Asia Careers

For all at Ropes & Gray, pro bono and community work is an integral part of life at the firm. You can be involved from the moment you join, helping a broad range of clients, sometimes as part of an international team and sometimes by helping a small community-based organization. You will use your professional training and wider skills to make a difference in our communities. From 2019–2021, our Asia offices completed more than 8,000 hours of pro bono service. Some of our partnerships and community initiatives include:

• Partnering with international anti-human trafficking NGO Liberty Shared on a wide range of projects, including looking at issues in the supply chain, mediation and reparation for trafficked workers, and the effect of COVID-19 on vulnerable women and children, and conducting a multijurisdictional study on the treatment of trafficked and sexually exploited children. 
• Working with OUT Leadership on the organization’s CEO Business Briefs, which provide snapshots of the LGBTQ+ legal and cultural landscapes in different countries and are vital resources for enabling business leaders to understand the operational and reputational risks they face when doing business around the world.
• Assisting Hong Kong University’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law in delivering its Street Law program, as well as working with community groups and EmpowerU, a program that provides lectures, trainings and workshops to more than 400 migrant domestic workers on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Developing rule of law programming in Sub-Saharan Africa with Lawyers Without Borders. Lawyers of all levels of experience from all offices and practice groups have the opportunity to participate in developing and delivering the programs. Lawyers from Shanghai and Hong Kong have travelled to Kenya and Tanzania to train judges, magistrates, prosecutors and enforcement officers in programs covering anti-human and wildlife trafficking.
• Working with local community charities in Hong Kong such as Helpers for Domestic Workers; Pathfinders, which supports migrant mothers and children; and InspiringHK, which uses sport to promote social mobility, gender equality, social inclusion and a healthy lifestyle.
• Supporting a variety of organizations in our offices’ communities. Our Seoul office managing partner and several office members spent a day volunteering at a vocational training center for the disabled and raised funds to support those in the local community struggling with COVID-19. Our Shanghai office supports Heart to Heart, a charity providing corrective heart surgery, collecting donations and sewing teddy bears for a charity sale. In Hong Kong, our office donated 162 backpacks to The Backpack Project.
• Working with the Japan Association for Refugees as well as with local counsel to assist a Nigerian seeking asylum in Japan.