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

The UK Supreme Court has recently upheld a claim for breach of the so-called Quincecare duty of care, which requires a financial institution to refrain from executing a customer’s payment mandate if (and so long as) it is “put on inquiry” that the payment order is an attempt to misappropriate its customer’s funds: Singularis Holdings … Read more

The First International Commercial Court of the Supreme People’s Court of China (“CICC“) has recently published its first rulings [1] on the validity of three arbitration agreements in relation to one same transaction. CICC recognised the principle of severability of arbitration agreement and held that although the underlying contracts had not been formally signed, the parties … Read more

The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently ordered an employer to disclose its external lawyer’s comments in relation to the dismissal of an employee. The EAT held that the employer waived privilege in redacted parts of a draft dismissal letter setting out its lawyer’s comments, as a result of the employer’s decision to rely on … Read more

Background In Chan Chi Wai v Chan Sau Wah [2019] HKCFI 1662 an application was made to vary a costs order nisi granted by the Hong Kong High Court regarding a dispute between five brothers over the legal and beneficial ownership of two houses in the New Territories (Original Proceedings). The applicants were two of the brothers and the plaintiffs … Read more