What’s in a legal profile? Without trying to be reductive, profiles are a distillation of professional experiences, accomplishments, and qualifications that a lawyer presents to the world. Sometimes the professional summary is ‘framed’ by personal touches, but profiles are nevertheless akin to Instagram in that they are a curated representation – you get a picture, but not the whole story.
Nevertheless, it’s to profiles that people first go in their search for a lawyer – whether they are a prospective client or a professional colleague needing assistance for their own client, and it’s a good place to start, to be certain your best expectations are met by working with the RKS team.
You will want your lawyer to adopt a three dimensional approach in explaining the law and the options available to you in your unique context. Having the right lawyer is crucial.
But how do you decide who is the right lawyer for you?
Chemistry is a conundrum. It has to work. A point about chemistry before deciding its applicability in finding the right lawyer. Chemistry is both undefinable but also defines us. It is entirely out of ones control. In an ideal world, the right lawyer for you is also someone you ‘click’ with, but you can really like someone who is not a great lawyer and conversely, you can have zero connection with someone who will facilitate great results.
So aside from chemistry, which has to work, I believe having shared values is crucial in finding the right family lawyer, a family law team to create the right professional partnership.
Follow the three “B”s to the right lawyer
I qualified as a lawyer some 40 years ago. Throughout this time I have learned that the three “B”s, Believing, Behaving and Belonging, not only works as a test of professional standards and capability, but they are not really negotiable as a path along which I, and the other like-minded lawyers at RKS travel.
Believing
I believe justice can be achieved, and that sometimes, despite the best intentions of everyone involved, discussions aren’t enough, so your recourse is the legal process to achieve justice.
I believe it’s important to be assertive as well as fair, and that it’s not right for a client to yield just because that’s how peace has been achieved historically.
I believe as much in the legal process as in alternate dispute resolution. And I believe if you really understand the law and have the right experience, it’s not difficult to find the right path – which could be a mixture of the two – to securing a just and fair result.
RKS lawyers Believe.
Behaviour
Behaviour is important to ensure the very best professional and personal standards are available to you. In the final analysis, one is often judged on ones conduct and how one behaves. Actions are always remembered better than words. Behaving wisely in your best interests and professionally so as to secure the best possible results for you is the motivating force for me and the RKS team.
What I most admire about the RKS team (their market-leading skills notwithstanding), and one of the key reasons I am joining them, is that they are driven to secure the best possible results for their clients while behaving ethically, and without ever compromising their integrity. They are a team of individuals who always does the right thing.
They are the right kind of lawyers.
Belonging
Belonging is crucial. And I am fortunate that it has been easy for me.
I qualified in the UK, but I have lived in Hong Kong for more than 35 years. It is my home, the centre of my professional life, and an essential part of my identity. The people of Hong Kong, and this city’s infrastructure, legal and social, are important to me. I am committed to living and working here.
Having worked in an international firm, established the family-law team there and mentored it to a leading position, I’m ready to fine tune my aspirations, ambitions, and concerns.
RKS is the right professional base and home for me and I will enjoy participating in the journey to ensure it is recognized as the premier family law* firm in Hong Kong, where the entire RKS team lives, works and belongs. I will be drawing upon all the international connections I have firmly established over the years to ensure our clients’ international needs, PRC needs, and Hong Kong needs are met and safeguarded.
*“Family Law” is a naming convention and represents only part of our capabilities. What RKS find solutions for, and are experienced in dealing with, are all the challenges across the spectrum of “life”. Aging parents, young international families, life cycle events such as setting up wills and trusts, and now, the intergenerational fallout from COVID, are all within our scope.
Joining RKS empowers me to do what I do best for my colleagues, clients, and Hong Kong, both professionally and personally. Belonging here also enables me to broaden my philanthropic aspirations for under-privileged families. We work with Special Educational Needs families and young people, undertaking pro bono work on some issues whilst setting up philanthropic vehicles that we wish to participate in – because those with special needs not only belong in our community but should not have obstacles in doing so.
Believing, Behaving and Belonging. The three “B”s are all interdependent on the another. If the three “B”s resonate with you, do please, have look at our profiles, and do please, come and meet us – we want the chemistry to start working.
