Top lawyers downplay fracas after Hong Kong authorities hit back at ‘unfair criticisms’ from head of dispute resolution centre in Singapore
- Head of Singapore-funded resolution centre says some clients worried over uncertainty of Hong Kong’s future legal environment and effect on long-term contracts
- Top lawyers from both cities stress importance of ‘healthy competition’ after Hong Kong government accuses centre head of making ‘unfair criticisms’
Lawyers in Hong Kong and Singapore have sought to downplay a row between the regional rivals after the former’s Department of Justice accused the head of a publicly funded dispute resolution centre in the city state of making “unfair criticisms”.
The department on Saturday responded to remarks from Maxwell Chambers chief executive Ban Jiun Ean featured in the Asia Business Law Journal, in which he said clients with contracts lasting for two decades or more would find it difficult to predict the legal and political environments of many places given the current global climate.
“Hong Kong, in particular, was one place where some parties with very long-term contracts avoided putting it as the seat of arbitration, due to uncertainty about the legal environment after Hong Kong returned to China, even with assurances of 50 years of self-government and freedom of speech,” he said.
But a department spokesman said Ban’s remarks were “unfair criticisms far from the truth”.
Ng Jern-fei, King’s Counsel and a director of the chambers, told the Post later on Saturday its chief executive had simply recounted the views of certain clients of legal services.