By Alex Liu Hong Kong, 5 January 2022: The new year begins with welcome news for Hong Kong and Mainland China’s huge cross-border business community: long-awaited legislation to enhance legal co-operation between the two jurisdictions is imminent. The Department of Justice is currently conducting a public consultation – ending on 31 January – on its […]
By Allison Lee Hong Kong, 30 December 2021: Our government’s recently released Poverty Situation Report made for distressing reading, especially with regard to the number of children in Hong Kong struggling through life in impoverished circumstances. Nearly 275,000 minors aged under 18 were living in poverty in 2020, according to the report, a figure reduced […]
Hong Kong, 29 December 2021: Put on your face mask, check your temperature and use the LeaveHomeSafe app. Then, with health protocols duly observed, please join my whistle-stop tour of 2021 … January: Are we learning our lessons? No. Hong Kong’s schools and universities stay closed, this after students have spent less than 20 weeks […]
By Arthur Chan Hong Kong, 28 December 2021: Major changes in the way lawyers are paid for arbitration cases – including the option of tying their fee to a successful outcome – appear likely to be implemented in Hong Kong. The move would bring the city into line with most of the world’s leading arbitral […]
Hong Kong, 15 December 2021: Just over two years ago – mid-protests and pre-Covid – I took part in a panel discussion on sports law at the LAWASIA Conference in Hong Kong. In doing so, I gave a presentation highlighting several historical examples of litigious sports disputes, both here and overseas, where the action shifted […]
By Allison Lee Hong Kong, 9 December 2021: Almost a fifth of divorce cases filed in Hong Kong involve marriages that took place in the Mainland. On average, more than 4,000 cross-border couples per year seek to have their marriages ended via the courts here. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; the […]
By Fiona Chan Hong Kong, 8 December 2021: In a landmark judgment, the Court of Appeal has ordered the Inland Revenue Department to repay the stamp duty it charged two sisters who became owners of their late mother’s flat by voluntary arrangement with their three siblings. The ruling – delivered in the case of Wong […]
Hong Kong, 1 December 2021: “Please, sir, I want some more.” These, of course, are the famous words spoken by the eponymous young orphan in Charles Dickens’ celebrated novel Oliver Twist as he timidly asks the master of the workhouse for a further helping of gruel. As with many of his epic works, the lauded […]
By Arthur Chan and Jasmine Kwong Hong Kong, 24 November 2021: The Immigration Department appears to be taking a stronger stance over its requirement that foreign domestic helpers should have a clear criminal record in order to obtain a work visa. However, this toughening of attitude gives rise to fresh questions about how future applications […]
By Colin Cohen Hong Kong, 19 November 2021: In a much-anticipated judgment, the Court of Final Appeal has upheld the exclusive right of male indigenous villagers in the New Territories to build their own homes, ruling that the so-called Small House Policy is constitutional in its entirety. The judges have declared this right is protected […]
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Old habits and an escalating problem
Hong Kong, 13 November 2024: In a fast-moving world, Akshinthala Seshu Babu has made his name by being anything but. The tenacious Indian holds the world record for remaining motionless, clocking a remarkable 35 hours without twitching a muscle, all while dressed up as his hero Mahatma Gandhi. “I want to spread Ghandi’s message about […]
Hong Kong, 11 November 2024: The impact of artificial intelligence on the legal profession was examined when our Senior Partner Colin Cohen and Managing Partner Alex Liu attended Ally Law’s Asia Pacific Conference in Australia’s Gold Coast. Themed “AI & Authenticity”, the gathering examined how the rapid advance of AI is now helping law firms […]
By Jeffrey Chan, Leann Au and Waverly Chan Hong Kong, 7 November 2024: The plight of tenants living in subdivided units (“SDUs”) has long been a pressing problem in Hong Kong. Currently, some 220,000 people reside in the city’s 110,000 SDUs, many of which offer undesirable living conditions, including limited space, inadequate fire safety and […]
Hong Kong, 4 November 2024: In this episode, we meet former Director of Public Prosecutions and later Justice of Appeal Ian McWalters, who looks back on his upbringing in Australia, adventurous days as a lawyer in Papua New Guinea, and four decades of stellar service in the Hong Kong legal profession. He speaks with our […]
Hong Kong, 16 October 2024: “Getting your head down, sweetie? Jolly good idea!” So says Leonard Rossiter after causing Joan Collins to spill a drink on herself aboard a flight. It was one of a series of classic TV ads starring the pair promoting Cinzano vermouth, with Rossiter’s social-climbing buffoonery always ensuring the icily elegant […]