We are glad that all our 4 trainee solicitors will join us as Associates after completing their traineeship in July 2016. Ms. Eugenia Ip will join our Intellectual Property Department, Mr. Jason Ho will join our Conveyancing & Probate Department, Ms. Jenny Wong will join our Dispute Resolution Department and Mr. Sunny Chan will join our Corporate & Commercial Department.
We represent the parents, whose son was the Respondent (the Husband) in a divorce suit. The parents joined as parties in their son’s divorce suit (FCMC 16239/2013). The reason for our clients’ intervention was that the Husband held assets under his name on trust for either or both of his parents and the wife believed those assets belonged to the Husband beneficially and relied on the presumption of advancement. The trial judge accepted that our clients have discharged the required burden of proof, decided that the assets in questions are all their assets and the Husband has no beneficial interests in those assets.
Our Senior Partner Peter Sit has been re-appointed by the Chief Executive as a member of the Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service for two years, effective from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2018. Peter Sit gladly accepted the re-appointment.
We have successfully obtained an order on legal costs from the Court for our client against the Petitioner in respect of a section 168A Petition under the then applicable Companies Ordinance filed against our client in HCMP 438/2010. The dispute was related to alleged unfair prejudicial conduct allegedly committed by our client when she was the director and shareholder of a company operating a renowned Chinese restaurant, Fook Lam Moon. The Petition was filed against our client in 2010. We have advised our client throughout the legal proceedings, contested the petition and the petition was finally withdrawn by the Petitioner.
In December 2014, we represented our client, one of the specified persons in the inquiry held at the Market Misconduct Tribunal concerning allegation of insider’s dealing of shares in Asia TeleMedia Limited (now known as Reorient Group Limited). The long-awaited report of the Tribunal has now been published on 26 November 2015. With great pleasure, we are pleased to announce that our client is not identified as an insider dealer pursuant to s.271(3) of the Securities and Futures Ordinance.
Our litigation team handling the matter comprised of our consultant Ms. Sylvia Siu J.P. and assisted by associate Ms. Regina Ng.
For the Tribunal’s full report, please visit:
http://www.mmt.gov.hk/eng/reports/Report_of_ATML_e.pdf
We acted for one of our major clients in the disposal of MassMutual Tower by way of sale and purchase of the shares and loans in the holding company. The agreement was entered into on 12 November 2015 and completion is due within 6 months of the agreement. The total transaction price was HK$12,500,000,000 and it has been reported in the press to be a record sale.
The transaction was handled by our partners Joseph Wong and Peter Sit and assisted by associate Vivian Ng, trainee solicitors Sunny Chan and Veronica Wong.
We are pleased to announce that our trainee solicitor Ms. Daisy Chong was admitted on 10 October 2015 by the High Court as Solicitor. Our partner, Mr. Tommy Tam, is the principal of Daisy and our senior associate, Ms. Angela Wong, moved Daisy for her admission.
Ms. Daisy Chong will stay with our firm as Associate whose focus will be on Corporate and Commercial work.
We sold the House situated at 22 Barker Road by way of a sale of the shares and loans in the company holding the property on behalf of a trust. In this complex transaction, our corporate team collaborated with our property team to deal with various aspects of the transaction from end April 2015 to early August 2015 when completion took place.
There was unconfirmed news that Mr Jack Ma, chairman of the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, owned the purchaser and he paid about HK$151,653 per square foot for the 9,900 sq ft, three-storeyed mansion at the Peak. It has been further reported that the property was the second most expensive mansion in the world per square foot.
Our senior associate Olson Lai and our senior partner Peter Sit handled the corporate commercial aspects and our partner Margaret Choi, associate Maggie Lee and trainee solicitor Jason Ho handled the property aspects of the sale.
On 4 July 2015, our associate, Ms. Caddy Mo, attended an in-house seminar organized by Hong Kong United Foundation Limited (which operates a website called “Speak Out Hong Kong”) and gave a presentation on current media law. A wide array of topics were discussed, including defamation, contempt of court, privacy, restrictions on news gathering activities and copyright. Interesting questions focusing on defamation and possible defences as well as copyright issues in the cyber world were raised and warmly discussed among the twenty-odd attendees of the seminar. Our senior partner, Mr. Peter Sit, had also attended and shared his experience and observations on some of the reported cases. Our summer intern Daphne So had attended and joined in the discussions.
Our senior partner Peter Sit accepted the Government’s invitation to serve as a member of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Council for a three-year term from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018.
On 6 and 7 March 2015, our partner, Mr Alex Chan attended a 2-day ILN Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Shanghai, organized by the International Lawyers Network. There were 19 delegates from 13 different countries and cities (Hong Kong & Shanghai (PRC), Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Manila (Philippines), Moscow (Russia), Milan (Italy), Berlin(Germany) and New York & Miami (USA)) attending the conference. The Delegates discussed and exchanged their views on legal issues and developments on Trade and Free Trade Agreements within Asia Pacific, Cross-border Investment & Mergers and Acquisitions and Chinese Outbound Investment.
Since 2001, we have used a customized sophisticated computer software system to assist the management and monitoring of SFKS’s many thousands of intellectual property (including patents and trademarks) cases. Our firm has been continuously upgrading both the software as well as training of our professional staff on the use of such system. Two intensive professional training sessions were conducted on the 24th and 26th January 2015 in the Board Room of our office with 16 of our IP staff attending the training.
The purpose of the training course is to reinforce the fundamental skill of our newly admitted staff and to further upgrade the skill of our experienced staff in the use of this sophisticated software programme. The maintenance and enhancement of our IP management system will ensure that all our clients’ cases are properly monitored and attended to in a timely manner which are of vital importance in the safeguarding of our clients’ intellectual property rights worldwide.
