big deals, ultimately earning the trust of some of the biggest Asian clients.

Chen also recalls how instrumental it was for her career advancement to have the support of female partners at Shearman. “I remember going to an internal networking event where several women partners were talking about their experience, and one partner expressed that when she graduated from law school she told herself she would become a partner. And she did it.” Chen adds, “This was so encouraging.”

“Being a Chinese woman could have been a disadvantage,” said Chen, “but I never felt like this was a challenge.” She explained, “In my firm, we are measured by the quality of our product and not by our gender. I pursued what I wanted to do, and believed in myself, and I was successful.”