Dentons Hong Kong

The firm: Dentons is the world's largest global law firm, connecting top-tier talent to the world's challenges and opportunities across over 80 countries. Dentons helps you grow, protect, operate and finance your organization by providing uniquely global and deeply local legal solutions. Polycentric, purpose-driven and committed to inclusion, diversity, equity and sustainability, our award-winning client service challenges the status quo to advance client interests.

The Hong Kong office provides legal advice and representation to governments and state owned entities, financial institutions, multinational corporations, professional services firms and high net worth individuals in relation to their business needs in Hong Kong, across the Asia Pacific region and globally.

Our Hong Kong team comprises experienced lawyers and leading professionals qualified in seven jurisdictions – Hong Kong, England and Wales, the United States (New York, District of Columbia),  Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Our core areas of services include:

• Banking and finance
• Capital markets
• Employment and labour
• Investment funds and income trusts
• Arbitration
• Litigation and rispute Resolution
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Real estate
• Restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy
• White-collar and government investigations

Areas of practice
Banking and finance: Dentons’ Hong Kong banking and finance team assists a wide range of commercial banks, investment banks, accounting firms, insurance companies, asset management companies, trust companies, financial companies, funds and other financial institutions, as well as government agencies, with transactions of every size and scope.

Our structured finance and securitisation lawyers represent virtually every banking and financial institution that is active in the financing, purchase and securitisation of financial assets.

As part of Dentons’ ESG Global Solutions, Dentons Hong Kong is also active in the areas of green and sustainable finance.

Capital markets: Dentons Hong Kong is one of the few firms in Hong Kong that has on-the-ground capability to advise on both Hong Kong and US securities laws in IPO and other capital markets transactions.

The Hong Kong equity capital markets team has represented issuers and underwriters in over 60 Hong Kong IPOs, including Main Board and GEM, red chip and H-share projects. The firm’s debt capital markets team has advised clients on the full spectrum of international and domestic debt offerings.

Employment and labour: Dentons’ employment and labour team advises local and foreign clients on a range of employment and HR related matters, including employment contracts and policies, employees' protection and compensation, restrictive covenants, transfer and secondment of staff, visas and work permits arrangement, redundancy issues, data privacy, discrimination issues and occupational safety and health issues.  We support our clients in every stage of an employment relationship and our employment litigation specialists handle labour disputes brought at the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Labour Tribunal, the District Court and the High Court as well as handling large-scale internal investigations, regulatory reporting and acrimonious terminations.

Investment funds: Dentons Hong Kong offers a full range of services to investors and investee companies, including, on the public fund side, helping local fund houses to establish public funds and international fund clients to obtain regulatory approval for offering fund products to the Hong Kong public, and, on the private fund side, setting up and structuring onshore and/or offshore investment funds. We pride ourselves in being a one-stop shop supporting the entire investment life cycle and investment managers’ value chain. Our team carries unique capabilities advising on regulatory matters in the management or offering of investment products, also in relation to different responsible investment strategies and related environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for investors and investee companies.

Arbitration: Dentons’ world renounced international arbitration team works seamlessly across offices and regions to assist clients from the onset of a dispute, through to enforcement of an arbitral award.  We are familiar with the major institutional and procedural rules and we know the arbitrators who decide cases.

As a global law firm with a significant presence in mainland China, we find ourselves a go-to firm for both mainland Chinese parties to Hong Kong arbitration (including state owned enterprises) and international clients (typically from the US and Europe).

Our team has also regularly represented clients in arbitrations administered by regional and international arbitration institutions, such as Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Singapore International Arbitration (SIAC), and Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC).

We have extensive experience in handling jurisdictional challenges against arbitration proceedings, applying for interim relief (such as asset preservation orders in China) in aid of arbitral proceedings, and representing claimants in enforcing Hong Kong and foreign arbitral awards.

Litigation and dispute resolution: Dentons Hong Kong has a strong track record in advising on a broad range of high-value, complex and multi-jurisdictional disputes for clients regionally and globally.

We assist our clients in pursuing, defending and mediating a wide variety of civil and commercial claims in all level of courts and across various jurisdictions and industry sectors.  We also frequently handle applications for injunctive relief and asset freezing, and help our clients implement tracing and enforcement of judgments.  From risk analysis to crisis management, we have a team of seasoned lawyers to provide you with clear advice and quality representations in writing and hearings.

Of particular note is our depth of experience in litigation relating to shareholder disputes, financial investments and fraud, often with cross-border elements.  We regularly handle disputes for international corporations, high net worth individuals and regulatory authorities.

We also have a well-respected practice of acting in professional disputes and disciplinary proceedings for a wide range of professionals including solicitors, accountants, brokers and licensed individuals.

Mergers and acquisitions: Dentons' Hong Kong mergers and acquisitions team offers a full service to local and international clients, including entity formation, conversion, dissolution and liquidation as well as legal counseling covering all aspects of transactional and operational work in our clients’ businesses.

The firm has represented public and private companies, buyers and sellers, boards of directors, shareholders, investors and owners, partnerships and private individuals, financial services institutions, underwriters, commercial and investment banks on a wide range of matters.  The team also advises on commercial issues including regulatory and compliance and data protection.

Real estate: Dentons’ Asia Pacific real estate group is a diverse team that provides advice with both a global and regional perspective, with experience and familiarity with complex cross-border transactions as well as deep local knowledge in the many jurisdictions in which we practice. The group assists investment banks, private equity funds, financial institutions and developers in acquisitions and dispositions, financings, joint venture and construction transactions.  The group also routinely represents hospitality clients as well institutional landlords and tenants in commercial transactions. Our group focuses on an integrated approach, giving clients the comfort of an unmatched global and regional presence together with a deep understanding of local real estate markets befitting a firm with offices in most, if not all, of the locations where our clients do business.

The group also routinely works with our other related practice groups to provide our clients with seamless access to our experience in project finance, project development and dispute resolution matters.

Restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy: Dentons’ restructuring, Insolvency bankruptcy team provides full-service to a wide range of clients, including companies facing financial distress, debtors and potential debtors, official and ad hoc committees, secured and unsecured creditors. Our lawyers’ experience covers every aspect of bankruptcy, reorganisation and creditors’ rights representation.

Our practice is a leading player in the Hong Kong market, and is well known for both its contentious and non-contentious work. Over the years, we have been involved in many high profile insolvency matters, both in Hong Kong and internationally. We position ourselves at the top end of the market with a focus on challenging and complex work.

White-collar and government investigations: Dentons Hong Kong advises and acts for clients in both contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters, ranging from acting for clients in Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigations to providing compliance advice in relation to requirements of the SFC. Our team also has considerable hands-on experience in the investigation of commercial fraud and white-collar crimes; supporting clients from urgent asset freezing injunction order applications, tracking and recovery of stolen or misappropriated assets, to providing interim relief in aid of overseas legal proceedings.

The size and scale of our practice enables us to deploy large teams for major investigations and litigation, or to call on individual experts to advise on niche areas of law often required by clients within financial services e.g. sanctions, financial crime and national security matters. We are relatively unique in that we work both for and against regulators and our work for the SFC, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong government gives us unparalleled insight which our private sector clients consider invaluable.

The team also has relations with the ICAC, Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB), Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) as well as other external bodies and media contacts in the planning and implementation of internal investigations.