On 11 November 2016, our Partner Ms. Catherine Por attended a talk at the High Court Building entitled “A Child’s Human Rights” by The Right Hon. the Baroness Hale of Richmond, Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court. It was organized by the Hong Kong Judicial Institute during Lady Hale’s recent visit to Hong Kong.

Baroness Hale graduated from the University of Cambridge. In 1984, she was the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission, a statutory body promoting the reform of the law. She became a High Court judge in 1994 and was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1999. In 2004, she became the UK’s first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary after a varied career as an academic lawyer, law reformer, and judge. In 2009, she was appointed the first woman Justice of The Supreme Court.

Baroness Hale is currently involved in the UK case concerning the issue of whether the Secretary of State has power under the Crown’s prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 of the TEU for the UK to withdraw from the European Union (the “Brexit case”). After the permission to appeal was granted, the Supreme Court heard the appeal on 5-8 December 2016. All eleven Justices, including Baroness Hale, sat on the panel to consider the appeal. Judgment is now awaited and expected sometime in January 2017.

Please contact our Ms. Catherine Por for any enquiries or further information about this event.

On 10 November 2016, our Partners Ms. Catherine Por, Ms. Wendy Lam, Ms. Janice Chin, Ms. Sherlynn Chan and our Associate Mr. Calvin Lo attended the Hong Kong Family Law Association (the “HKFLA”) 30th Anniversary Cocktail held at the Helena May. The guest of honour was the current Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court The Right Hon. the Baroness Hale of Richmond. Following the Cocktail, Ms. Catherine Por attended the HKFLA Anniversary Dinner held on 11 November 2016 at the Hong Kong Club, where Lady Hale gave a speech. Family lawyers, judges including the Chief Justice of Hong Kong, guests from various organizations, government departments, and other practitioners who contribute to the development of family law in Hong Kong all participated in the events.

The HKFLA was founded in 1986 on the initiative of the then Attorney General, Michael Thomas, to establish a consultative group on family law matters where practitioners could discuss current issues and where proposals for law reform could be formulated. The HKFLA has grown to a membership of more than 300 and for many years, our Ms. Wendy Lam was the Hon. Secretary of this prestigious organization.

Please contact Ms. Catherine Por for any enquiries or further information about this event.

On 7 November 2016, our Partner, Ms Catherine Por, visited the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society (“HKFWS”) Parent-child Contact Centre in Lai Chi Kok with other members of the Family Law Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong. The visit was organized in light of the commencement of a two-year Pilot Project on Children Contact Service by the Social Welfare Department on 21 September 2016. The Project is commissioned to the HKFWS, an organization committed to deliver quality and professional social services to enhance the well-being of family and individuals in Hong Kong.

During the visit, Ms Por received the most up-to-date information from the HKFWS of the newly launched “child-focused” children contact service, which aims to support the separated/divorced parents on effective child care arrangement and assist the divorced parents to learn “child-focused” co-parenting.

The service contents include:-
(1) “Children Contact-Service” Helpline
To provide information on children contact/exchange services for the community and needy parents with children from divorced families.

(2) Supervised Contact Service
To assist, arrange or supervise children to meet with non-residing parents or other family members by professional Visitation Monitors (Registered Social Workers).

(3) Supervised Exchange Service
To arrange or assist supervised exchange service by professional Visitation Monitors to facilitate smooth exchange of children between homes of parents, or the exchange helped by neutral third parties as agreed by both parents during exchange to avoid conflicts.

(4) Co-Parenting Training/Workshop
To organize training/workshops for parents or families with difficulties in co-parenting, so as to help them understand the impacts of divorce on children’s well-being, and to learn how to implement a “child-focused” co-parenting.

(5) Co-Parenting Community Education Service
To promote parental responsibility and co-parenting from “child-focused” perspective through educational seminars, exhibitions and service promotion activities, and develop the concept and model of “co-parenting” in addressing the best interest of children.”
Extracted from the HKFWS Service Brief.

Please contact our Ms Catherine Por for any enquiries or further information about this event.

On 5 November 2016, our Partners Mr. Eric Lui, Mr. Stephen Wong together with our Public Relations Manager, Ms. Yo Yo Fang and also our Business Development Manager (China) Ms. Zita Huang attended a conference at Shanghai International Convention Center on the business opportunities of commercial litigation and arbitration in light of increasing outbound investments by PRC entities. The Conference was hosted by China Leading International Lawyers, instructed by All China Lawyers Association.

Mr. Wong spoke on the topic of international arbitration and relevant enforcement measures in aid of international arbitration in Hong Kong. He showcased the strategic advantages of choosing Hong Kong as the seat of the arbitration due to the existing arbitration laws and rules in Hong Kong and revealed why it would be beneficial to both Chinese business enterprises and foreign counterparts to choose Hong Kong arbitration. Mr. Wong also discussed on the foreseeable legal issues involved in increasingly frequent cross-border transactions, investments and inevitably disputes.

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

On 4 November 2016, our Partner Ms Sherlynn Chan visited Mr Hajime Ueda, the Director of Hague Convention Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, to obtain first-hand information of Hague cases in Japan and share SW’s experience in handling Hague cases in Hong Kong with the Japanese counterparts.

Since Japan joined the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 (the “1980 Hague Convention”) in 2014, there have been 106 cases on assistance in return and 108 cases on assistance in visitation or contact, out of which 2 cases involved Hong Kong Court. SW successfully acted for the Plaintiff in seeking the return of the children to Japan under the Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance, which implements the provisions of the 1980 Hague Convention (LPQ v LYW [2014] HKCU 2976). Details of the case can be accessed here.

Please contact our Ms Catherine Por or Ms Sherlynn Chan for any enquiries or further information about this event.

Soon after the Government announced its proposed new ad valorem stamp duty rate on 4 November 2016, our legal executive of the Banking Department, Mr. Man Wong, together with our Ms. Hebe Au, was invited to give a presentation on the new stamp duty measures to banking practitioners at China Construction Bank (Asia) on 16 November 2016.

The presentation covered the computation of stamp duty under the new measures, and the possible exemptions and exceptions.

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