Summer Experience: Andy Wong ’24, ’27L This past summer, Andy Wong worked as a Summer Associate at Kirkland & Ellis in New York.

Andy Wong (front row, third from left) participated in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge run sponsored by his firm.

Andy Wong ‘24, ‘27L is a third-year law student originally from Hong Kong. He is an active member of the W&L community, serving as Professional Development Chair of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA), a member of the W&L Basketball Club, a Housing Corporation Board Member for Phi Kappa Psi Virginia Beta Chapter, and a Student Attorney in the W&L Tax Clinic. He also serves as Director of Professional Development for the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (NAPALSA). This past summer he worked as a Corporate (General) Summer Associate at Kirkland & Ellis in New York. After law school, Andy plans to return to Kirkland & Ellis as a Corporate Associate in the firm’s New York office.

What did you do for work this summer?

I was a Corporate (General) Summer Associate at Kirkland & Ellis in the New York office. The firm has an entrepreneurial culture and an open assignment system — you network directly with partners and associates to find work that interests you. Over ten weeks, I was staffed on ten matters spanning public-company and private-company M&A, GP-stakes M&A, GP-led secondaries and fund formation, and CLO and infrastructure debt finance.

How did you find this position?

I applied directly through the firm’s application portal and networked extensively throughout the process, both to gain traction in the application stage and to prepare for interviews.

Describe your work and what surprised you about the experience.

I worked on a wide range of transactions, from drafting diligence charts and disclosure schedules for a $5.7 billion take-private, to leading the LP consent and election audit workstream for a GP-led continuation vehicle involving hundreds of limited partners, to drafting a side letter, term sheet, and client-facing market analysis deck for fund formation matters. Two things surprised me. First, how easy it is to get staffed on the types of deals you actually want to try. People are genuinely willing to bring you onto their matters if you show interest. Second, the level of responsibility. Under attorney supervision, I was sending work product directly to clients, responding or reaching out to LPs regarding submissions and inquiries, and coordinating with internal specialists and local counsel on issues across my deals. That kind of client-facing, quarterbacking role is something I never expected as a summer associate, but at Kirkland, they trust you to own your workstreams and contribute meaningfully from day one.

What were some skills you developed this summer?

The biggest skill I developed was learning how to adapt my work product to different attorneys’ preferences. Each partner and associate has their own drafting style, formatting conventions, and communication preferences. Getting reps across ten deals taught me how to read those preferences quickly and deliver work that makes the team’s life easier, which is ultimately what succeeding in a transactional practice is all about.

What was your favorite aspect of this summer work experience?

The variety of work and the people. I loved that no two weeks looked the same. One day I’d be on a management call for a public-company take-private, the next I’d be drafting closing documents for a CLO warehouse financing. And the attorneys I worked with were genuinely invested in my development and made the experience feel collaborative rather than hierarchical.

Has this experience helped you figure out post-graduate plans, and if so, how?

Absolutely. I’m returning to Kirkland & Ellis as a Corporate Associate in New York after graduation. The summer confirmed that transactional work — particularly the mix of M&A and fund-related matters — is exactly what I want to build a career around.

How do you think this experience will shape the rest of your time at W&L Law?

It’s given me a much clearer sense of how the concepts I learn in the classroom apply in practice. I’m heading into 3L year with a better understanding of what skills to sharpen, whether that’s in my Tax Clinic work, in elective courses, in learning to better leverage AI tools for legal practice, or in how I mentor underclassmen. Knowing where I’m headed makes it easier to be intentional about how I spend my last year.