In 1992, when Chun Wei started out as an associate in the Hong Kong office of Sullivan & Cromwell, the demographics of the legal profession reflected the British colony that Hong Kong was at the time: lots of white, British male lawyers and very few female Asian ones.* In order to feel less isolated in the male-dominated culture, the handful of women at different firmsall of whom were associatessought each other out. Wei’s circle included rising associates Teresa Ko at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Celia Lam at Linklaters, and Benita Yu at Slaughter and May.
Fast-forward two decades. Wei now heads the Hong Kong and Beijing offices of her New Yorkbased firm. Ko is head of the China practice for Freshfields. Lam leads a Hong Kong practice for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Yu is one of Slaughters’ top partners.
