In the early 2000s, Lorna Chen was a recent graduate of Columbia Law School and a junior associate at the global law firm Shearman & Sterling. Ten years later, she was one of three members of her 2001 associate class promoted to partner. Since then, she has climbed to the upper echelons of her profession: She is Asia regional managing partner in charge of six Shearman offices. She is head of the firm's three Greater China offices. And she is a member of the global firm's Executive Group. 

Chen is part of an expanding group of women lawyers overseeing the Asia operations of some of the world's largest law firms. While women elsewhere are slowly rising to upper management positions at global firms, women in Asia are ahead of the curve.