In its annual list of Asia’s Top Offshore Litigators, ALB features top disputes practitioners working with offshore law firms who have successfully handled significant cases and exceeded client expectations in the process. The full list is in alphabetical order, and a few lawyers have been profiled.
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JUSTIN DAVIS
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Justin Davis is a partner in Ogier’s dispute resolution, restructuring and corporate recovery teams in Hong Kong. His practice focuses on complex, high-value, multi-jurisdictional commercial and corporate litigation, shareholders’ disputes and insolvency litigation. He has particular experience in obtaining and opposing freezing injunctions, asset disclosure orders, receiver-ship orders and anti-suit injunctions. He also has extensive experience in obtaining and opposing winding up orders and asset enforcement orders. Prior to joining Ogier in 2020, Justin worked in the British Virgin Islands for four years with other leading offshore law firms and appeared numerous times in the BVI Commercial Court and the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. Before moving offshore, he practised as a barrister at a leading set of chambers at the Commercial Bar in London for 14 years. The noteworthy cases in which Justin has advised in recent years include acting for (a) the Joint Liquidators of Three Arrows Capital; (b) the Joint Provisional Liquidators of Unigroup International Holdings and Tsinghua Unigroup International; (c) a BVI company which was a creditor of shareholders in Luckin Coffee (in provisional liquidation); and (d) the buyer group in a dispute arising out of the take-private of a NASDAQ-listed BVI company. Justin’s prominent clients include the Joint Liquidators of Three Arrow Capitals and Tsinghua Unigroup international and China Construction Bank (Asia). |
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EDWIN GOMEZ
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Edwin Gomez is one of the longest-standing members of Ogier’s dispute resolution practice and multi-disciplinary restructuring and corporate recovery team in Hong Kong. He has developed a broad practice covering investment funds litigation, contentious trust matters, cross-border restructuring and insolvency and commercial litigation. Prior to joining Ogier in 2016, Edwin was a Partner in a boutique commercial litigation practice in London, England before moving to the Cayman Islands to practice for a top-ranked firm in 2012. Edwin’s expertise in offshore law practice has been a considerable asset for the Hong Kong team over the years. He acted as Cayman counsel for a minority shareholder of a joint venture company operating more than 1,400 convenience stores in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to seek alternative relief under the Cayman Companies Law and successfully obtained a highly significant ruling on the interplay between arbitration and just and equitable winding up proceedings; acted as BVI counsel for Chance Talent Management in its successful application to appoint liquidators over Novel Blaze in the BVI Commercial Court and subsequent BVI Court of Appeal proceedings; and acted as Cayman counsel for Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) in connection with Grand Court and Cayman Court of Appeal liquidation proceedings. Some of Edwin’s key clients include Family Mart China Holding, Itochu Corporation, PwC, Deloitte, and Grant Thornton. |
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NORMAN HAU
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Norman Hau is a partner in the Hong Kong office of Conyers. Prior to joining Conyers in 2012, he practiced in the dispute resolution team of a magic circle firm. Hau is a seasoned commercial litigator with extensive experience in restructuring and insolvency matters and shareholders disputes in Hong Kong, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. Hau has acted for listed companies, liquidators, private equity houses, fund managers and high net worth individuals in contentious matters involving offshore laws. He recently acted for a leading real estate Internet portal in China in defending a winding up petition on just and equitable grounds and an application for appointment of provisional liquidators in the Cayman Grand Court; and acted for displaced directors in Re Titan Petrochemicals Group in their appeal against a winding up order made against the company in Bermuda based on the defence that the petitioning debt arose out of a fraudulent scheme orchestrated by former management of the company. Hau also advised various Hong Kong-listed companies in their debt restructuring or liquidation proceedings in offshore jurisdictions, including GTI Holdings, Silver Base Group Holdings, Sun Cheong Creative Development Holdings, China Animal Healthcare, Moody Technology Holdings. Hau has provided services for a varied client base including RSM Nelson Wheeler, FTI Consulting, Borrelli Walsh (rebranded as Kroll) and Shinewing, among others. |
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JEREMY LIGHTFOOT
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Jeremy Lightfoot is the head of Carey Olsen’s dispute resolution and litigation practice in the Hong Kong office. His practice is focused on high-value, complex commercial and corporate litigation, insolvency and restructuring matters under the laws of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. Prior to joining Carey Olsen, Jeremy was based in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong with another offshore law firm. Before moving offshore, he practiced for a decade as a barrister at a leading chamber in London. Jeremy’s recent matters include acting as the lead partner for the key shareholder in a high-value (over $300 million) and high-profile shareholder dispute concerning a Cayman incorporated company involving some of the largest allegations of fraud ever made in respect of HKSE listed companies; acting for the successful claimant in securing enforcement in the British Virgin Islands of a PRC judgment, which is believed to be only the second reported time that this has been achieved; and acting for a PRC individual in seeking to unwind a complex multi-jurisdictional fraud via ground-breaking proceedings in the British Virgin Islands. Jeremy was admitted in the British Virgin Islands and enrolled as a registered associate in Bermuda. He is also a member of the Hong Kong ICPA Restructuring and Insolvency Faculty, the International Bar Association, INSOL, IWIRC, the Chancery Bar Association (Overseas Member) and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. |
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ANNA LIN
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Anna Lin is a partner in the Hong Kong office of Conyers. She is qualified in five jurisdictions including Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and California. Lin has advised investment banks, consultancy companies, listed companies, venture capitals, funds, investment managers, general partners, limited partners, high-net-worth individuals, and private companies around the globe. Lin acts on a wide spectrum of legal matters in relation to offshore jurisdictions. In recent years, she has achieved remarkable wins for her clients. Her expertise includes shareholder disputes, transfer of shares, dividends distribution and claims, buyout proceedings, insolvency, restructuring, contentious winding up, contentious family trust, probate and management-related advisory matters, injunction, disclosure and other interim relief, recognition, enforcement, and rectification orders in offshore jurisdictions. Lin has been widely described by her clients as “an excellent multi-jurisdictional strategist” and her advice is nothing but “top tier”. Her acute local cultural sensitivity acquired from being a native Mandarin speaker allows her to offer an extra dimension to complex high-value offshore disputes arising from Asia. She is also regarded as very thorough and incredibly intelligent. She fully appreciates each case’s own wrinkles, personality, and hidden agenda. Due to her multi-cultural background, she can read the opponents’ strategies with ease. She is very knowledgeable and calm – an excellent negotiator. |
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MICHAEL MAKRIDAKIS
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Michael Makridakis is a partner in the Hong Kong office of Conyers. His practice encompasses virtu-ally all aspects of offshore litigation, spanning cross-border insolvencies and restructurings, distressed or contentious investment funds, shareholders’ rights and remedies, directors’ duties, audit and professional services, fraud claims, as well as commercial litigation disputes. As an accredited insolvency and restructuring law specialist and an accomplished commercial litigator and advocate, Makridakis has been actively involved in acting in winding up petition proceedings involving legal matters of investor’s redemption rights and investment recovery options, appointment of provisional liquidators, appointment of trustees for a consortium of lenders, breach of duty and conspiracy, liquidity issues, asset realisation, taking control of share and board of directors of certain offshore entities as well as other legal and strategic advice regarding civil and insolvency proceedings for listed companies pertaining to Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands laws. Prior to joining the firm in March 2021, Makridakis practised law in the Cayman Islands from 2008 and then relocated to Hong Kong in 2016. In 2013 he was appointed as head of litigation in the Cayman Islands, and subsequently in Hong Kong, for another large offshore law firm. Most recently he was named as the managing director of a private equity fund in Asia focused upon litigation funding and specialty finance, for which he still main-tains a senior advisory role. |
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JAMES NOBLE
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An expert in Cayman, BVI and Bermuda law, James Noble heads Carey Olsen’s Asia litigation, insolvency and restructuring practice, the largest offshore litigation team in Singapore. James advises on a wide range of commercial, trust and estate disputes and private wealth matters. He recently acted for Global Cord Blood Corporation, a billion-dollar company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the first cord blood operator in the People’s Republic of China in relation to a winding up petition filed against it in the Cayman Islands in connection with the company’s substantial acquisition of another business. James has also been extensively involved in complex and high-value shareholder litigation, asset recovery, cross-border enforcement, and insolvency. He recently acted for the executrix of the estate of the former CEO of Malaysian timber giant WTK Holdings in two of over 70 sets of multi-jurisdictional proceedings involving claims of misappropriation involving BVI entities. One of those proceedings culminated in an appeal to the Privy Council in London. Some of James’s notable clients include KPMG, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Global Cord Blood Corporation, Deutsche Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Ernst & Young. James is the only litigator in Singapore who is admitted in both the Cayman Islands and the BVI and registered in Bermuda. He has been appointed as a registered practitioner of the Singapore International Commercial Court. |
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OLIVER PAYNE
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Oliver Payne is the head of Dispute Resolution of Ogier in Asia and a key member of the firm’s global Restructuring and Corporate Recovery team. His practice spans all aspects of offshore litigation and includes complex, high-value fund, shareholder and banking disputes, cross-border insolvency, and breaches of directors and trustees’ duties. He also has experience in resolving disputes via arbitration and mediation. Oliver became a partner at the age of 35 following his relocation from Ogier’s Cayman Islands office to Hong Kong and has been responsible for the strong growth of the Asian Dispute Resolution practice with a rapid expansion of the team from 3 to 15 over six years. Oliver has appeared numerous times before the Financial Services Division of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. He acts for his longstanding client Tianrui (International) Holding Company, in just and equitable winding up proceedings; and has recently acted for a leading multinational investment bank in its capacity as bond trustee to appoint liquidators over Nuoxi Capital (Nuoxi) following several defaults on bonds. Some of Oliver’s major clients include FamilyMart, Bitmain Technologies, Barclays Bank, PwC, and Deloitte. Oliver is also a regular speaker on the Dynamics of Shareholder Engagement and Shareholder Activism in the Hong Kong Investor Relations Association, presenter to onshore firms on offshore matters, and author/commentator on offshore legal matters. |
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MICHAEL SNAPE
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Michael Snape is a partner in Ogier’s global Restructuring and Corporate Recovery team. His practice covers complex cross-border commercial litigation, share-holders disputes and contentious insolvency, with a focus on Cayman domiciled companies listed on the SEHK that operate in the PRC. Prior to joining Ogier in 2018, Michael was trained as a barrister in New Zealand. He moved to the Cayman Islands in 2011 and worked for the government of the Cayman Islands, before joining the litigation department of another offshore law firm. Michael regularly appears as counsel in the Cayman Islands’ courts at all levels and Cayman Islands Anti-Corruption Commission as independent counsel. He recently acted for a leading PRC-based education provider in a widely cited defence of a creditor’s winding-up petition and application for joint provisional liquidators brought based on unpaid share redemption claims; and acted as the Cayman Islands legal counsel to an investor consortium on the leveraged sponsor-backed acquisition by way of take-private of U.S. listed company 51job. Michael regularly advises shareholders, creditors, companies, liquidators and fund managers and directors in a range of disputes. Some of his key clients include Tianrui (International) , Grand State Investments and CIS Securities Asset Management. Michael is also an accomplished presenter on offshore law to onshore lawyers and other professional groups, as well as a member of INSOL International and IWIRC. |
THE LIST
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ALB ASIA’S TOP 15 OFFSHORE LITIGATORS 2022 |
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JOANNE COLLETT STUART D’ADDONA JUSTIN DAVIS EDWIN GOMEZ NORMAN HAU JEREMY LIGHTFOOT ANNA LIN MICHAEL MAKRIDAKIS IAN MANN JAMES NOBLE OLIVER PAYNE TOM PUGH MICHAEL SNAPE JOHN TREHEY COLETTE WILKINS QC |
