As a young girl growing up in Britain, Teresa Ko Yuk-yin dreamed of designing clothes. Instead, she has fashioned a career in law.
In April, 51-year-old Ko was named the inaugural China chairman of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, making her the international law firm's only head of a region and underscoring the mainland's importance. Founded in Britain 260 years ago, Freshfields employs 2,500 lawyers in 16 countries. Of its 470 partners, only 12 per cent are women, and Ko is the most senior female.
In 2009, Ko became the first woman to head the Hong Kong stock exchange's influential listing committee. The committee, consisting of lawyers, stockbrokers, accountants, fund managers and the representatives of listed companies, meets weekly to approve new listings.
Born in Hong Kong, she went to university in Britain. Her father objected to her plan to be a fashion designer, so she went into law, obtaining a first class masters degree in law from Jesus College at Cambridge, and then qualifying as a solicitor in Hong Kong, England and Wales.
Her first job as a student in the Britain was clearing tables at a restaurant. She earned GBP5 for an eight-hour day. She joined Freshfields' Hong Kong office in 1988, and then handled the stock market listings of many of the mainland megafirms, such as Shanghai Petrochemical in 1993, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006 and Agricultural Bank of China in 2009.
Like for many professional women, achieving work-life balance is a challenge. Married to an architect and the mother of two teenagers, Ko says she puts in 'too many' hours a week on the job, doable only because 'I am fortunate to have a very supportive husband and family'.