Commercial Dispute Resolution: The Bar

Temple Chambers is widely regarded as one of the top sets in Hong Kong, drawing on its 40-year history and deep well of experience across its membership of over 60 barristers. The set offers an array of expertise in all manner of commercial disputes, in addition to insights gleaned from its members' roles in the administration of the Bar, as well as in the judiciary. One source states: "Temple is the go-to set for our firm to act on complex international matters," while another observes: "They have top-notch senior counsel and counsel with different expertise to handle complex and sophisticated matters." One interviewee praises the set's "very experienced and sophisticated barristers," who are "especially strong on the senior end."

Bernard Man SC is widely viewed as one of Hong Kong's leading advocates across a range of commercial and chancery instructions, and operates in such varied cases as company law, banking and financial services regulatory disputes, in addition to contentious trusts, probate and family matters. "He's always a great advocate who knows the ins and outs of the judges and what they're like and always gives good advice." "Bernard is a very strong advocate with the ability to find the most appropriate turn of phrase or analogy." "Bernard is very sharp. He is a fighter and is able to simplify complicated issues effortlessly." "Bernard is a very clever barrister who crafts excellent arguments for his clients." "He's had some very notable victories and is a very smart and sharp advocate, with punchy cross-examination skills."

Bonnie Cheng conducts an impressively diverse practice covering a wide range of complex commercial, public law and private client cases, with company, financial regulatory and family law disputes featuring with notable frequency alongside an established judicial review capability. "Bonnie is very meticulous, thorough and easy-going." "She is one of the best juniors in town: versatile, capable and user-friendly." "She's a very hard-working junior; her work is top class." "Bonnie is an all-rounder with both fantastic written and oral advocacy." "She's outstanding in every way."

Charles Manzoni KC conducts an international practice, embracing both litigation and arbitration and incorporating a substantial construction component, to which he brings the insights of a qualified engineer. He is also active across a broad range of commercial, technological and professional liability matters, many of which share the common factor of being highly complex. "He is the most responsive and user-friendly of the leading silks. His preparation is thorough and he works well as part of a team and always has good suggestions for a junior. His presentation and advocacy is first-rate and he has a good ability to read judges." "He's a supremely skilled advocate who absorbs intricate factual and legal detail with ease: an absolute delight to work with." "He's a very aggressive fighter. It's a joy instructing him and painful to go against him." "He's an excellent advocate who is very quick on his feet and at coming up to speed on matters. He has a knack for using his advocacy skills to the advantage of his clients." "Charlie Manzoni is an exceptional advocate who is incredibly persuasive and has an exceptional ability to build rapport with even the most difficult of decision-makers."

Jat Sew Tong SC regularly receives praise for the versatility of his practice, which embraces, among other things, banking and finance disputes, securities-related issues, defamation and contentious probate matters. "Sew Tong is extremely smooth with excellent advocacy skills, commanding respect from the Bench and peers. He is commercially minded and hard-working for someone at his seniority." "He's one of the most senior silks; you go to him for the most complex matters."

Paul Shieh SC regularly receives plaudits for his remarkably versatile commercial and public law practice, while maintaining his particularly high profile in the judicial review sphere. "Paul is an excellent advocate who is able to make his points both succinctly and with flair and to anticipate an opponent's arguments." "He's a super fighter; it's a joy listening to his advocacy. He's highly respected by the lawyers, judges and arbitrators. Only a few SCs in town are on his level." "Paul has an excellent presentation style." "Paul's advice is very clear and sharp. He is also willing to accept instructions on urgent applications, which is increasingly getting rare among experienced silks."

Victor Dawes SC draws praise for the versatility of his practice, which covers chancery and commercial matters ranging from contentious trusts and probate matters to company law, securities and banking disputes. "He knows the bench really well and is chairman of the Bar association; he's trusted and knows the judiciary. We're big fans." "Victor is highly respected by the judiciary and a very efficient advocate." "He's at the top of his game, well liked by all judges and gives practical advice." "He thinks outside of the box and provides a very practical approach." "Victor is a real pleasure to work with. He's very smooth and reads the bench extremely well. I'm particularly impressed with his commercial and pragmatic approach."

Victor Joffe KC maintains a versatile practice, covering a broad spectrum of matters, including commercial, fraud, insolvency and trust-related issues, but he is especially well known as an exceptionally accomplished handler of company cases in general, and of shareholder disputes in particular. "Victor is very strong on trust and company law." "Victor's very good and his forte is shareholder disputes; what he doesn't know about shareholder disputes probably isn't worth knowing."

Wong Yan Lung SC is able to draw on 35 years' experience at the Hong Kong Bar in maintaining a wide-ranging practice that spans commercial and public law disputes, including land, planning trust and company law issues. He is a counsel of choice for many high-profile cases.

Abraham Chan SC continues to draw praise for his versatile practice, which combines strong public law expertise with skilful handling of commercial litigation. In addition to undertaking judicial review proceedings, he is also instructed on securities, banking, planning and property cases and is developing in the competition space. "Abraham is very easy to work with." "He's very user-friendly, accommodating, fantastic value for money, very articulate, and the Bench in Hong Kong like him." "We have thus far found him to be very competent and user-friendly."

Charles Hollander KC is acclaimed for the wide-ranging commercial litigation and arbitration expertise which secures him frequent instructions on competition, banking and company law disputes.

Eva Sit SC conducts a multifaceted and much-admired commercial and public law practice which embraces, among other things, insolvency and competition matters, shareholder disputes, civil fraud claims and judicial review work. "I find her very impressive; she drives the case very well and takes charge. She's very clear in what she recommends." "Eva is a strong advocate and very commercial, which is why clients like her so much. She has a lovely style in court." "She gives clear and concise advice, with quick turnarounds." "She's very thorough and very hands-on: an excellent courtroom advocate who is very well respected by the Bench." "She's one of the top people I go to for commercial disputes, particularly for listed companies and family companies and disputes relating to those; also on competition matters too."

Keith Lam is a much sought-after junior who combines a broad civil and commercial capability, which has seen him practise at all levels of the Hong Kong court system, up to and including the Court of Final Appeal, with a noted focus on matters involving high net worth individuals. "Keith Lam is very good and technically very strong." "He is diligent, with excellent technical skills." "Keith is technically strong and gives very balanced, helpful views on legal issues." "He's technically superb; you can't go wrong with him."

Rimsky Yuen SC brings exceptional experience to the table, being not only an accomplished litigator of corporate, commercial, insolvency and financial services-related disputes and a seasoned arbitration counsel and arbitrator of international matters, but also a former Hong Kong Secretary for Justice, having held that post between 2012 and 2018. "He has extremely good connections with the Hong Kong and PRC Government and is one of the few super silks in Hong Kong." "He's strong in international arbitration and a very seasoned advocate who is well connected and knows how to navigate difficult waters, while being very approachable and surprisingly cost-efficient."

Tim Parker combines an advisory and advocacy practice, specialising in public international and regulatory law, and is also particularly active on civil liberties cases and constitutional law matters. "Tim Parker is a very good, sophisticated advocate. Very responsive and commercial." "Having worked extensively with a lot of Hong Kong counsel, he really stands out, especially for his level of seniority." "Tim is very, very commercial - he never loses the client-focused aspect and he understands the issues our clients face."

Eugene Fung SC balances his litigation activity with a busy advisory practice, focusing closely on chancery matters covering tax, property, wills and trusts. He also provides skilful handling of commercial disputes, with experience in civil fraud and company law cases. "Eugene is really good on commercial law and equity disputes."

James Man maintains an impressive commercial dispute resolution practice, which spans company law, contractual disputes, and contentious property and securities issues. "James is very astute and a deep thinker. He has a real skill in drawing together many different layers of factual and legal information to present the best arguments for clients. He also has a particular skill in knowing what not to say." "James Man is outstanding as his analysis is in depth and he always lays good foundations for development by senior counsel or making submissions on his own feet." "He has shown dedication and attention to detail in his work, as well as good client management skills." "James is knowledgeable and industrious. His advice is practical."

Laurence Li SC commands widespread acknowledgement and respect for his assured handling of financial regulatory issues generally and securities-related matters in particular, but is also noted for his versatility across a broad spectrum of commercial work. "Laurence is the go-to counsel for capital markets and financial services cases, with deep expertise and practical experience well known to the industry, the regulators and the judiciary. He is also very sharp in handling commercial matters in general, always getting what the clients really want and how to best achieve it." "He has a really unique background which gives him a USP. He's got experience as a solicitor in the US, then as a regulator and now as a barrister, so he has very good insight into lawyers on both sides of the profession, as well as insight into regulators." "Laurence is very clever and has great commercial acumen, which makes him a very popular choice on complex matters. He is also very experienced and knowledgeable in financial regulatory matters, and understands the market very well." "He has encyclopedic knowledge of Hong Kong securities law. He takes a forensic approach to all his cases and his written submissions are meticulously drafted. His advocacy is eloquent and highly persuasive. He is one of the most impressive and brilliant silks we have instructed."

Alexander Stock SC offers clients an array of expertise in commercial dispute resolution, with substantial experience in the field of international commercial arbitrations, including with regard to challenging awards before the Hong Kong courts. "Alexander is extremely approachable and engages well. He is a pleasure to have on a team." "He pays close attention to facts, which is a key to success for every case. He thinks outside the box, even for technical issues." "He's a well sought-after commercial practitioner who is very solid, with good breadth."

Pao Jin SC combines his commercial practice with a substantial body of public law and judicial review work which revolves significantly around financial regulatory, constitutional and administrative law issues. "He is a very subtle fighter and well respected by the court." "He gives very considered advice and is good on paper and also as an advocate, which is important."

Jonathan Chang SC has significantly broadened his practice since taking silk in 2020, taking on a higher - and more varied - selection of commercial cases while maintaining a strong focus on the public law and judicial review sphere where his reputation is particularly well established. "He's very commercial-minded, easy-going and has very good analytical skills." "Jonathan Chang SC is very efficient and user-friendly. He's an expert in shareholders' disputes and is very sharp and able to identify key issues quickly. Lay clients like him because he can understand clients' needs." "He is a very skilled advocate and did a great job at our jurisdictional hearing. He is responsive, smart, practical and sharp. He also is a friendly person and a joy to work with." "Jonathan is very much someone who is going to be a future star of the Bar; I've been against him and was very impressed by him."

Julian Lam maintains a broad civil and commercial practice which embraces both litigated and arbitrated matters and within which admiralty, tax and securities-related issues feature particularly prominently. "Julian is very solid and has been my opponent a few times."

Justin Ho focuses his practice on multi-jurisdictional cases, offering experience across a wide range of civil and commercial instructions, including company law and insolvency disputes in addition to contentious real estate, trust and probate matters. "He's very experienced as a commercial litigator and is very good at insolvency. I do find him very quick on his feet, and am impressed by his cross-examination skills. He has a lot of experience doing trials on his own as a junior barrister." "I was very impressed with Justin's advocacy skills. He is strong on his feet, clear and confident and able to articulate complex points easily." "He's a young fellow with a very bright future. He's very strong as a lawyer with a fantastic work ethic and the ability to focus and make sense of very substantial amounts of complex fact and law; remarkably, he's got a big helping of common sense too." "He's a great barrister who is able to handle extremely complex and legally difficult cases."

Martin Ho combines a broad company and commercial practice with a noted line in the representation of the Hong Kong authorities in criminal contempt and so-called 'doxxing' cases involving the unauthorised publication of information concerning police or judicial officers and their families. "He's an extremely hard-working junior who is very good for commercial litigation generally, insolvency litigation and disputes with a cross-border element." "Martin provided excellent service on our arbitration."

Sara Tong is admired for the versatility of her commercial practice, which showcases noteworthy levels of activity in the professional negligence, employment, company law and probate spheres. "Sara is very proactive, thoughtful, organised and detail-oriented in managing her own tasks as well as coordinating matters. She is generally my preferred senior counsel for complex commercial matters given the consistent quality of her work and her responsiveness." "Sara is excellent on the details of disputes." "Sara is always very thorough on the papers and can make her points eloquently at court." "Sara is very responsive to our enquiries and goes above and beyond to get the work done beautifully. She also understands and appreciates the commercial reality and dynamics within large financial institutions and crafts her work product with a view to addressing the client's needs."

Byron Chiu is a solid junior whose practice encompasses commercial disputes pertaining to competition and securities law. He is particularly active advising on mis-selling claims and fraud recovery matters of late. "Byron is very hard-working and gives very sensible and to-the-point advice. He's confident at advocacy, with great attention to details." "Byron is certainly one of the best junior counsels for his seniority. He is technically strong, hard-working and responsive." "He's a good quality junior at his level, with solid advocacy and responsiveness, and a willingness to accommodate tight timelines. He's able to deliver to budget and is good value for money."

Joshua Chan handles a broad spectrum of cases, with a practice spanning contentious financial services, restructuring and insolvency and competition matters, as well as estate disputes. "Joshua is very smart and easy to work with."

Anthony Chan earns recognition for his broad stable of insolvency, family and estate disputes, in addition to familiarity with general commercial disputes. "He is succinct, with a strong commercial mind. He's easy-going and replies promptly." "Anthony can deliver his advice in a timely manner." "Anthony provides very sound advice."

Queenie Lau maintains a busy and varied caseload of commercial and company law disputes, offering extensive experience in the handling of shareholder disputes, fraud and professional negligence cases, in addition to defamation, land, employment and family law matters. "She is intelligent, technically very sound and at the same time able to offer strategic insight into resolving issues." "Queenie is responsive and knowledgeable, particularly in defamation law." "Queenie is bright, diligent and very easy to work with." "Queenie is a very responsive and diligent junior counsel." "No one at the Bar is calmer under pressure than Queenie: a real star."