I did that too, one summer holiday, in 1992. It was fun, although, even without the benefit of hindsight, the firm I worked for was run like a madhouse.
Perhaps I should explain what I do. Amongst other things, I chase counterfeiters in South East Asia and China. I used to do it at another firm, until 2 months ago, when I moved. One of the clients at my old firm was DC Comics. I had to chase some guy who'd registered ""Superman"" in Chinese characters and wanted to use it on underwear or something silly. Nowadays I do work for Hugo Boss, Colgate-Palmolive and some others. Its actually pretty interesting. I do some copyright work too, usually involving e-commerce.
When I was in Australia, I was doing (primarily) commercial litigation. It was a real grind - constant butting of heads, incredible stress, gut-wrenching results and decisions. I sort of enjoyed it though, because it was really challengng - sort of like a chess game, with very complicated rules. Its not ""no holds barred"", but it is ""take no prisoners"". That sort of work takes its toll on some clients, though, because of what is at stake - livelihoods, businesses they've been building up for years, large amounts of money. I could get blase about the stress, because dealing with it day-in day-out you develop mechanisms to cope with it, but some of my clients really suffered, terribly. Part of the deal in litigation is to wear your opponent out, because if they're exhausted they'll capitulate. But its no fun watching people you've grown to respect and like wither or crumple under intense pressure, and there is only so much you can absorb for them. I got along well with my clients - some of them were kind enough to give me some really nice farewell gifts - but they'd see me every week or so with a mixture of friendliness, wary anticipation, and exhaustion.
My job here in HK is nicer. Multi-national corporations don't feel the stress in the same personal way.
My best job ever though was working in a bar at a 5 star hotel which overlooked the beach when I was putting myself through university. That was good fun. I had a tan back then - nowadays, I'm office ghost white.
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