What lawyers call a “battle of the forms” occurs when two parties, negotiating a contract, exchange conflicting standard terms during the contract negotiation and formation. This leads to the obvious and not uncommon dilemma:...more
4/29/2025
/ Construction Contracts ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Formation ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Contract Terms ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Hong Kong ,
Standard Form Contracts ,
Standard Forms ,
Subcontractors
Ask a trained lawyer what an “LLM” is, and what first will come to mind may be a “Master of Laws”; ask a tech-savvy teenager what an “LLM” is, and they most probably will answer “large language model”. The former may not be a...more
4/3/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Due Process ,
International Arbitration ,
Legal Operations ,
Legal Technology ,
Machine Learning ,
Risk Management ,
Transparency
In CC v AC [2025] HKCFI 855 (Date of Decision: 27 February 2025), the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (“Court”) dismissed an application to set aside an order to enforce an arbitral award.
The main basis of challenge...more
A creditor commences winding-up proceedings against a debtor company on the basis that the company is insolvent. The petition debt relates to a dispute within the ambit of the arbitration agreement between the creditor and...more
These are exciting times for sports in Hong Kong.
With the Hong Kong team’s success at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics, the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park and the 15th National Games (which Hong...more
On 10 February 2025, the Development Bureau (“DEVB”) issued a suite of model adjudication documents (“Model Documents”), including a set of model adjudication rules (“Model Rules”)....more
In Wang & Lee Contracting Ltd v Young Kwong Pui Trading as In Tech Engineering [2025] HKDC 66 (Date of Decision: 3 January 2025), the District Court ordered the court proceedings to be stayed and that the plaintiff’s claims...more
Adjudication has become a key tool in the construction industry, helping employers and contractors resolve disputes quickly and keep cash flowing on projects. But when insolvency enters the picture, things can get tricky —...more
2/14/2025
/ Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Hong Kong ,
Insolvency ,
Jurisdiction ,
Security of Payment Act ,
Singapore ,
Stays ,
UK
In recent years, technology advancement has introduced new methods for contract formation. In particular, the rise of blockchain technology has led to the emergence of “smart contracts”, which are digital contracts which...more
9/27/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Blockchain ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Contract Terms ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Hong Kong ,
Smart Contracts ,
UK ,
UNCITRAL ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
In CMBICDHAW Investments Limited v CDH Fund V Limited Partnership & others [2024] HKCA 516 (judgment date: 10 July 2024), the Hong Kong Court of Appeal (CA) addressed an appeal regarding the Court of First Instance’s (CFI)...more
On 1 June 2024, the latest update to the HKIAC’s administered rules, the 2024 Administered Arbitration Rules (“2024 Rules”) of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) came into effect....more
It is well known to dispute resolution practitioners that an important matter is to turn your mind to putting in place costs protection, and to do so as at early stage of the dispute.
In Hong Kong litigation, a plaintiff...more
In 廣東順德展煒商貿有限公司 v Sun Fung Timber Company Limited [2021] HKCFI 2407, a Hong Kong court set aside an enforcement order in respect of an arbitral award, after finding that the shareholder-director of the respondent had colluded...more
In the anonymised case of T v B [2021] HKCFI 3645, the High Court of Hong Kong ruled that a challenge concerning the non-compliance with a condition precedent for commencing arbitration (“pre-arbitration condition”) is a...more
In a recent judgment (Construction Company v Guarantor [2021] HKCFI 2558, judgment date: 17 August 2021), a Hong Kong court upheld a U.S. arbitral award made pursuant to a split dispute resolution clause. In dismissing the...more
10/7/2021
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Commercial Arbitration ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Dispute Resolution Clauses ,
Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
Hong Kong ,
Jurisdiction ,
Parent Corporation ,
Subsidiaries
Where an arbitration clause provides that parties “may” submit their disputes to arbitration, does this mean that arbitration is mandatory or merely permissive? What is the effect of a proviso in an arbitration clause which...more
Many modern commercial contracts contain dispute resolution clauses which submit disputes to arbitration. It is common for parties to agree to a set of pre-conditions or escalation mechanisms which have to be complied with...more
First things first. What is “LawTech”?
“LawTech” is an increasingly common buzzword in the legal sector. The Law Society of England and Wales defines “LawTech” as “technologies that aim to support, supplement or replace...more
On 24 February 2021, the Hong Kong Government introduced into the Legislative Council the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2021 (“Bill”), to implement the Supplemental Arrangement Concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards...more
A recent Hong Kong judgment where the court made an adverse costs order against a party who unreasonably has refused to engage in mediation. This article discusses about the implications of this judgment, in particular on...more
On 12 September 2020, the Singapore International Mediation Centre (“SIMC”) and the Japan International Mediation Center (“JIMC”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the operation of a joint protocol (the “Protocol”)...more
The Hong Kong Department of Justice has officially launched the COVID-19 Online Dispute Resolution (‘ODR’) Scheme on 29 June 2020.
As previously introduced in our article, the Scheme aims to support individuals /...more
Like many other jurisdictions, Hong Kong is taking a proactive approach to dealing with the economic and business consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an article posted on her blog on 13 April 2020, the Secretary for...more