Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Commercial Dispute Resolution: The Bar - China
What the Team is Known For
Des Voeux Chambers is one of the most substantial Hong Kong sets with a bench of over 90 counsel with deep expertise spanning all manner of commercial litigation and arbitration, construction disputes, insolvency disputes and contentious company law matters. One source notes: "They have a lot of experienced silks and senior juniors, many of them leading experts in their fields." Another simply asserts: "DVC is the go-to chambers for complex matters." Jeani Wang is the practice development director, head clerk and a key contact.
Notable practitioners
Barrie is a very experienced and a formidable advocate.
He's one of the most senior silks in town.
He gives first-class advice and is always well prepared for hearings and consultations. He is one of the easiest and most pleasant counsel I have worked with.
I've worked with Ian for many years; he's very hardworking and reliable.
Anson is the most practical barrister I have met. He offers accurate analysis on complex commercial matters and is particularly strong at cutting to the chase.
Anson is responsive and pragmatic.
Charles is a senior barrister and yet very hands on in providing practical advice to clients.
Jason Yu has very strong commercial awareness and excellent drafting and oral advocacy.
Mr. Yu is a very capable counsel. He's commercially savvy and digests very complicated matters quickly. He is extremely hardworking and responsive.
Jose-Antonio Maurellet SC maintains an impressively broad commercial dispute resolution practice, with a focus on restructuring and insolvency, company law matters, alleged malpractice in the financial services sector and cases involving distressed companies.
He's an excellent person to have in your corner.
Jose is technically very strong and good at advocating for the client in court.
William is always a pleasure to work with and brings a different level of insight to any team. Due to his wealth of experience, he is able to advise on an extremely wide range of matters.
He's one of the best seniors in town and a true leader; he always works well with junior teams.
Clifford brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the legal team. His advocacy is measured and direct.
Clifford is an effective advocate.
John has been really helpful in terms of researching the issues and helping us put together a set of written arguments. He's very quick on his feet and never afraid of dealing with difficult points.
John's quality is impeccable. His ability to resolve difficult legal and commercial questions makes him stand out from his competitors. He is very user-friendly and responsive.
John Scott SC is an exceptionally accomplished barrister who has practised at the Hong Kong Bar for over 35 years, and his broad commercial dispute resolution experience incorporates a notable emphasis on company, construction and financial services issues and embraces both litigated and arbitrated cases. He is highly respected for his deep experience in restructuring disputes.
He's a very user-friendly and knowledgable guy. He has a very good reputation for commercial disptues and I wouldn't hesitate to use him further.
John Scott is a distinguished senior practitioner whose expertise is second to none.
He's very good and well regarded in his sphere.
Justin Lam is noted for his wide-ranging civil, company law and financial services practice, and also handles contentious private client matters.
Justin is very responsive, friendly and easy to communicate with. He has very strong legal research and analytical skills. He is a leading junior who is very diligent and works well in legal teams.
I have always enjoyed working with Justin. He is super bright and easy to work with. He also responds very quickly.
He's very specialised in construction-related work. When you talk about all the related jargon he knows it all already and is very insightful. He's quick and hardworking; I can't complain.
He's very sharp and obviously has a construction background so his grasp of the technical issues is very fast and he can provide helpful insight. His drafting is also very good.
Connie Lee handles a wide range of civil and commercial matters, receiving regular instructions on company and insolvency-related mandates, and attracting a particularly high level of positive notice for her increasing body of work in the competition sphere.
If I need a senior junior who is very capable, she's my number one choice. She has a very wide range of experience and is one of my go-tos.
Connie impresses me with her tactical, practical and commercial advice and her mature client-handling skills. Connie is also a very effective and composed advocate.
Our advocate and advisor of choice, Douglas is intelligent, agile and focused. He always delivers and is a pleasure to deal with.
Douglas always maintains a good relationship with clients. He is able to deliver services within the agreed timeframe.
He covers everything and is a good lawyer and articulate advocate who is extremely good at client management.
He particularly excels in the intricacies of winding-up proceedings and high-stakes commercial disputes, where his technical precision and strategic foresight consistently deliver robust outcomes.
She's very strong and sensible and stands her ground, giving clients advice we think is sensible. She helps us persuade them to take the right course of action.
Rachel is intelligent and is able to distill clear legal principles with ease. She is very responsive and efficient and always understands clients' needs at the get-go.
Alexander Tang operates across a broad spectrum of company and commercial disputes, in which shareholder and insolvency-related matters figure particularly prominently.
Alexander is my go-to barrister. He is not only an effective advocate but provides very helpful and practical advice. He also proactively considers case management issues and is very responsive.
Alexander's drafting is one of the best in the industry. His ability to dissect and comprehend complex matters is also top notch. He's a very very fast thinker.
Christopher Chain SC regularly attracts praise for the impressive range of his practice, which incorporates particular strengths in company and corporate law, shipping and insolvency issues.
He's probably one of the most effective cross-examiners I have come across; he's highly diligent. I was impressed with his ability to memorise every single detail of the files.
Christopher is a very clever barrister who is eloquent in court.
David Chen is noted for his focus on insolvency-related disputes, in addition to assisting clients with the enforcement of arbitral awards.
David is very solid. I highly recommend him for complex cases.
Frances Lok SC is particularly noted for her handling of insolvency and company law disputes, and also acts on contentious probate and shareholder matters.
Frances is able to deliver what clients want, with no messing about.
Frances is a very capable senior counsel who is knowledgeable and well prepared all the time.
Jenkin is very sophisticated in his advocacy and has excellent communication skills in handling difficult situations.
Kerby Lau consistently wins recognition for his deep expertise in company and insolvency law, alongside his significant expertise in commercial trust disputes.
He is fearsome, dedicated, committed and works ferociously hard. He is exceptional with mainland clients. He has a very strong guiding influence with the clients and is very much respected.
Kerby’s proficiency in handling shareholders’ disputes and contentious winding-up cases further highlights his versatility and deep understanding of commercial issues and corporate governance.
He's a first rate barrister who has benefitted from his 17 years of practice as a top rate solicitor. He's very effective in his analysis and able to articulate his arguments well.
Look is always helpful and definitely an expert in scheme of arrangements. He is our-go to counsel.
Martin Kok is recognised as an adept adviser on an array of commercial disputes relating to cross-border insolvencies and disputes over property transactions.
Martin is very user friendly and responsive. He's quick on his feet.
Martin masters all evidence and is always able to come up with a clear vision on cases. His writing work is top notch.
Terrence Tai wins recognition for his strong restructuring and insolvency disputes practice, in addition to solid expertise in trust and probate-related matters.
He's a very experienced restructuring counsel in Hong Kong and also an excellent all-rounder.
Terrence has strong technical skills and is pragmatic and very responsive.
Tom Ng has a highly varied caseload built around a strong core of company, insolvency and financial services-related work.
Tom is very responsive to clients' needs and is able to give in-depth advice on complicated legal issues to clients.
Cherry Xu wins recognition from market sources for her work on a variety of commercial disputes, with her experience in mainland China-related arbitration a key point of focus.
Cherry is very stable and has a calm style; she's fluent in Mandarin as well and her language skills come as a great help with Chinese clients.
Her ability is top notch and she's well regarded for PRC arbitrations.
Catrina Lam SC maintains a diverse practice across a range of commercial litigation instructions, commanding particularly high esteem for her accomplished competition law practice.
Catrina has a very impressive practice.
Catrina is the guru in the area of competition law.