On 22 September 2015, our partner Ms. Heidi Chui, a founding committee member of the Young Partners’ Roundtable of the Law Society of Hong Kong, led a guided visit to LinkedIn Hong Kong Office. LinkedIn, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is one of the world’s largest professional networks with 380 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the globe. In 2012, it established an office in Hong Kong to develop Asia business.

During the guided tour, participants received an introduction to the corporate and business culture of LinkedIn, and discussed topics including how law firms can benefit by having its profile published at LinkedIn.

Photograph of Ms. Heidi Chui (on the right) and Mr. Nate Taylor (middle), regional sales leader, Hong Kong & Taiwan at LinkedIn

Contact person: Ms. Heidi Chui

On 21 September 2015, our partner Mr. Eric Lui attended a meeting organised by the Lawyer Supervision Department of the Judicial Bureau. The attendees include Deputy Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) cum Chairman of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Basic Law Committee (BLC) under the NPCSC, Mr Li Fei, leaders of the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, the Guangdong Department of Justice and Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a platform for all the joint venture law firms in Qianhai to raise their issues or difficulties encountered to the leaders. Mr. Li Fei is well aware of the challenge and will continue to devote his effort to the development of the joint venture law firms in Qianhai.

Stevenson, Wong & Co. and AllBright Law Firm had obtained an approval from Department of Justice, Guangdong on 21 January 2015 to set up a joint venture law firm in Qianhai (ABL&SW). ABL&SW is one of the first batch of joint venture law firms between a law firm of the Hong Kong SAR and a law firm of Mainland China in Qianhai.

Please contact our Mr. Eric Lui for any enquiries or further information about this event.

On 18 September 2015, our associate Ms. Vivian Ji attended the “Air Union Insurance Director’s Responsibility Conference 2015” (2015年度航联董责险客户交流会) in Chongqing. Leaders of Air Unions and insurance companies also attended the conference. Ms. Ji introduced the responsibilities of directors and senior management of listed corporations in Hong Kong. Mr. Tian Zhengda, manager of the Regulatory Department of the Shanghai Stock Exchange gave a presentation on the recent modifications to the Securities Law in the PRC. In addition, Mr. Lok Shum of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. discussed the potential risks of listing A-stock after the implementation of the modifications to the Securities Law. Mr. Deng Jinxiong of AIG Limited shared his experience on analysing financial risks. The conference was a valuable platform for all professional parties to exchange their experiences and views.

Please contact our Mr. Eric Lui or Ms. Vivian Ji for any enquiries or further information about this event.

The courts faced an issue of whether it should continue to award an interest at 2% p. a. on damages for bereavement in Bushra Bibi v Method Building & Engineering Works Ltd (No. 2) [2015] 2 HKLRD 402, a case involving a fatal accident.

The general principle is that a claimant is entitled to interest on damages from the time of death to the date of judgment, since the damages should have been paid to him at the time of death, unless the Court is satisfied that there are special reasons not to do so. This equally applies to situations where the damages are agreed by the parties.

The Court of First Instance decided to depart from previous decisions awarding interest at 2% p.a. The new position now is that the interest on damages for bereavement will be awarded at the statutory full judgment rate, i.e. 8% p.a., from the date of death until the date of final judgment, pursuant to the Fatal Accidents Ordinance (Cap. 22). This interest rate also applies to one-off expenses, e.g. funeral expense.

Our senior consultant Mr. Angus Forsyth attended the Annual General Meeting of MARQUES – European Trade Mark Proprietors Association Owners in Vienna from 15 – 18 September 2015, at which our firm’s contribution to the intellectual property considerations relevant to mobile device app development was widely appreciated.

At the meeting, members explored and shared their works and ideas in relation to the intellectual property sector. It was a valuable platform for all professional parties to exchange their experiences and views.

(Source: http://www.marques.org/Newsletters/Newsletter/Default.asp?NewsletterID=46&art=0#0)

Please contact our Mr. Forsyth for any enquiries or further information about this event.

On 12 September 2015, our partner Mr. Eric Lui delivered a presentation on mergers, acquisitions and reorganisation of corporate entities in Shanghai. The event was organized by the Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganisation Committee of Allbright Law Offices.

Mr. Lui introduced the mechanism of using an offshore special purpose vehicle (SPV) to acquire large scale onshore properties and acquisitions of PRC properties using offshore capital. Issues regarding tax implications, reorganisation of corporate structures and loan arrangements were also covered in the presentation.

The event also celebrated the establishment of a Foreign Affairs Committee of Allbright Law Offices.

Please contact our Mr. Lui for any enquiries or further information about this event.