Track record
Acrimonious divorce proceedings
Acting for and conducting a children's trial on behalf of a mother in highly acrimonious divorce proceedings seeking extreme safety measures to be put in place to protect the children before the father would be able to commence access after not seeing the children for some time. This resulted in a successful Judgment which included written questions being put to the father by the children with the suitability of the answers having to be considered by child psychologists before even telephone access could commence.
Cross examination prevention
Acting for a mother in the first application of its kind made to the Hong Kong Court to prevent the father who was acting in person, from cross examining her in Court whilst there was a non-molestation order in place to protect the mother and the children.
Enforcement matters
Advising the client in relation to enforcement matters such the use of Hadkinson orders to block a litigant who was in contempt of court from making further applications to the court.
Section 17 application
Acting for a client where the spouse alleged that shares held under a trust arrangements for a member of their family which returned substantial dividends when the money came into the spouse's bank account under the same arrangement. This led to the necessity of issuing a Section 17 application under the Matrimonial and Property Ordinance (Cap 192) and the member of the family was successfully added as a party to the proceedings as an intervener.
Family case litigation funding
In the trust case outlined above, following the many preliminary issue hearings which had to take place (which included access arrangements for the children), the client required litigation funding. An application was made seeking litigation funding from a third party. This was the first time such an application had been made in a family case in Hong Kong and involved the consideration of the concepts of champety and maintenance and access to justice in Hong Kong's Basic Law and Bill of Rights.
Preventing spouse from relocating
Advising a pilot who was fighting to prevent his spouse from relocating from Hong Kong on the basis that due to the nature of the airline's flying roster the pilot was able to split time with the children 50/50 and therefore it was not in the best interests of the children to leave Hong Kong.
Premarital assets
Acting for a high-net-worth individual concerning premarital assets and his retirement payments which involved arguments in respect of assets accrued post separation. There were also issues in respect of his decision to change direction and take on a less lucrative role and the impact that this would have on the family's lifestyle.
Protection of children
Acting for a father whose wife had alcohol addiction issues and ensuring measures were in place to protect the children whilst the children were in her care so that she could both continue to have access and recover from her addiction issues.
Talks
'Deeds of temporary guardianship', Jan 2022
'Pre-nups, post-nups and divorce' - Carlyle Club, Dec 2021
'Wills and children matters' - The Jewish Women's Association of Hong Kong, Dec 2021
‘Two's company, but is three always a crowd?' - HKFLA talk, Oct 2021
'Facing Challenge | Fuelling Change' - The Women's Foundation Hong Kong - Virtual Gala 2020, Nov 2020
'Financial Discovery for the globally transparent' - joint webinar with FTI Consulting, Aug 2020
'Access to family justice internationally during the Covid-19 crisis' - Resolution, May 2020
'What you need to know about Guardianship in Hong Kong' - Goldman Sachs, Apr 2020
'Planning for the future and keeping it in the family' - Rotary Club of Kowloon, Sept 2018
'Wills and Guardianship' - Barclays Working Families Network, Apr 2017
'Alternative Dispute Resolution for Family Matters in Hong Kong' - ALB Asia Pacific Arbitration Conference Singapore, Nov 2016
‘Financial discovery for the globally transparent or not so transparent divorce litigants, the first C5 Fraud, Asset Tracing and Recovery Asia' conference, Hong Kong - Jun 2015