In Interush Limited & Anor v The Commissioner of Police, the Commission of Custom & Excise and Mak Wing Yip Cyril, Superintendent of Police [2019] HKCA 70, the Court of Appeal ("Court") dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of an… Read more

Two recent English decisions highlight the particular challenges when managing legal professional privilege in the context of resolving employee issues. We consider these decisions and how the principles may apply in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions in relation… Read more

AIIB and HKIAC are presenting a joint seminar on the AIIB's status, policies and projects on 21 February. The seminar, which is supported by Hong Kong's Department of Justice and the ICC, features: an interview with AIIB's General Counsel, Gerard… Read more

In the recent landmark decision of Marty Ltd v Hualon Corp (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd [2018] SGCA 63, the Singapore Court of Appeal held that the commencement of court proceedings notwithstanding the existence of a binding arbitration agreement and without any… Read more

Hong Kong’s long-awaited legislation permitting third parties to fund arbitrations and related proceedings takes effect today. As heralded in our earlier posts, this is a widely welcomed development in one of the world’s leading arbitral seats, and is expected to… Read more

Singapore introduced legislation in 2017 to allow third-party funding in international arbitration and associated proceedings including enforcement and mediation. Our Singapore team is already representing clients in two significant Singapore-seated arbitrations in which the claimants are third-party funded. It is… Read more

Hong Kong has recently seen a flurry of legislative activity in relation to third-party funding. The long anticipated law allows third parties to fund arbitrations seated in Hong Kong including related court and mediation proceedings, as well as work done… Read more

In Kenneth Yeung Bing Kwong v Mount Oscar Ltd [2018] HKCFI 2763, the Court of First Instance ("Court") held that a Hong Kong company is not required to give any reasons for the removal of a director. The Court rejected… Read more

On Friday 18 January 2019, Hong Kong and the Mainland reached a milestone by signing the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters between the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong… Read more

On 9 January 2019, Hong Kong’s Department of Justice and the Ministry of Justice of Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to “strengthen collaboration on international arbitration and mediation“. The MoC, a copy of which is available here, provides… Read more

In a highly international cross-border restructuring, the High Court of Hong Kong has refused to assist the New York-based Chapter 11 trustee of a Singaporean subsidiary of the Cayman-incorporated Peruvian business China Fishery Group (“CFG”). Significantly, the Court held that… Read more

As discussed in this post, Xiamen Xingjingdi Group Co Ltd (XJ) and various co-defendants affiliated with Eton Properties Ltd (together, EP) have been involved in a long-running dispute in multiple fora, including a PRC-seated CIETAC arbitration and several Hong Kong… Read more

Hong Kong has published its long-awaited Code of Practice for third party funders, and announced that amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance which permit funding of Hong Kong arbitrations will come fully into force on 1 February 2019. Similar amendments to… Read more

Hong Kong law and English law have over recent years diverged on the meaning of "client" for the purposes of asserting legal advice privilege. Practitioners and businesses in Hong Kong need to be aware that communications involving an in-house lawyer… Read more

The People's Republic of China recently enacted a new law that will impact foreign authorities, corporations and individuals involved in overseas criminal enforcement actions. The Law on International Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters allows Chinese authorities to block requests for… Read more

On 1 July 2018, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) promulgated Provisions on Several Issues Regarding the Establishment of International Commercial Courts (Fa Shi 2018 – No.11). We reported this major development here. The SPC has now, on 5 December… Read more

In Castlemil Infant (HK) Supplies Co Ltd v Care N Love Development Ltd [2018] HKDC 1419, the Hong Kong District Court granted a mandatory injunction, having found that the plaintiff’s underlying tort claims did not fall within the scope of… Read more

We are soon to have a new international regime for the enforcement of mediated settlement agreements. The UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, which will be known as the Singapore Convention, was approved in June 2018 by UNCITRAL… Read more

In the case of Wang Qian Wei v 郭文雨 & 郭小琼 [2018] HKCFI 2253, the 1st Defendant (a judgment debtor) opposed the Plaintiff's (the judgment creditor) application to register a judgment of the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen (the Mainland… Read more

In the 2018 Policy Address on 10 October 2018, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR Carrie Lam announced several key proposals in respect of benefits available to employees under Hong Kong law. ... Read more

On 18 October 2018, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (Court) in Z v Y [2018] HKCFI 2342 refused to recognise an Award of the China Guangzhou Arbitration Commission by reason of public policy. Mimmie Chan J presided and… Read more

In the recent case of China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, Taiyuan Branch v Cai Sui Xin (HCMP 2911/2016), the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (CFI) has confirmed that a security holder is entitled to exercise its power of sale… Read more

The Court of First Instance upheld the well-established common law rule against maintenance and champerty in the recent test case of Raafat Imam v Life (China) Co Ltd [2018] HKEC 2237. The decision confirms that litigation funding agreements will not… Read more

India entered into its first bilateral investment treaty (BIT), with the United Kingdom, in 1994, as part of a strategy to attract inbound foreign direct investment (FDI).  Having begun to open its economy in the 1990s, India today is a… Read more

In Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd ("RALL") v Avant Garde Maritime Services (Private) Limited ("AGMS") [2018] SGHC 78, the Singapore High Court dismissed an application to set aside an award on jurisdiction, on the basis that the applicant had failed to… Read more

In this update, we discuss two recent developments in the Hong Kong competition regime: first, the third cartel case prosecuted by the Hong Kong Competition Commission (Commission) since the coming into force of the Competition Ordinance (Ordinance) in December 2015;… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has issued the latest edition of its Indian international arbitration e-bulletin. In this issue we consider various court decisions, which cover issues such as the applicability of the Arbitration Amendment Act 2015, binding non-signatories to an award,… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has issued the latest edition of its Indian international arbitration e-bulletin. In this issue we consider various court decisions, which cover issues such as the applicability of the Arbitration Amendment Act 2015, binding non-signatories to an award,… Read more

There has been a significant rate of global growth of litigation in the financial services sector following the 2008 global financial crisis. While the existence of financial services litigation is truly a global phenomenon, it has become apparent that the… Read more

As previously reported here, a draft Bill to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (the "Act") was approved by the Indian Cabinet on 7 March 2018 (the "Bill"). The Bill was listed as a part of the agenda for… Read more