Tanner De Witt

The firm: Tanner De Witt is an established independent law firm in Hong Kong. Its primary focus is business law in Asia and clients include public and private companies, multinationals, partnerships and individuals, both within Hong Kong and internationally.

Relationships with law firms in other jurisdictions allow Tanner De Witt to provide legal support in many countries including China. The firm provides insightful, practical and commercial legal advice with discretion and sensitivity to clients’ needs and preferences. Lawyers work closely with clients, engineering options to reach goals by way of an agreed method at competitive rates.

While this is one of the largest independent law firms in Hong Kong, the partner-lawyer ratio is low, ensuring that clients receive legal advice based on many years of experience. For clients who prefer to resolve disputes with as little contention as possible, Tanner De Witt offers mediation services through accredited mediators Ian De Witt and Joanne Brown.

Areas of practice
Corporate and commercial: mergers and acquisitions, business sales and purchases, corporate reorganisations, joint ventures, investment and shareholders agreements, commercial arrangements and contracts, establishment of new companies and businesses.

Dispute resolution (litigation, arbitration and mediation): breach of contract and negligence, injunction proceedings, international trade, joint venture and franchise disputes, judicial review, landlord and tenant, owner-operated company and shareholder disputes, professional negligence and sale of goods and services.

General mediation across a broad range of practice areas, Civil Justice Reform, Practice Direction 31, expert adjudication or determination and early neutral evaluation.

Restructuring and insolvency: contentious and non-contentious, provisional liquidations, liquidations, receiverships, asset tracing, pre-emptive remedies and the recovery and enforcement of security, and acting for appointment holders, creditors, lenders and trustees.

Employment: redundancy, remuneration and benefits, secondments and handbooks, restrictive covenants, injunctive relief, Labour Tribunal claims, District and High Court actions, personal data privacy and discrimination.

Immigration: employment, investment and dependants visas, extension of stay and appeal, prolonged visitors’ visas, permanent residency, immigration law advice, investigation and prosecution.

Family: divorce and associated matters in Hong Kong, pre-nuptial agreements, financial maintenance, estate distribution, child custody and child access.

Banking and finance: structuring and implementation of debt transactions, transaction security packages, loan financing, syndicated loan facilities, multi-currency loans, sales finance agreements and cash pooling.

Regulatory and compliance: regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, financial regulators’ criminal prosecutions, disciplinary proceedings and appeals to the SFC appeals tribunal.

Criminal law and white-collar crime: customs and excise investigations and prosecutions, commercial and cybercrime, tax evasion and corruption (ICAC), representation in extradition and regulatory proceedings.

IP: purchase and sale of IP assets, licensing and sub-licensing, distribution and agency arrangements, infringement of trade marks, Trade Mark Registry hearings, breach of licence, enforcement and franchising.

Wills, probate and trusts: inheritance law and distribution of estates in Hong Kong, wills and codicils, trusts, grants of probate and letters of administration, resealing of grants in Hong Kong and overseas and preparing deeds of family arrangement.

Hospitality and liquor licensing: liquor licences in Hong Kong, Liquor Licensing Board hearings, prosecutions for breach of licence conditions or laws and regulations governing the sale of liquor and appeals to the Municipal Services Appeals Board.

Fraud and asset tracing: tracing and recovering stolen or misappropriated assets, Anton Piller ‘search and seize’ orders, Mareva ’freezing’ injunctions, forensic investigations and suspicious transaction reporting (STR).