Life’s Path: From Lecture Halls to Law Practice

Last week, I had the privilege of returning to familiar academic grounds — speaking at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University to a group of soon-to-graduate students. Standing at the lectern, gazing at faces filled with anticipation, I felt a sense of déjà vu. Their hopeful eyes reminded me of my younger self and transported me back to the days when I served as a teaching assistant at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Walking once again through lecture halls and courtyards, it was as if time had folded back upon itself. The past felt startlingly near, though years have already slipped quietly by.

My own professional journey has been anything but predictable. From academia, I found myself drawn into the demanding pace of investment banking before life eventually led me here, to Australia, where I established my own law firm. If one were to ask whether I had a clear plan or carefully charted vision for this path, my honest answer would be: not at all.

We often comfort ourselves with the idea that we are making choices, that we are in control of our direction. Yet, with the benefit of hindsight, I see how often it was life that chose me. Doors opened, others closed, and what felt like chance became the very structure of my story.

So when students ask, “What should I do? Which way should I go?” I find myself unable to give prescriptive advice. The truth is, I never truly knew either. But perhaps that is the point: we do not need to know. We simply need to walk, to remain attentive, and to let life reveal its paths.

There is a line of Chinese poetry that has always guided me: “行到水窮處，坐看雲起時.” Roughly translated, it means, “When you reach the end of the stream, sit and watch the clouds rise.” It is a reminder that when one path seems to end, another perspective will always emerge.

No worries. Life will find a way.