Top barrister Alan Hoo clears up 'misunderstanding' with mum

A dispute between top barrister Alan Hoo and his mother has reached a "satisfactory" conclusion, the two parties said in a joint statement, three weeks after she accused him publicly of locking her out of their home.

Hoo said he was "deeply sorry" for the misunderstanding, which the statement said was caused by miscommunication and a lack of communication. "The misunderstanding between Hoo and [his mother] Linda Chuan Yun-chuu has been cleared through the mediation of a family mediator. A settlement satisfying to both sides has been reached," the mother and son said in the statement, released through a solicitor's firm on behalf of the senior counsel.

No details about the settlement were disclosed.

The row came to light last month when an emotional Chuan, 84, called a press conference alleging that her only son had barred her from their Pok Fu Lam home and a home she owned in Shanghai. He also refused to take her phone calls for six months or to return HK$11 million in cash, she claimed.

Chuan told reporters how a lawyer had visited her in Shanghai in October claiming her son had sent him. He told her to move out by the end of November.

Hoo, who is chairman of the Basic Law Institute and a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate, reportedly denied the accusations and stressed that he loved his mother very much.