We spoke to Quentin Liu, legal consultant with Peerpoint in Hong Kong who transitioned from private practice to legal consulting to pursue his passion for martial arts and explore new areas of law. He shares his insights on how Peerpoint has supported him in shaping his career aspirations, how he enjoyed his first in-house experience with a fintech company, and what advice he would give to other lawyers considering a legal consulting career as well as his passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu!
What prompted the move into legal consulting as a career? How has your mindset evolved from joining Peerpoint to after your first placement?
Honestly, it was burnout. Legal consulting originally seemed to be the perfect way to satisfy my urge to explore the ‘what-ifs’ without abandoning my legal career. But gradually I realised there could be much more to legal consulting. The eureka moment came one day, as I was preparing my invoice, I was reminded that I was responsible for the employer’s duties. With the shock also came the awakening: I am my own boss, I am the business, I am a business owner. How do I want to run my business? This has changed how I see my legal consulting career and my relationship with Peerpoint - I am building my own business with the support of a trusted legal consulting platform.
How has Peerpoint supported you in shaping your career aspirations?
During my traineeship, a supervisor whom I looked up to told me: “Lawyering is a people business, and you should run yourself as a business.” It registered with me, but I struggled to put it into action. The breakthrough happened in the early stages of my legal consulting journey.
Through their full range of support and resources, the Peerpoint team have empowered me to carve out my own career path: from co-developing a tailored consultant plan and hosting a variety of training sessions covering legal technical skills, soft skills e.g. networking and marketing and mental health, to providing regular market development updates and offering coaching advice on business and career development.
For instance, I met with the Peerpoint team to discuss the fractional GC article as part of a broader career planning conversation and not only did they provide valuable and practical advice on my personal branding and business development endeavours but also they offered additional capacity and capabilities. Equipped with this know-how, I am confident that I will be capable of forging my own path and building my own ‘people business’.
How was your first in-house experience with a fintech company? What did you like most? What are the biggest challenges?
It was a great success! I was placed at a multinational fintech company that offers bespoke financial products. As part of a lean legal team providing legal support covering the APAC region, I got to work closely with the front office and the compliance team. The role involved drafting and negotiating commercial agreements as well as attending to various corporate governance matters. One of the highlights was to help create and streamline a governance process that helped the company efficiently comply with the relevant financial regulations.
The placement gave me the opportunity to gain more experience in structured products and financial regulations, which I had limited exposure to when I was in private practice. Peerpoint was of great help when I was settling in they arranged relevant knowledge materials and connected me with the relevant A&O experts for specific technical questions that I needed to sense check, which spared me having to ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it’. Encountering novelties is an integral part of legal consulting and Peerpoint helps make this a fun and exciting challenge.
There was also the challenge of taking my first in-house role. When I showed up on the first day, my plan was just to be myself and hope they would like me. One piece of advice from my manager who has helped me make the transition was that in-house lawyers are not service providers; they perform a control function. The way I interpret this is that, as much as we want to get the deal done as soon as possible, ultimately, we are the gatekeepers of the integrity of the business. As such, we need to understand the business and how the work of different teams fits into the picture. Sometimes difficult decisions must be made to the disappointment of certain teams. We will need to then communicate appropriately and see if there is anything else we can do to bridge gaps if there are merits in their propositions.
Having a basic understanding of my role, I found it rewarding in being able to make a direct contribution to the client’s organisation and playing a more commercial role. Having been involved in management-level discussions, it became clearer to me how my day-to-day tasks fitted into the bigger picture and helped shape the organisation. It was particularly heart-warming when the head of Asia sent a note at the end of my placement to thank me for my contribution to their business.
What three pieces of advice would you give to a private practice lawyer considering a legal consulting career with Peerpoint?
My three pieces of advice are:
- Be transparent about your objectives, motivations, and priorities with the Peerpoint team and keep them updated if things have shifted. The more they know about you, the better they’ll be able to assist you.
- Understand the extent to which you are comfortable with uncertainty, not only financially but more importantly, mentally – private practice lawyers are conditioned to find down-time terrifying. Personally, having a plan as to my long-term career development and side projects has helped me maintain my peace.
- There isn’t a single way to shape your legal consulting career. Keep an open mind. When I first started, I was nervous about how my legal consulting career should look. Seeing how other consultants have chosen their working patterns to progress their goals has inspired me to find my own way, instead of following a template.
How do you use your time when you’re not working as a legal consultant?
I am a long-time martial arts practitioner. Legal consulting has enabled me to make a transition from being an M&A lawyer to an MMA (mixed martial arts) lawyer. I love honing my hand-to-hand combat skills, either through practising Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) on the mats of my home gym SHBJJ HK, where I am a regular and devoted instructor in our kids' programme, or my favourite dance moves in a smoky, Fight Club-esque boxing ring (not to worry – the only explosives one would experience were my punches and footwork). I was regularly competing in BJJ last year, collecting medals and climbing up on various regional and global rankings along the way. Currently, I am preparing for a major BJJ championship in Asia. This year, my athletic career goal is to compete and have as much fun as possible in the world championship in Las Vegas organised by the International BJJ Federation, which unfortunately I missed last year due to an injury.
When I am not hammering out agreements or getting hammered by my training partners, I spend most of my spare time listening to, collecting, and reading about music - anything heavy, loud, weird and obscure.