Having worked extensively with Deutsche Bank during her early time as a trainee, Hong Kong Associate Sabrina Lee’s secondment opportunity was a natural next step.

She says: “The last time the Firm had a secondee at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong was around two years ago, so it was a great chance for us to get closer to the client.

“We already have a very strong relationship with Deutsche Bank globally and in Hong Kong, but the secondment helped me get to know people on the legal team even better and to make new connections within the wider business.

“It was also invaluable in forging relationships with the Deutsche Bank teams across the globe, including Hong Kong, Singapore, India, UK and United States.”

Sabrina joined the Firm in 2014 and currently works in the Banking and Finance team. During her secondment, she was based in Deutsche Bank’s legal team mainly supporting the APAC Global Credit Trading team in Hong Kong.

She says: “The fact I’ve worked on a lot of Deutsche Bank deals in the past meant I could settle in pretty quickly. It helped that I knew people already.

“The office is open plan, so it’s easy to collaborate with other teams, which gave me a good understanding of the breadth of work the legal team does.”

The secondment was due to run for six months between June to November last year, but it was extended into December, giving Sabrina plenty of time to build her understanding of the client.

She says: “Knowing the amount of internal approvals involved in any given transaction gave me a much better appreciation of what Deutsche Bank needs from external counsel and why they ask certain questions.

“They also want their external counsel to be responsive, proactive and, above all, reliable and trustworthy.”

Much of the work Sabrina did during her secondment is confidential, but she covered a broad range of complex cross-border transactions and did an extensive review of previous transactions to assess if they were eligible for European Union capital relief under new regulations.

She says: “It was interesting to see how the in-house legal team acts as the vital bridge between external counsel and business teams. It does this by identifying the crucial legal issues and leveraging the expertize and experiences of external counsel to navigate legal hurdles.

“The legal team is not only there to provide trusted legal advice, but also to explain to the business team why their legal advice matters to the business and to translate the legal issues into a language that everyone can easily understand.”

Sabrina was supported by the White & Case team throughout her secondment. She kept in regular contact with Hong Kong Office Executive Partner Eugene Man and was also able to introduce the Deutsche Bank team to newly appointed Singapore-based Partner Alexander McMyn, who flew over to Hong Kong for a reception.

She says: “Building relationships on a personal level is really important, especially as Deutsche Bank is such an important client strategically for the Firm, and I hope my secondment helped me to do that.

“I’d already become confident working with the legal team, but I now feel just as confident answering queries and giving advice to the wider business team.

“I think the secondment benefitted the client, Firm and myself. As soon as I got back from the secondment, I started working on a legacy deal from a transaction I’d originally worked on as a trainee.

“I’d originally worked on the matter as a supporting junior and now I’m being supported on it by trainee, Annie Wan, so there is a nice symmetry about it.

“It’s a reminder of how far I’ve come since I joined the Firm, with Deutsche Bank being a constant throughout.”