Gigi Hill from Winston Taylor chats about her experience growing up in Hong Kong and being part of her company’s LGBTQIA+ network
BY MYGWORK, IMAGE PROVIDED
In a candid conversation with myGwork, trainee solicitor Gigi Hill opens up about coming into her identity as a queer woman and the profound experience of stepping into an LGBTQ+ network role at a global firm.
Gigi is now a trainee at international law firm Winston Taylor, after spending time in biology labs, working with medical charities and trying her hand at science communication. Her journey spans continents and careers, and at its core sits a commitment to people: their wellbeing, their rights and their access to opportunity.
Gigi was born in Hong Kong to British parents who moved there in their twenties and stayed for nearly four decades. “I lived there until I was 19, so it’s very much home,” she says. Growing up, her life revolved around an international school community where classmates came from all over the world. Hong Kong’s compact size and relative safety gave her freedom. “It was a great place to grow up because it’s quite small, quite safe, and also quite warm. You can go to the beach on the weekends, do lots of hikes.”
From early on, education opened doors. University felt like an expected next step, and for many international students that meant leaving Hong Kong. Gigi chose the University of York in the UK and a degree in biology, influenced in part by a motivational teacher who inspired her.
York also gave her a chance to explore her passion for community building. The university’s collegiate system meant students had smaller home communities within the wider campus. “I got involved in a lot of theatre and also student wellbeing,” she says. “I was the wellbeing champion for the college, which I enjoyed.” Those experiences would later become the foundation of her diversity and inclusion work at Winston Taylor.
After graduating, Gigi realised her future did not lie in lab research, discovering a preference for a more personal approach. “What I really loved doing was talking to people about science,” she says. She became a science communicator for medical research charities and institutes, translating complex research into accessible stories. That role introduced her to the commercial side of science: intellectual property, regulation in life sciences and healthcare, and early-stage venture capital and corporate transactions. “That’s where I became really interested in the commercialisation side of research,” she explains.
Those interests eventually led to a bold decision when, in her mid-twenties, Gigi chose to retrain as a lawyer. Many of her peers in law had followed a more traditional path from undergraduate degree straight into legal training, but Gigi arrived with a clear sense of purpose. “It was a huge achievement making the pivot,” she reflects. “It’s hard to get into law. It’s hard to get a training contract. I had to be able to articulate why I wanted to make the change and also being a little bit older, really not letting that get in my way.”
That shift demanded confidence that had been years in the making. “It was a couple of years of being in the workplace and building my confidence to think, I can take a job that’s going to be quite challenging. I can do it. I’m smart enough. I’ve got good interpersonal skills,” she says. The result is a career that brings together her love of science, people and advocacy in a single role.
Alongside her professional path, Gigi’s personal life and sense of identity have been evolving. She is in a same-sex relationship and recently became engaged. “I actually have a fiancée now, which is very exciting,” she shares, smiling. “I feel very grateful that we get to get married in England and that’s something that is in our laws.”
Her gratitude is shaped by the legal landscape she grew up with. “In Hong Kong, there’s not a very big LGBT community at all,” she explains. Same sex relationships are legal there, although marriages are not performed locally. The absence of marriage equality affects adoption, access to fertility treatment and inheritance rules.
“There wouldn’t be joint adoption of children. There isn’t access to assisted reproductive technologies for same sex couples,” she says. Some progress has come through the recognition of foreign same sex marriages and case by case litigation, yet broad anti-discrimination protections still do not exist.
“Unfortunately, people can still be discriminated against in housing and employment, and it can only really be challenged case by case, which is very expensive and takes a lot of time and advocacy.”
Being raised in that context meant Gigi had limited contact with any organised LGBTQIA+ community. Even at university, involvement felt out of reach for a while.
“I was part of the wellbeing group, although I wasn’t really at the stage where I felt comfortable enough or identified enough with the LGBT community to feel like I could or wanted to get involved. The ways that I initially got involved was actually through social media. I started following a lot of LGBT people, particularly when I moved to London.”
After the isolation of the COVID-19 period, Gigi decided to engage more actively. Starting a new career in law offered a kind of personal reset. “After the pandemic, when I’d been stuck without the opportunity to get involved in the community, I thought, okay, I really need to go for it and do it,” she says. Joining Winston Taylor marked that turning point. “I felt this was a time to be brave and feel like I’m coming out at work.”
Gigi now serves as a representative for Winston Taylor’s LGBTQIA+ network, something she clearly relishes. “I’ve really enjoyed being out and sharing information and events,” she says. “I like knowing that people can come and speak to me if they’re having any problems or even have ideas for different celebrations.”
Those networks form a visible part of life at the firm. Alongside the LGBTQIA+ group, Winston Taylor has a family network and a race equality network, amongst others. “These are really prominent in recruitment events and onboarding,” she explains. Responsible business representatives help coordinate activity, and network members shape the calendar. “There’s strength in numbers and in it being driven by staff. We’re all involved in deciding what speakers we’re interested in or what we want to hear about.”
Crucially, support exists at every level of seniority. Gigi is an LGBTQIA+ champion at junior level, joined by colleagues at associate and partner level. Each network has a budget, which enables events and attendance at external awards. Policy work also plays a major role. “In our family policy we have provisions around surrogacy and adoption, and also around fertility treatment,” she explains. “It is about thinking about all the different ways that people live and have families.”
Across her career, Gigi has witnessed meaningful development in how organisations approach diversity and inclusion. “I’ve noticed more formalised networks and events, and more information that is available,” she says. Her experience in smaller organisations earlier in her working life showed her how powerful it can be when even a modest employer backs staff-led activity and celebrations. At Winston Taylor, she values the clarity of policies that affirm LGBTQIA+ colleagues and their families.
She is acutely aware of the global pressures facing inclusion initiatives, particularly in the legal sector. “For companies to be standing behind their policies and still supporting networks and putting money behind them is really great. We need to continue and maintain that.”
For Gigi, LGBTQIA+ equality demands ongoing effort: maintaining representation, sustaining progressive policies and speaking clearly about the value of equity, diversity and inclusion. Looking ahead, she is keen to see global firms push further.
“I’m interested in understanding how to help to improve things internationally.” Winston Taylor, like many large corporations, operates in jurisdictions where LGBTQ+ rights lag many years behind those in England. “What can we do to help and influence in those countries as well?”
Winston Taylor is a proud partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ business community. Find out more about LGBTQ+-friendly job opportunities at Winston Taylor.
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