By Gabriella Chan Hong Kong, 25 April 2023: In our recent blog concerning the legal rights and responsibilities of unmarried parents, we highlighted that a minor may apply to the court for a declaration that a person is, in the eyes of the law, their parent (usually father) and that they are the legitimate child […]
Gold Coast, Australia, 12 April 2023: It’s remembered as the “Miracle on Ice”. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the US men’s ice hockey team – a no-hope bunch of amateurs and minor leaguers – stunned the mighty Soviet Union, four-time defending champions, 4-3 in an epic medal round clash. The humble hosts […]
By Alex Liu Hong Kong, 6 April 2023: Homeowners who carry out illegal construction work in the belief they will get away with it are being forewarned that the authorities will soon be taking a tougher stance. A report by the Ombudsman has outlined multiple ways to speed up enforcement action against so-called unauthorised building […]
By Gabriella Chan Hong Kong, 4 April 2023: There is a telling sentence on the Department of Justice’s website relating to the custody and upbringing of children. It states: “The rights and authority of the mother and father of a child are equal except where the child is born out of wedlock, in which case […]
Hong Kong, 29 March 2023: It takes about 10 minutes to walk briskly from our office building in Queen’s Road East to the Wanchai waterfront. You must cross several busy roads, either at traffic lights or via footbridges, before reaching the promenade by the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where you can admire this […]
By Claire Chow Hong Kong, 22 March 2023: So-called smart homes have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many households installing surveillance cameras that allow the user to check what is happening at their residence, via mobile phone, while they are out and about. Such devices, which have the capacity to record, are seen […]
Sydney, 15 March 2023: Everything Everywhere All at Once – an Oscars-dominating movie and an apt description of my travel schedule, which has taken me to Bangkok, Tokyo and now Sydney, where I’ve just arrived for the AGM of Ally Law. Only a few months ago, plane-hopping in and out of Hong Kong was unthinkable, […]
By Gabriella Chan Hong Kong, 10 March 2023: It is well documented that marriage in Hong Kong is on the decline. Figures released by the Census and Statistics Department last summer revealed the crude marriage rate – the number of marriages per 1,000 in the population – hit 30-year lows of 6.7 for women and […]
Hong Kong, 1 March 2023: “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor,” observed ex-US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Certainly, the 150 students taking part in this weekend’s BC&C Inter-School Sailing Festival have navigated stormy waters these past three years. Covid-19 has brought class suspensions, online learning, separation from friends, cancellation of sports, constant mask-wearing […]
By Alex Liu Hong Kong, 27 February 2023: It is reasonable to say Covid-19 has irrevocably changed the way we work. Even as the world returns to normal, certain pandemic-induced practices – such as working from home, flexible hours and vastly increased use of video conferencing technology – are here to stay. This has been […]
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Poised to enter the five-ring circus
Hong Kong, 26 November 2025: “It’s not the winning, but the taking part.” I doubt Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt had the famous words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin on his mind as he stormed to 100m gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Only victory would do. Sitting near the finish line, I was privileged […]
By Jeffrey Chan Hong Kong, 20 November 2025: A High Court judgment in which a senior executive successfully sued his employer for sacking him over alleged “fraudulent” expense claims raises critical questions over employment law and corporate governance. The ruling, which saw the plaintiff win more than HK$5.4 million in damages for wrongful dismissal, provides […]
Hong Kong, 19 November 2025: Acclaimed financial crime specialist Ian Winter KC kept a large audience enthralled in delivering the seventh annual HKU-Boase Cohen & Collins Criminal Law Lecture. His talk – entitled “Conspiracy to Defraud: Deceased or Only Wounded?” – offered a forensic analysis of how the offence has evolved over many centuries of […]
By Alex Liu and John Zhou Hong Kong, 28 October 2025: In a landmark judgment, the Court of Final Appeal has provided clarity over the cross-border transfer of working papers for litigation, specifically the jurisdiction of a Hong Kong court to issue a letter of request (“LOR”) to an overseas court to obtain documents to […]
Hong Kong, 22 October 2025: In this episode, we meet former judge Bebe Chu, a leading authority in the field of family law. Bebe reflects on her upbringing in Hong Kong, early days as a solicitor and her subsequent career in the Judiciary, where she was eventually appointed as Judge with Special Responsibilities for Family […]