Newton Mak
Prior to becoming a CUHK alumnus, Newton used to be a management consultant and project manager. His decision to pursue a part-time Juris Doctor degree with the CUHK in 2009 turned out to be a life-changing one. The first two years of (late night) studies woke up the lawyer in him and, having turned full-time in 2011, Newton graduated from JD in 2012 and passed PCLL with distinction in 2013. Five years down the road since making “the decision”, Newton no longer works for anyone but himself as an independent barrister, after joining the Chambers of Ronny Wong SC in 2014.
Newton now practices primarily in civil and commercial litigation with a secondary focus on white-collar crime. He also conducts mediation as an accredited mediator. In his spare time, Newton has formed a team of contract bridge players from the Bar to compete at joint professional tournaments since 2014.
Newton is honored to join his fellow alumni to congratulate the Faculty of Law on its 10th anniversary. He still recalls back in 2009 the Graduate Law Centre was only about half of its current size, and is delighted to see that the Faculty has since grown so much both in numbers and in reputation.
Newton’s fondest memory of CUHK is the mooting experience with his Vis teammates and coaches. He still put up their photo taken at the Austrian Supreme Court as wallpaper on his computer; it not only reminds him of those good old times and company, but also how he was taught to be a fearless, ethical and effective advocate. He highly recommends mooting especially to those who aspire to be a barrister or dispute resolution specialist.
When asked to leave a few words of advice to his future learned friends, Newton likes to share what Professor Peter Rhodes used to impart upon the Vis team: “Challenge accepted”. While there are many things that one may do to prepare for what lies ahead, the right attitude will eventually get one to make all the right moves.
Chris Kung
Chris is currently a first-year trainee solicitor in Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and will soon become a second-year trainee since August 2016. His first six months of training was in the Capital Markets team, where there are various opportunities for him to assist in advising multinational corporate clients under close supervision and guidance on matters relating to initial public offering and post-listing compliance. The learning curve is steep not only because of the challenging nature of the deals, but also because of the tight time frame and the fact of working with efficient and intelligent professional parties such as well-renowned investment banks and accounting firms.
Chris’s current seat is litigation, with a primary focus on international commercial litigation and corporate investigations. In particular, he was given the opportunity to directly collaborate with Orrick’s New York office in assisting a NASDAQ-listed company in the pursuit of a claim at the United States District Court. It was very challenging to Chris as there is a need to adapt to the New York hours and works around the clock to turn in quality work product. As regards corporate investigations, he is working with Orrick’s San Francisco office in assisting a New York-listed company to conduct FCPA internal investigations in relation to its Chinese subsidiaries. The challenges are fascinating as the corporations under investigation have their own industry-specific practice and terminologies, so there is a need to understand quickly their operations and business models in order to proceed with the issues concerned and form a view as to whether there exists any misconduct.
Chris says that the times in CUHK are beyond words. He particularly enjoyed the times of having the balance in pursuing cultural studies-related courses which broadened his horizons and are conducive to the legal studies, and the times of staying in the student hostel of the New Asia College where he had lots of fun with friends from a variety of majors. In terms of law, he is always grateful to have learned from all teachers not just the legal academic knowledge, but its application in commercial, social and political contexts, drawing on their prior industry experience.
Given the mediocre results in his first year of law school, Chris feels really thankful to have considerable support from all teachers during the five years with CUHK LAW, especially Mr. Richard Morris (academic mentor), Professor Surabhi Chopra and Professor Michael Lower who have given him considerable guidance in overseas studies, career path, and advice on improving legal research and analysis.
Chris says that it was also very fortunate for him to have met and studied with exceptionally smart classmates where he could learn from them through their sharing of insights after class or during tutorials. Quite a few of them turn to be really good friends of him.
In the Faculty’s 10th anniversary year, Chris wishes CUHK Faculty of Law the very best for the next 10 years and many more years to come. He would also like to express his sincere gratitude to all the professors, teachers, administrative and supporting staff for their fantastic effort in establishing such an amazing learning environment for the students!