Chambers Asia Pacific has published its 2021 guide and Gall is ranked as a Leading Firm for Dispute Resolution (Band 3), Family/Matrimonial (Band 3) and Employment (Band 4). Nick Gall (Band 4), Chris Wong (Band 5), Caroline McNally (Band 1) and Andrea Randall (Band 3) are named as Leading Individuals.
Senior Partner Nick Gall has been featured in three Hong Kong Economic Times articles where he shares insights on the firm’s strategy, future plans and market trends, Gall’s involvement in the Cyberworks matter earlier this year (advising on Hong Kong’s first-ever telephonic court hearing), and insights on the firm’s approach to hiring and retaining staff.
Chantelle Woo has written an article on the potential risks of having two wedding ceremonies for Cosmopolitan HK magazine.
The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (the “Amendment”) has come into operation from today, 11 December 2020. Our previous update on its details can be viewed here.
The idea of reforming Hong Kong’s corporate rescue regime was first floated back in 1996. It was introduced in the form of the Companies (Corporate Rescue) Bill 2001 but got nowhere due to differences of opinion. This was returned to the table subsequently in 2003, 2009 and 2014, but nothing ever came to fruition.
Gall is co-hosting a webinar on Friday 11th December with Indian law Firm Economic Laws Practice (ELP) exploring key considerations for Indian corporates looking to litigate and arbitrate in Hong Kong.
In light of COVID-19, many employers have been considering ways to reduce their overhead costs. Employees’ wages often account for a large share of the employer’s expenses, consequently, employees are increasingly being asked to vary their employment terms by agreeing to take no pay leave and/or a reduction to their wages. Often these requests are premised as an alternative to redundancy. This article examines the rights of both employers and employees in a relation to a variation of the employment contract.
Gall has been awarded “Pro Bono Initiative of the Year” in China Law & Practice’s 2020 Awards in recognition of the firm’s “Gall Cares” programme which launched in early 2020.
A settlement agreement (also known as a separation agreement) is a legally binding contractual document which sets out the employer’s and employee’s agreed terms of the termination of the employee’s employment. There is no statutory requirement to enter into a settlement agreement upon termination, however, where separation terms can be agreed, it is often helpful to confirm those terms in writing. Typically, a term of the settlement agreement will be to keep the terms and the fact of the agreement confidential. In this note, we consider the effect of a breach of a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement and discuss factors that may be useful for drafting a confidentiality clause.
It is increasingly common for employers and employees in Hong Kong to agree cessation terms. In such cases, an employee may be asked to enter into a separation agreement.
