Nanda Lau

Title: Senior associate
Division: Corporate
Location: Shanghai

I began as a trainee with Herbert Smith Hong Kong in September 2002, after taking my LLB and PCLL in Hong Kong and my LLM at Cambridge.

My career really took off when, just after I qualified in 2005, I had the opportunity to do a three month short-term secondment to the Shanghai office to help on a transaction. After the secondment, I was offered (and happily accepted) another three months stay. After a number of extensions I have stayed in Shanghai for almost four years and my secondment term has become "evergreen". I enjoy working in the Shanghai office, where I have been given many opportunities to work on challenging and innovative deals involving foreign investments in China.

Last year, I was seconded to the Tokyo office for two months. Although it was only a very brief period, I really enjoyed it because I made friends with many colleagues there and had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the nature of their work. Apart from the work side, I had the chance to do some travelling in Japan and try many types of fresh and delicious sashimi (raw fish) that I have never heard of before.

I am a member of the social committee of the Shanghai office. BBQ night, hairy crab dinner (hairy crab is a seasonal delicacy in Shanghai during autumn time), theatre night, sports day, wine tasting and the Christmas party are some of the activities we have organised for colleagues this year. In Shanghai, we work hard and also play hard.