Clients and legal practitioners often come across a fairly common question during the course of discovery/disclosure in litigation or arbitration: is the document privileged? Legal professional privilege is a fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed right in Hong Kong and, generally speaking, can be split into two branches: litigation privilege and legal advice privilege. Legal advice privilege … Read more
In a long-awaited development of cross-border insolvency cooperation between Hong Kong and Mainland China, the Hong Kong Court has granted recognition and assistance to Mainland liquidators for the first time in Joint and Several Liquidators of CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd [2020] HKCFI 167. Background CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd (“CEFC“), a company incorporated in … Read more
As part of the Legislative Council’s Information Technology Strategy Plan, The Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Bill (Bill), which was gazetted on 27 December 2019 and passed through the First Reading stage on 8 January 2020, takes the Hong Kong courts a step closer to being paperless. The Bill facilitates the filing and sending of … Read more
In Hong Ziyun v Chan Kwan Ming [2019] HKCFI 2125, the Court of First Instance considered the relevant jurisdiction applicable to a host of related loan documents where only one of the documents contained an express jurisdiction clause (in favour of the court of Xiamen in Mainland China). The defendants applied for a stay of … Read more
Following on from our earlier blog posting where we reported on the background of Zhang Hong Li v DBS Bank and others and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal’s (“CFA”) decision to overturn the Court of Appeal’s (“CA”) findings, we now set out below our more detailed analysis of the CFA’s decision. Read more
Summary Trustees often seek to limit their liability in the form of exoneration clauses in trust deeds. As such, it is generally difficult for a beneficiary to challenge a trustee’s decision that falls within the scope of the exoneration clause. In Sofer v SwissIndependent Trustees SA [2019] EWHC 2071 (Ch), the England and Wales High … Read more
Earlier today, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal handed down judgment in Zhang Hong Li v DBS Bank and others a case which has been the cause of considerable discussion in the private wealth and trusts world. The Court of Final Appeal reversed the Court of Appeal’s findings and ruled that the anti-Bartlett clause … Read more
The English High Court in Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (In Administration) v Exotix Partners LLP [2019] EWHC 2380 (Ch) found it necessary to imply a term to a debt security trade agreement that was otherwise unworkable. It is generally uncommon for a Court to imply terms into a commercially negotiated agreement given the restrictive nature of … Read more
The Court of First Instance has recently helpfully summarised the legal position on schemes of arrangement under both Hong Kong law and English law. Notably, it has called for further development in cross-border coordination in order to avoid the trouble of parallel insolvency proceedings and it has raised a red flag in relation to detailed … Read more
