Sit, Fung, Kwong & Shum (“SFKS”) and SFKS CK Kwong, Solicitors (“CKKS”) will cease to be associated with each other as from 1 January 2024. Accordingly, Mr Kwong Chi Keung of CKKS will also cease to be a consultant of SFKS as from 1 January 2024.
We recently hosted a Christmas Party to share festive joy and blessings.
Our Senior Partner Mr. Peter Sit presented a trophy to our Consultant Ms. Sylvia Siu JP to celebrate her triumph in 2023.
We openly thanked the following recipients of long service awards, for their loyal service:-
Mr. Law Shiu Chong, Managing Clerk of China-Appointed Attesting Officers (35 years)
Mr. Leung Wing Fai, Legal Executive (Conveyancing and Probate) (35 years)
Mr. Alex Chan, Consultant (30 years)
Ms. Leanne Ching, Secretary (20 years)
Ms. Monie Yau (Registration Department) (15 years)
We also congratulated the following three, for their promotion as our Senior Associates with effect from 1 January 2024:-
Ms. Ida Chan, Ms. Theresa Law, Mr. Mathew Liu
Unauthorized alteration of company registration information has become one of the prevalent modes of fraud. In several similar cases, we assisted corporate owner victims in the aftermath through civil proceedings as well as liaison with the Companies Registry (“CR”) and the Police.
Under section 62 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622, the “Ordinance”), the Registrar of the Companies (the “Registrar”) in performance of its statutory functions on registration of documents is not responsible for verifying (a) the truth of the information contained in a document delivered to the Registrar; or (b) the authority under which a document is delivered to the Registrar.
It is most regrettable that fraudsters are taking advantage of the system by unilaterally submitting false information e.g. resignation of directors and appointment of new directors / company secretaries, to the CR for registration.
Impugned documents containing false information had been registered accordingly, and as a result, in the eyes of third parties e.g. banks and business counterparties relying on registered information, would inevitably be misled to question the identity, or even refuse to accept the authority, of the director(s) who have purportedly ‘resigned’ though against their own will. Actively operating businesses were thus effectively paralyzed. Worse still, outsiders who had absolutely no relationship with the relevant companies might feign authority of those companies for improper purposes.
Amidst determination in identifying the culprits through investigations, victims are equally concerned with restoring the companies by removing the false information from the CR as soon as possible.
We assisted victims in commencing and going through court proceedings through applications under section 42 of the Ordinance, seeking a declaration that the impugned documents containing the false information be null and void, an order that such impugned documents be removed (or rectified) from the Companies Register, as well as ancillary orders. These applications were supported by affidavits setting out the material facts, written skeleton submissions with detailed analysis as well as authorities laying down the relevant principles in this area of law.
We are glad that our efforts were judicially recognized, activities of the relevant companies were hence restored. Reasons for decisions were handed down by the Companies Court in two of such cases: Chan Ting Fo v Wong Tsz Hong and Others [2023] HKCFI 3211 handed down this month, citing Cheung Wai Man Elmo v Ko Hok Shing and Others [2022] HKCFI 3668.
Further, we facilitated victims in continuous liaisons with the relevant authorities, namely, the CR and the Police, for the purpose of procuring investigation as well as legally permissible disclosure.
With our experience in this area, we are always ready to serve those in need as similar types of fraud remain rampant. Our Associate Mr. Mathew Liu has been in charge of the cases mentioned above, assisted by Trainee Solicitor Ms. Shirley Yu, Ms. Nicole Corpuz and Ms. Hayley Fong respectively.
On 8 November 2023, it was our honour to be visited by Vice President Madam He Wenhui, Vice President Mr. Zuo Mianzhang, and Executive council member Madam Li Yanna and Mr. Rong Yongyi of the Jiangmen Lawyers Association. Our firm's Mr. Peter Sit, Mr. Roy Leung, Mr. Simon Siu, and Ms. Jenny Wong gladly attended the meeting and had in-depth discussions with lawyers from Jiangmen on the development, trends, potentials, and opportunities in legal business in both Jiangmen and Hong Kong.
Jiangmen is one of the nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). Jiangmen, as a renowned hub for overseas Chinese, is home to numerous overseas Chinese and foreign-funded enterprises. The Jiangmen Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government place tremendous emphasis on the affairs relating to overseas Chinese, particularly in light of the rapid development of the GBA. This focus has brought a more extensive platform for both Hong Kong and mainland lawyers. SFKS will continue to engage in comprehensive exchange with the Jiangmen Lawyers Association and full-time lawyers across various legal domains in Jiangmen, ensuring the delivery of top-notch legal services to clients from both Hong Kong and the mainland, as well as contributing to the establishment of GBA in our motherland!
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Jiangmen Lawyers Association for gifting a fire-painted fan, a local specialty of Jiangmen Xinhui, to commemorate this meeting!
To strengthen our firm’s expertise in legal practice concerning building management issues, and as a token of our firm’s support to community service, our Associate Mr. Mathew Liu has completed a 5-day training course on property management organized by the Law Society of Hong Kong in September and October 2023. The course prepares Mr. Liu for joining our Partners Mr. Roy Leung and Mr. Sidney Ho as solicitor volunteers in the Home Affairs Department’s free legal advice service on building management.
Completing the course is also an extension of our regular and routine services in acting for incorporated owners, management companies and individual owners in building management matters. Recently, our Partner Mr. Roy Leung and Associate Mr. Mathew Liu were invited to attend an Annual General Meeting of a sizable and luxurious development in the Southern district to provide on-site legal support. In addition, we have been acting for a client in an arbitration concerning building management disputes between an incorporated owners and an individual owner, led by our Partner Mr. Tommy Tam, assisted by Mr. Mathew Liu and Paralegal (pending admission) Ms. Crystal Yip. On another case led by Mr. Tommy Tam, assisted by Trainee Ms. Nicole Corpuz, we are representing an incorporated owners in the enforcement of a court judgment against individual owners with satisfactory outcome. Throughout the years, we have also successfully completed applications for the formation of 19 owners’ incorporations upon the dissolution of civil servants co-operative building societies (led by our Partner Mr. Tommy Tam and assisted by our Senior Associate Mr. Trevor Lee).
Building management is an evolving area of law. The Chief Executive Mr. John Lee recently announced in the Policy Address 2023 that the Government will introduce a bill later this year to amend the Building Management Ordinance (BMO), to strengthen the regulations in respect of maintenance projects, minutes of meetings, financial statements, etc.. Solicitors of our firm will stay tuned on the law reform, in order to render up-to-date assistance in facilitating stakeholders in adapting to the improved statutory regulations.
The Chief Executive Mr. John Lee released the Policy Address 2023 on 25 October 2023, where various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) proposed in the Policy Address 2022 were reviewed. We gladly contributed to fulfilling a KPI in the Policy Address.
One of the KPIs proposed by the Chief Executive in the Policy Address 2023 requires to safeguard labour rights by releasing ex-gratia payment from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund (PWIF) within three months for simple and straight-forward applications and not more than six months for 90% of non-disputed and substantiated applications upon receipt of applications by the PWIF Application Office, with effect from the fourth quarter of 2022 (the “KPI”).
Under the statutory regime, ex-gratia payments are released to the affected employees by PWIF upon the filing of a winding-up or bankruptcy petition in the Court by an affected employee against the employer. We are one of the two panel firms of solicitors for PWIF assisting affected employees in filing petitions against employers in arrears of wages in a timely manner, for the purpose of expediting the disbursement of ex-gratia payments and safeguarding labour rights. With efficient legal support, the PWIF Office was acknowledged in the Policy Address 2023 to have approved relevant applications and released ex-gratia payment within the specified time limits. The KPI is recognized to be met.
We shall continue to provide structured and well-monitored legal service with the benefit of our legal team’s professional experience to match the SAR Government’s policy directions and to meet the expectations of clients and the public, in a result-oriented culture.
Our firm has acted for a majority shareholder of a Hong Kong company (a holding company of electronic and medical device subsidiaries in the PRC) in successfully defending a Petition for just and equitable winding up presented by the other minority shareholders of the company (the “Petition”).
Various legal arguments including the threshold to establish that a company was operating on the basis of a quasi-partnership, the issue of deadlock and the impact of an irrational refusal of a reasonable offer were considered during the trial. A submission of no case to answer was made on behalf of our client after the cross examination of the Petitioners on the ground that the Petitioners’ claims has no prospect of success even without taking into account our client’s evidence. Despite that it is relatively rare and more challenging to make a submission of no case in civil proceedings, we are pleased that the submission was subsequently accepted by the Court and the Petition has been dismissed accordingly with much less time and costs being incurred.
Our team is led by our partner Mr. Tommy Tam and assisted by our partner Mr. Sidney Ho, our associate Mr. Alan So, and our trainee solicitor Ms. Chloe Fan.
Our Senior Partner Mr. Peter Sit & our Partners Mr. Joseph Wong and Ms. Jenny Wong become the second batch of Hong Kong lawyers qualified to practise in the Greater Bay Area (“GBA”). After passing the written qualifying examination in June 2022, all of them proceeded to attend the training courses organised by the School of Lawyer of the South China Normal University in all weekends for almost 4 months, and passed the various assessments by Guangdong Lawyers Association in August 2023. Following this accreditation, they are qualified to obtain a practising certificate and will be able to provide legal services on specified civil and commercial matters concerning PRC laws as a qualified GBA lawyer.
SFKS’s China Practice Group has a long history of providing legal supports to clients on a wide spectrum of civil and commercial matters in Mainland China. Their GBA qualification (together with our Partner Mr. Roy Leung, who has already obtained the practicing certificate in GBA) will further enhance our capability in providing quality services to clients in an efficient manner. We are committed to strengthening our communication with the legal professionals in Mainland China, and contributing to the modernisation and development of the legal profession in GBA.
We are pleased to announce that our Associate Ricky Cheung passed the third Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Legal Professional Examination (“GBA Exam”) held on 27 May 2023. He will have to complete the training and pass the interview assessment before he will be allowed to obtain the relevant lawyer’s practice certificate and provide Mainland legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in GBA on specified civil and commercial matters (including contentious and non-contentious matters) to which Mainland laws apply.
Since 2021, 5 lawyers in our firm have passed the GBA Exam for three consecutive years.
We were appointed as the panel firm of solicitors for the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board in November 2022 and have assisted in numerous cases regarding petitioning for winding-up or bankruptcy against employers which were insolvent or in creditors’ voluntary liquidation, for expediting the disbursement of ex-gratia payments to affected employees under statutory regime through the filing of winding-up or bankruptcy petitions, and/or facilitating early repayment on outstanding payments.
We shall continue to contribute in public service with our expertise in insolvency and employment legal practice.
We hosted a celebration party for the retirement of our former Partner Mr. Alex Chan, who has become our Consultant, and the promotion of our Ms. Jenny Wong as our new Partner. Again, we congratulate Alex and Jenny for their success, and express our sincere gratitude to our honourable guests from the legal profession for their attendances and ongoing support to Alex, Jenny and us.
The Partners of Sit, Fung, Kwong & Shum announce that :-
