Lena Chua
Senior Legal Professional
As a senior legal professional in the Belfast office, I split my time between the banking and litigation departments. I do a lot of document reviews for litigation teams across the network – I’m currently working with Frankfurt and Washington DC. Then on the banking side, I’m drafting contingency plans for a major bank and helping one of our clients to review their engagement letters for all their offices globally.
I really like the mix of work. I’ve had discussions with the senior management team and explained that this is how I’d like to progress my career, and they allocate me a variety of work that takes into consideration what I like to do.
Even within banking, the work is really varied. There are six banking teams in London, each with a particular specialism; as Belfast assists all six I get to see all those different work streams.
I’m qualified to practise law in Malaysia and practised in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of years in dispute resolution before moving to the UK to join my fiancé. I really wanted to join an international firm and I was so pleased to come across A&O Belfast in 2019. They’ve supported me getting my qualification to practise English law and now I’m excited to continue to develop my career with the firm, either in Belfast or London.
I’ve worked with teams all over the A&O network – I like working with teams from different countries with different perspectives; it makes life interesting to get a glimpse of what’s happening in other parts of the world. I’ve learned so much from the senior associates in the Belfast, London and New York offices who really trust me and give me liberty to work how I think I should.
After working in the Belfast office for a couple of years, I now work in Yorkshire, working remotely from home about 350 miles away from Belfast. I’m married now and family life is what I cherish, but I feel completely connected even though I’m not physically in the office.
Since capturing Lena's story, she has continued her career journey as a dual-qualified lawyer at one of the UK's top 100 law firms.
