We are acting for Sun Hung Kai Properties in the sale of residential units in “Victoria Harbour (海璇)” of Phase 1B of the Victoria Harbour Development (海璇發展項目). “Victoria Harbour (海璇)” provides a total of 355 residential units in which our firm is responsible for handling around 71 of them. The project is led by our partner Ms. Margaret Choi and assisted by Ms. Angela Wong (senior associate), Mr. William Chan (associate) and a team of experienced conveyancing clerks.
We are acting for a subsidiary of Emperor International Holdings Limited (Stock Code: 163) assisting with various pre-sale matters and the sale of the residential project now known as “Peak Castle (珀居)” under the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance (Cap 621). The project is led by our partner Ms. Margaret Choi and assisted by Ms. Angela Wong (senior associate), Mr. William Chan (associate) and a team of experienced conveyancing clerks.
Our Senior Partner Peter Sit has been appointed as a member of the Governance Nomination and Development Committee of Hong Kong Red Cross for a term from 1 July 2018 to 31 August 2019.
Our Senior Partner Mr Peter Sit was admitted to the Law Society's Roll of Honour on 31 May 2018 in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the Law Society, the development of the legal profession and the practice of law in Hong Kong.
Senior Partner C. K. Kwong was invited to speak at a gathering of Chinese entrepreneurs organised by the Mind Blue Consultant Group at Hong Kong Park Lane Pullman Hotel on the 23rd May 2018. Mr. Kwong addressed the audience on Main Board and GEM listing requirements in Hong Kong as well as the latest development on (1) primary listing of innovative companies with Weighted Voting Rights (WVRs); (2) primary listing of pre-revenue biotech companies; and (3) secondary listing of innovative companies (with or without WVRs and including those from Greater China) on the Main Board.
The PowerPoint used by Mr. Kwong (in Chinese only) can be found at below.
The talk was followed by enthusiastic discussions with the participants.
Senior Partner C. K. Kwong was invited by the Hong Kong Government Department of Justice, in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the Special Committee on Evaluative Mediation (評估式調解特別委員會副主席) to deliver a talk on “Mediating IP Disputes in the Entertainment Industry” at Justice Place on 15th May 2018.
The Mediation and Entertainment Industry Seminar (如何以調解解決娛樂行業的相關糾紛研討會) was organized by the Department of Justice as special theme event for the Mediation Week.
The powerpoint used by Mr. Kwong (in Chinese only) can be found at below.
Our Consultant Sylvia Siu was also invited to moderate a session which immediately followed Mr. Kwong’s talk. Ms. Cally Kwong (Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress), Dr. Haywood Cheung (President, The Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society) and Mr. Eddie Chan (Executive Director, Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers’ Film Professionals Training Programme) took part as panelists.
It was a full house and well attended by stakeholders and experts in the industry.
Senior Partner C. K. Kwong chaired a high power panel discussion on “Recent Developments of Mediation in Hong Kong: Apology Ordinance, Evaluative Mediation and Third Party Funding” with Professor Robyn Carroll of the University of Western Australia, Ombudsman Connie Lau JP, former New Zealand High Court Judge Robert Fisher QC, Professor T. K. Iu and International Arbitrator, Kim Rooney at the Mediation Conference on 18th May 2018 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre organized by the Department of Justice.
These latest developments further enhanced Hong Kong’s infrastructure to fulfil its role as the center of dispute resolution in the Asian Region and in the context of the bigger scheme under the Belt & Road Initiative. The fundamental issues of level playing field, access to justice and promotion of settlement which are important for trade and commerce are addressed. Mr. Kwong’s session immediately followed the keynote speech by Secretary for Justice, Ms. Teresa Cheng. This event ended with the closing remarks made by the Honourable Justice Johnson Lam, V-P.
We recently obtained Judgment of the Hong Kong High Court in favour of our client concerning an agreement made relating to the listing of a Hong Kong listed company and performance of certain pre-listing and post-listing obligations. The end result is that we have successfully assisted our client in defending against loan claims totaling HK$35 million and counter-claiming against the former chairman cum controlling shareholder of the listed company for a sum of over HK$51 million with interest and costs after trial.
The subject proceedings have lasted for almost 5 years and involve numerous factual disputes on events dating back for up to 15 years. Our client succeeded on the claims in full notwithstanding that the subject agreement was made orally back in 2003 and many of the potential supporting documents were no longer retrievable. The opposite parties raised 12 points of challenge (as well as a number of other points which were eventually abandoned by the end of the trial) to attack our client’s case and evidence, but all of them were rejected by the trial judge.
The trial of the cases also involved some interesting issues, e.g. question on abuse of process concerning factual findings already made by a foreign Court on the same factual disputes between related parties, last-minute applications for permission to give evidence via video link, authenticity of documentary exhibits sought to be used by opposite parties and complaint of uttering forged documents in court proceedings.
This litigation is conducted by our Senior Associate Mr. Sidney Ho, assisting our Senior Partner Mr. Peter Sit and our Litigation Partner Mr. Roy Leung.
We are representing the majority owners (approximately 84%) of an industrial building in Kwun Tong and have recently commenced legal proceedings in the Lands Tribunal under the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance (Chapter 545) seeking for an order to sell all the undivided shares in the building by way of public auction for redevelopment purpose. We also assist clients in dealing with pre-action negotiations with the minority owners, and team up with valuation experts, structural engineers and building surveyors in the process to deal with all relevant legal requirements provided in the Ordinance.
The redevelopment value of the building is estimated to be over HK$1.7 billion.
Our Litigation Partner, Mr. Roy Leung, handles this case, and is assisted by our Litigation Associate Mr. Ricky Cheung and our Trainee Solicitor Ms. Heike Chau.
Our litigation partner, Mr. Roy Leung, recently went to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to assist our client in making an application to the BVI court for directions to be given to the Joint Liquidators for proper process of liquidation. The case concerns a typical situation where the BVI company is merely a holding vehicle of a wholly-owned subsidiary which further indirectly holds shares in a Hong Kong company with substantial businesses operated in Hong Kong.
Despite the time difference of 12 hours, our team has worked seamlessly with local BVI lawyers as well as Queen’s Counsel in this cross-border litigation in order to help our client take care of issues arising in the BVI and Hong Kong.
We have provided support and assistance to a client, British Virgin Islands (BVI) lawyers and Queen’s Counsel in the United Kingdom in respect of a trial of a BVI court action (lasting 23 days from November 2017 to February 2018) concerning a dispute amongst shareholders of a platinum 5-Star hotel project in the PRC.
Our legal team, including our litigation partner Mr. Roy Leung and our senior litigation associate Mr. Sidney Ho, has travelled to the BVI, Saint Lucia (where the BVI Court was then temporarily relocated to due to Hurricane Irma) and London for this purpose and has achieved synergy with legal teams in Hong Kong, the BVI, the United Kingdom and Saint Lucia for maximizing the interest of our client.
We successfully defended a doctor in a Medical Council disciplinary inquiry against two charges of professional misconduct.
The doctor was charged for failing to explain the nature of a box of cream to the complainant and to label the box of cream appropriately. This is remarkably the first time a doctor in Hong Kong is charged for professional misconduct in prescribing a non-medicine (the box of cream in the present case). These unprecedented charges were tested by our complex legal arguments on the application of the Code of Professional Conduct of the Medical Council to non-medicines. This is also a rare case where conflicting factual disputes were involved in a Medical Council inquiry, as the doctor defended that the box of cream in question had not been prescribed by him to the complainant. In acquitting the doctor for both counts, the Council accepted the defence’s submissions that paragraph 9 of the Code of Professional Conduct of the Medical Council does not apply to non-medicines, and that the legal officer failed to prove that the box of cream in question was in fact a medicine prescribed by the doctor.
The full acquittal is an impressive result, particularly in view of the extremely high conviction rate (93% in average from 2005 to 2015) of disciplinary proceedings with the Medical Council. This case is handled by our Litigation Partner Mr. Roy Leung, assisted by our Litigation Associate Mr. Mathew Liu.
