In June 2012, I began my two-month internship at Kejie Law Office in Beijing. As a first year law student from McGill University, Canada, I was very excited for my first experience working in a law firm. This internship not only provided me the opportunity to get some experience in corporate law, but it also gave me the opportunity to learn about China.

At Kejie, I worked on mergers and acquisitions of American businesses. I was assigned various tasks that challenged me but also, at the same time, gave me the opportunity to learn.

During my internship, I had the responsibility of doing legal research on American and Canadian laws. For the first time, I was working on real-world transactions rather than hypothetical law school fact patterns. Fact patterns can be very challenging but they are nonetheless designed by professors to test students on what they learned in class. On the other hand, real-world transactions are not designed to fit what was learned in school. As such, finding information through various means using different tactics became necessary to conduct a thorough research. For example, when trying to find information on restrictions on foreign investments in the American film industry, I had to look in regulatory agencies’ websites such as the US department of Treasury’s website on Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), legislations, legal commentaries, other investment and joint venture agreements found in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) database, and news articles. In the duration of my internship, I wrote two memoranda: one on American foreign investment regulations and one on Canadian foreign investment regulations.

At Kejie, I also conducted due diligence on some American companies. Before I started my internship, I did not know much about due diligence, but now I have some understanding of the various tasks that has to be done before a merger and acquisition process actually begins. I was given the responsibility of doing research on companies’ stock ownership, debt situation and background industry information. During my internship, I became relatively familiar with different bankruptcy documents and SEC filings such as annual reports, prospectuses, current reports, and proxy statements. The due diligence process showed me that it is critical for legal professionals working in corporate law to have some knowledge in finance and accounting.

My internship at Kejie was an excellent learning experience because Kejie represents both local and international players conducting business in various industry sectors. This meant that for the first time, I had to work in areas of the law in which I had no prior knowledge. None of the first year law classes were very helpful for my work since no corporate law classes were open to first years. As part of my job, I had to read and summarize bankruptcy court documents. Before working at Kejie, I had little knowledge of bankruptcy regulations. As such, I had to do background research on American bankruptcy laws. Similarly, when researching on government agencies such as CFIUS, I had to get some background information on administrative law first.

Big cross-border transactions are often going to face tight political scrutiny. This is especially true when some of the parties involved are state-owned. In light of these concerns, I also had the responsibility of researching on previous American political responses to similar take-overs. Further, my colleagues and I translated United States Congress documents into Chinese to provide our clients with background political information.

Kejie’s professional are energetic, passionate, smart, and friendly. They have a strong work ethic. I learnt as much from them as from the work I did. We worked as a team and I felt that I was part of a big family. All matters were discussed and debated in groups. Every document was the fruit of the collective work of many lawyers and paralegals. No detail is ever overlooked.

柯杰给我的机会不光让我学到了关于法律的知识。它也让我更好的认识中国。自从八岁移民加拿大我就没有在中国真正的生活过。实习的两个月给我了一个体会中国的机会。从上下班挤北京地铁到用中文写文件，这些大家看上去最普通的事情对我来说都是新鲜事。我自从实习开始中文的专业写作能力有很大的提高。此外，我对中国社会有更加的了解。给我印象最深刻的是上班的第一天。我穿着西服做公交和地铁上班。让我很惊讶的是在地铁里我是唯一一个穿着西服的人。后来同事告诉我北京白领上下班时很少穿西服。此外，北京一号线地铁真实名不虚传啊！它让我第一次体会被推进地铁里的感觉。我在众多人群中真正的体会到了人多力量大的含义。

As my summer vacation came to an end, my summer internship also ended. I enjoyed my experience at Kejie because of the interesting cases we worked on and the friendships I developed. I would like to thank Kejie for giving me my first professional legal experience and also at the same time for giving me the opportunity to reconnect with the country where I was born. Kejie is an excellent place to work and learn, a place I will never forget.