Tanner De Witt is an established and recommended independent law firm in Hong Kong. Our firm and lawyers, many of whom have international law firm backgrounds, receive top ratings from industry publications such as Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.
Our primary focus is business law in Asia. We provide legal advice and representation in the following areas: Corporate and Commercial; Mergers and Acquisitions; Dispute Resolution: Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation; Restructuring and Insolvency; Employment; Family; Wills, Probate and Trusts; Fraud and Asset Tracing; Investigations; Banking and Finance; Investment Funds; Regulatory and Compliance; China Practice Group; Immigration; Criminal Law and White Collar Crime; Intellectual Property; Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT): Technology Corporate, Technology Transactions, Data Privacy, Governance and Management, Cybersecurity, Digital Services and Fintech, Media and Entertainment, Communications; Public Interest and Equal Rights; Hospitality including Liquor Licensing; and Notarial Services.
Our clients include public and private companies, multinationals, partnerships and individuals involved in a wide range of activities, both within Hong Kong and internationally. As an established Hong Kong law firm, we operate in many industry sectors. These vary from Hospitality to Aviation; from Banking and Insurance to Fashion; and Real Estate to Private Equity.
Our relationships with law firms in other jurisdictions enable Tanner De Witt to provide legal support in many countries including China. We are a multilingual law firm with many international clients based in Hong Kong and overseas. While we primarily operate in English, our team members speak many Asian and European languages including Cantonese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Hokkien, Japanese, Mandarin, Nepalese, Punjabi, Shanghainese, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu.
While Tanner De Witt is one of the largest independent law firms in Hong Kong, we have a high Partner-Lawyer ratio and we endeavour to ensure clients receive legal advice based on our many years of experience.
We generally charge for our services on the basis of time spent, applying the hourly rates of the lawyers involved. However, in order to improve fee predictability and help clients control costs—where appropriate, and possible in accordance with Law Society requirements—we are happy to discuss alternative arrangements, such as fixed or capped fees, periodic retainers, blended hourly rates or sliding scale or volume discounts.
For clients who prefer to resolve disputes with as little contention as possible, we can offer Mediation services through our accredited mediators Ian De Witt and Mark Side.
Tanner De Witt provides insightful, practical and commercial legal advice with discretion and sensitivity to our clients’ needs and preferences. Our lawyers always work closely with clients, engineering options to reach goals by way of an agreed method at competitive rates. Please refer to Our diversity statement, and if you have any enquiry about our services, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Tanner De Witt’s Corporate and Commercial practice deals with a wide range of non-contentious matters on behalf of our clients. We pride ourselves on the personal and attentive service we offer to our clients, who include public and private companies, multinationals, partnerships and individuals involved in a wide range of activities, both within Hong Kong and internationally.
Our lawyers, many of whom have international law firm backgrounds, have between them, extensive experience in Hong Kong and Asia. Our understanding of the local business environment combined with our knowledge, experience and proven track record means that we add real insight and value to the business decisions you face. We have broad experience of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, having acted for large multinationals, in addition to a sound knowledge of private equity transactions.
We have built up a thorough working knowledge of PRC business entities and structures. In addition, we have secure connections and working relationships with law firms in the PRC and most other jurisdictions, evidenced by the fact that we receive frequent referrals from well-known US, European and Asian law firms.
Lawyers in our Corporate and Commercial group have extensive experience in advising on:
Tanner De Witt’s Litigation team combines insightful and thorough legal analysis with a practical approach so we can resolve disputes promptly with minimum disruption to commercial relationships.
Our experience in commercial litigation and dispute resolution procedures enables our lawyers to deal effectively with disputes in the various courts and tribunals of Hong Kong. We also advise on domestic and international arbitrations and conduct cases before various specialised tribunals and professional associations in Hong Kong.
Our commercial litigators act on a wide variety of cases, many of which have involved landmark decisions. We handle a wide range of commercial and business-related disputes, including:
Tanner De Witt has acted in several of the leading reported cases in Hong Kong over the last 20 years and are regular speakers to employers, business groups and human resource professionals.
We act for many major employers as well as senior executives and high profile employees in a wide range of industry sectors including banking and finance, insurance, publishing, manufacturing and professional services.
Through our experience and knowledge we aim to provide quality, cost-effective and commercial legal advice. Further, through our experience we are also able to offer tactical and common sense guidance on best practice to ensure the best overall result for the client, including issues such as performance management, rewards and restriction structures, exit strategies and mediation.
Tanner De Witt has considerable experience advising on Hong Kong employment law and related issues. The types of matters on which we regularly advise include:
Tanner De Witt Solicitors advises families on divorce and associated matters in Hong Kong, often involving international considerations. For companies in the SME sector divorce of owners is frequently a major corporate event.
The approach of Tanner De Witt to divorce and family law is to reduce the impact on all concerned of the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next chapter of life. To achieve this lawyers in Tanner De Witt work to the best modern professional practice in putting the interests of children first and encouraging reasoned compromise and negotiations as first principles.
The areas of legal and practical interest include financial maintenance (sometimes known as alimony), estate distribution, child custody and child access. Many of the instructions in this area come from commercial clients who are expatriates in Hong Kong and are concerned about the implications of divorce for their employment visas and the immigration status of family members.
Tanner De Witt has professional relationships with law firms in other countries closely connected with Hong Kong where international divorces may lead to issues and works with a group of experienced mediators, counsellors, parenting co-ordinators and child psychiatrists where appropriate.
Please click here to view a legal checklist when preparing for marriage.
Legal Advice and Representation in Hong Kong
Experienced lawyers in Tanner De Witt’s Wills, Probate and Trusts practice provide contentious and non-contentious legal advice in Hong Kong to international clients. These include trustees, executors and administrators, banks and beneficiaries.
Trusts and Wills – Our Legal Services
Tanner De Witt’s lawyers advise and represent clients in all matters related to estate administration in Hong Kong. For example, many of our high net worth patrons seek our services in preparing wills involving complex and often cross-border circumstances. Our expertise is frequently sought concerning Hong Kong inheritance law and more specifically, contentious and non-contentious probate matters. Receipt of a grant of letter of representation (probate or letter of administration) is the first step in the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person. It officially appoints the executor (or personal representative), generally named in the will, as having legal power to dispose of the testator’s assets in the manner specified in the testator’s will.
Contact Tanner De Witt for legal advice and representation in matters concerning:
We have extensive experience in handling various Immigration matters including Visa applications, Immigration law advice and Immigration investigation and prosecution. We have provided these services to a wide range of clients from multinational corporations to high-profile individuals.
Employment Visa
We have assisted many employers to obtain Employment Visas for their employees in Hong Kong. The applicant of an Employment Visa must possess “special skills, knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available” in Hong Kong and the sponsor of this Visa must be a Hong Kong company.
If you wish to apply for an Employment Visa for your employee we can prepare the application forms and other necessary supporting documents such as supporting letter etc. and submit the application to the Immigration Department on your employee’s behalf. We would also liaise with the Immigration Department throughout the application process and answer any requisition from them in respect of your employee’s application.
Investment Visa
We have assisted many individuals in setting up their businesses in Hong Kong and obtaining Investment Visas. The Applicant of an Investment Visa should have a good education background and be “in a position to make substantial contribution” to Hong Kong’s economy.
If you wish to apply for an Investment Visa, we can first assist you in incorporating a Hong Kong Company. After the Hong Kong company is incorporated, we would then assist you in preparing the application forms and other necessary supporting documents such as business plan, company documents etc. and submitting the application to the Immigration Department on your behalf. We would also liaise with the Immigration Department throughout the application process and answer any requisition from them in respect of your application.
Dependants Visas, Extension of Stay and Appeal
If you are applying for one of the visas above and would like your family (married spouse and children) to stay in Hong Kong with you, we can also assist in applying for dependent visas for your family.
If you wish to continue to stay in Hong Kong after your current visa expires, we can make an extension of stay application for you. This application should be submitted within 4 weeks before your current limit of stay expires.
We have also represented clients in appeals against the Immigration Department’s decision in refusing their Visas applications.
Prolonged Visitor’s Visas
Under the existing Immigration policy, same sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples are not eligible to apply for Dependants Visas in Hong Kong. Alternatively, the Immigration Department may grant a 6 months Prolonged Visitor’s Visa to an applicant in the said situations. However, a holder of a Prolonged Visitor’s Visa does not enjoy the same rights and benefits of other Visas (i.e. Employment Visa) in Hong Kong. We have assisted a number of clients in obtaining this type of Visa. Please contact us for further details.
Permanent Residency
Once a person has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for more than 7 years, he/she may be eligible to apply for a Hong Kong permanent resident card. We also offer assistance to clients who wish to apply for permanent resident status.
Immigration Law Advice, Investigation and Prosecution
We have provided advice to clients in relation to various Immigration matters such as Immigration status and breach of condition of stay. We have also assisted some clients in dealing with Immigration investigation and prosecution. Our experienced immigration lawyers would guide you through the processes with a view to minimizing the impact of such investigations and prosecutions.
Many occupations in Hong Kong have a specialist regulator. Amongst the well-known regulators are the SFC, the HKICPA, the Hong Kong Medical Council and The Law Society. There are many others who control the entitlements of individuals to enter or to continue in employment or practise.
The various law enforcement agencies (such as the Police Force, the Commercial Crimes Bureau (CCB), the Independent Commission Against Corruption and other specialist crime prevention units) have an increasingly prominent role in business in so-called “white collar crime” (such as money laundering) because business crime is a high priority in the sophisticated commercial environment of Hong Kong.
A criminal record now has greater implications for individuals than ever before because of the regulatory implications, internal codes of conduct and disciplinary standards, the need to disclose such matters on employment applications, credit applications and visa and emigration/immigration applications.
Tanner De Witt Solicitors has developed a team to coordinate the criminal, regulatory, immigration and employment issues flowing from criminal charges such as public order offences, minor crimes of violence, domestic violence and the like. We are well placed to ensure that the status of “fit and proper”, typical in most professional codes, is not lost or compromised as a result of criminal charges flowing from a person’s work life, private life or non-work lifestyle.
Further, and with the recent addition to Tanner De Witt’s team of Philip Swainston, a specialist criminal law practitioner of more than 15 years’ experience in Hong Kong, Tanner De Witt is now equipped to handle complex commercial crime, fraud allegations, cyber crime, international money laundering and tax evasion allegations. We are also able to provide specialist advice on the expanding obligations to report certain transactions to the regulators and the consequences both of making a report or failing to do so.
We support clients through police, immigration, customs and excise investigations and prosecutions and defending criminal charges including:
We also represent clients in extradition and regulatory proceedings.
Intellectual assets can represent a significant portion of the overall value of a business. Although not physical, intangible assets have to be protected, promoted and included as part of a business’ overall business plan.
Most business transactions touch upon intellectual property issues with long-term implications depending on how these issues are handled. Our lawyers are experienced in helping clients understand their intellectual property rights and use them as effective business tools in protecting and growing their business.
In an age where information is disseminated globally and instantaneously by a click of a mouse, unauthorized use of proprietary information proliferates. We help clients protect and preserve their intellectual property rights against unauthorized use by developing internal monitoring programs and litigation when needed. Our professionals, including many Putonghua speakers, also work with professionals in the People’s Republic of China to help protect clients’ assets from unauthorized use.
Our services include:
In conjunction with the firm’s litigators, litigation involving:
