On 17 October 2015，SW Head of Business Development (China) Ms. Connie Yeung was invited to speak at a client event at the head office of FWD Life Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited (“FWD”) and delivered a presentation on “How to Protect Assets Through the Establishment of Family Trust and its Benefits. Approximately 60 financial planners and clients attended. The number of participants was double that of the same event held 2 months ago. Real cases were shared and participants all found the sharing both interesting and practical.

On 14 October 2015, SW Head of Business Development（China）Ms. Connie Yeung spoke at a forum organized by Pingan Private banking in Quanzhou. Zhongrong International Trust Co., a top 3 PRC trustee and active in family trust business was also present at the event. The focus was on how to use PRC and offshore family trust together to ring fence different types of assets.Approximately 20 HNWIs invited by Pingan private bank attended and all found the sharing not only inspiring but also useful.

The Law Society of England and Wales (“the Law Society”) has expressed concern that tightening tier 2 policies will potentially prevent international law firms in London from recruiting highly skilled and experienced foreign lawyers from around the world. It has been substantiated by statistics from the Law Society that holders of tier 2 visa in London law firms, encompassing associates, trainee solicitors and partners, have generated revenues of more than £34 million in the year of 2015-2016. Commentators are not optimistic about the draconian tier 2 policies, criticizing that such policies will preclude highly qualified legal practitioners from working for UK based law firms and hence hampering the lucrative markets of the legal sector.

(Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2015-10-13/uk-based-international-law-firms-affected-by-tier-2-immigration-rules)

The Hong Kong Chapter in the international succession law (4th edition) which was published in late August 2015 is authored by SW’s experienced private client practice practitioner, Ms Wendy Lam, partner.

The International Succession 4th edition is a joint enterprise between the general editors and the contributors providing an easy-to-use comparison of the rules of succession applicable to particular jurisdictions and to explain how these rules inter-relate with other jurisdictions at an international level.

The work provides a comprehensive analysis for succession issues of over 50 jurisdictions aiming to assist practitioners in dealing with complex cross border succession problems.

Please contact our Ms Wendy Lam for any queries or further information about her publication or the succession law in Hong Kong.

On 8 October 2015, our legal executives in our Banking Department, Mr. Man Wong and Ms. Connie Wu attended a ceremony celebrating the expansion of the Bank of Communications Wanchai Branch (the “BoComm Wanchai Branch”). Ms. Nancy Chan, Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank of Communications, also joined the event. The BoComm Wanchai branch has been established for more than 50 years and the expansion enables the bank to provide brand new banking services and experiences to customers.

Stevenson, Wong & Co. has a long term relationship and co-operation with the Bank of Communication.

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

The case Hugo Boss Trademark v Britain Boss International Co Ltd [2015] 3 HKLRD 4 serves as a reminder to what the traditional common law approach of setting aside irregular default judgments as of right entails.

The Plaintiffs commenced legal action against a company and its sole director and shareholder (“the director”) for trademark infringement and passing off. The company’s registered address was identical to the director’s residential address provided in the company’s annual returns (“the address”). The Plaintiffs served the writ on both the Defendants at the address. In particular, the writ was served on the director at her “usual or last known address” pursuant to Order 10, rule 1(2) of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A, Sub.Leg.). In fact, the director ordinarily resided in mainland China at the time of the service. The company’s office was shared with an unrelated company owned by its secretary, who would forward documents addressed to the Defendants to the director. However, while the writ of summons and summons for default judgment were served at the address in November 2013 and January 2014 respectively, the secretary did not forward these to the Defendants until March 2014. The Plaintiffs had already obtained default judgments against both the Defendants in January 2014 as a result of their failure to defend the action.

The default judgment against the director was set aside due to the irregularity in the service of the writ. The court reiterated that irregular judgments ought to be set aside “as of right”. Such, however, does not mean the court would ignore the circumstances surrounding the issues of the case; instead it indicates the court would not go into the actual merits of defense. The court therefore has a residual discretion to take the parties’ conduct into consideration in determining whether to exercise the right to set aside a default judgment.

In the present case case, the director was not within the jurisdiction at the time of service. Since Order 10, rule 1(2) only provides an alternative method of service to be effected on a defendant within the jurisdiction, the service was irregular. Although there was delay in making the setting aside application and it was doubtful whether the director really became aware of the proceedings as late as March 2014, such was insufficient for the court to exercise its residual discretion to refuse to set aside the irregular judgment.