My first-week thoughts about working in-house

After eleven years of working in the public sector in China, one challenging year to obtain a master's degree on Microsoft Teams and zoom, and six months of researching my career possibilities here in London, I finally earned an offer from one of the fast-growing tech-enabled young companies.?

Incorporated in May 2016 as a Chinese food delivery start-up, now HungryPanda Ltd 熊猫外卖 has become a world-leading lifestyle platform, operating in ten countries around the world with more than 3.5 million registered customers and 60 thousand merchant partners covering ready food, fresh and grocery.

My probation period started this Monday, I was welcomed by friendly colleagues in the office based in Holborn. I used to live near Russell Square, and I remember last April how I was walking back and forth on that same road, going to the Bush House to write my essays and dissertation.??

One thing that strikes me is that although at the very beginning I never thought of being trained in a company, now I feel it is a perfect starting point for my career as a human rights lawyer. It may sound odd, but it makes perfect sense.

At The Dickson Poon School of Law, I developed an interest in Business and Human Rights, thanks to the distinguished professor ees van Dam, who is also the supervisor of my dissertation. With all the interrogation and inspiration on how to hold the big multinationals accountable and seek remedies for those who are adversely impacted in different jurisdictions and different forums, one of his marvellous lectures is actually named 'Enhancing Human Rights Protection: A Company Lawyer's Business', given on his Inaugural Lecture Rotterdam School of Management in September 2015.

Watch the lecture here, and you can also read it here.

He said, and I quote here: '...an active or proactive corporate human rights agenda is possible. In the world of today, such an agenda is not only possible but is an urgent necessity. Some multinational companies...are ambitious enough to implement active and proactive human rights policies. The same goes for an increasing number of startups and young companies that make respecting or enhancing human rights the core of their corporate identity.' 'My argument put forward today is that the company lawyer can play an important role in this process of change to respect and enhance human rights. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the legal thing to do.'

It also resonates with the corporate purpose debate in my 'Transnational and Comparative Corporate Law and Corporate Governance ' led by Dionysia Katelouzou: the shareholder values primacy, or the pluralist/stakeholder theory. Furthermore, how to bridge the gap? Taking account of a wider group of constituents, rather than focusing on shareholders, is to engender trust between the company and its various participants - such as the suppliers, staff, customers and the wider community, therefore, is a business-sound decision-making process.

I am really grateful for being allowed to observe, engage in the actual business case, as well as analyse and reflect on the legal case at the forefront. My supervisor Michael Li is a good teacher for me, extremely experienced, patient, supportive, and diligent. Only the first week, he has been consciously training me, testing me and giving me honest and realistic feedback. I am encouraged to take thorough ownership of each task and endeavour for optimal performance.

He entrusted me to review the Staff Handbook comprehensively and to perfect existing policies such as grievance procedures, and personal data protection - which I see as an exceptional opportunity to shape the culture of the company and make a positive contribution.

I am really happy to join a team that is young, open, flexible and constantly self-improving. And I look forward to meeting and working with my new colleague who is gonna be at the office the next week.?

I will keep sharing my experiences and thoughts here on LinkedIn, if you like it, please donate 1 pound to Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on my justgiving page, and/or share this article with your LinkedIn contacts, as I am currently raising funds for them.?

Thank you!