About Charles Allen Charles Allen is the head of RPC’s Hong Kong office and leads its commercial disputes practice. Partner, solicitor advocate and dispute resolution lawyer, Charles leverages his 25+ years of experience of practice in the jurisdiction to advise clients on a wide range of commercial disputes across the Asia Pacific Region in court and arbitration proceedings. Charles also sits as an arbitrator in commercial matters and regularly sits as Chairman in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. About RPC RPC is a full-service international law firm widely acclaimed as a disputes powerhouse. It is sought after by clients to act on a broad variety of disputes, including some of the most complex and high value on the market. Named Law Firm of the Year three times since 2014, RPC represents industry-leading clients in insurance, retail, media, tech, professional services and numerous other fields. Contact Charles Allen Partner Reynolds Porter Chamberlain 3504-06, 35/F One Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Tel: +1 852 2216 7167 E: Charles.Allen@rpc.com.hk www.rpc.co.uk the payment of money can now be enforced in Mainland China. The Ordinance will also expand the scope of types of decision and the number of designated courts whose decisions can be enforced on the Mainland. This increased enforceability aims to make the Hong Kong courts an even more desirable and effective option, as parties will have a route to recoup damages and costs if they are successful in a claim against a Mainland party. The heavy workload of senior members of the judiciary has recently attracted a lot of attention. In our view, the judiciary could benefit from a major recruitment drive, especially for the High Court bench. One possibility would be to have a closer look at senior solicitor advocates for potential appointment. They could either be appointed directly to the High Court bench, or judges from the District Court – a number of whom already sit as deputy High Court judges – could be permanently promoted, with their positions being backfilled by solicitor advocates interested in a judicial career. In terms of procedure, the Hong Kong courts are currently in the process of improving their technological capabilities. Court e-filing began a staged roll-out in May 2022, although it is currently only available in personal injury and tax actions before the District Court. But this roll-out is set to be extended to other causes of action and courts. This should help to modernise the Hong Kong Court system in light of post-pandemic ways of working. Notwithstanding the current burden on the judiciary, the quality of judicial decision-making in Hong Kong remains consistently high, and our courts remain an attractive venue for Asian disputes, particularly those involving Mainland Chinese parties. I would therefore encourage parties not to be deterred by the current backlog of cases from choosing the Hong Kong Courts as a venue for commercial disputes. That said, parties requiring tighter control of timelines should consider including Hong Kong arbitration clauses in their commercial contracts. As I highlighted above, Hong Kong remains a global leader in this field. Do you have any further observations to make about the evolution of commercial litigation in Hong Kong? An arrangement that will significantly improve the ease of enforcement of Hong Kong judgments in Mainland China (and vice versa) is set to come into force shortly. The Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance is slated to come into force this year, and is intended to more closely integrate the enforcement regimes across the two jurisdictions. Amongst other things, enforcement will no longer require an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of mainland courts, and non-contractual civil judgments and criminal proceedings containing an order for THOUGHT LEADER 63
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