Secretary for Justice to attend Legal Services Forum in Guangzhou

The Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, will lead a 100‐member delegation of legal and arbitration professionals to attend the second Hong Kong Legal Services Forum, to be held in Guangzhou on September 13 (Thursday).

The forum is jointly organised by the Department of Justice, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Bar Association, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, and the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (Asia Office).

Under the theme "Hong Kong Legal Services – Think Global, Think Hong Kong", the forum aims to highlight Hong Kong's strengths as the international hub for legal services and dispute resolution.

Mr Yuen, together with the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, Mr Kumar Ramanathan, SC; President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, Mr Dieter Yih; Chairman of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Mr Huen Wong, and Director and Counsel of the Secretariat of the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (Asia Office), Ms Khong Cheng‐yee, will officiate at the forum's opening ceremony on Thursday morning. The former Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Mr Ronald Arculli, will give a keynote speech at the luncheon.

More than 600 people, including Mainland and foreign business enterprises from the Pearl River Delta Region, Mainland and Hong Kong legal professionals and government officials will attend the forum. They will explore various legal issues including corporate finance and governance as well as the advantages of using arbitration services in Hong Kong in resolving commercial disputes and related matters.

A mock arbitration and a case study will be conducted to demonstrate dispute resolution by way of arbitration as well as to examine legal issues that Mainland enterprises may encounter in overseas investment, mergers and acquisitions, and so forth.

More details about the forum are available at the website www.doj.gov.hk/legalservicesforum2012/eng/index.htm.

Ends/Monday, September 10, 2012