Disputes, Investigations & Enforcement

When money, contracts or reputations are at stake — and increasingly, when the assets or evidence sit in China or Hong Kong — we act fast, in the client's language, from freezing order to final enforcement. Our team combines SRA-regulated solicitors with a practising barrister in-house, so urgent injunctions, POCA responses and cross-border tracing are run under one roof.

Commercial & civil disputes

Contractual disputes, debt recovery, agency and distribution disagreements, and shareholder and investor disputes — including unfair-prejudice petitions under section 994 of the Companies Act 2006 — at all levels of the English court system, from the County Court to the Court of Appeal. We act for claimants and defendants, and are frequently instructed for a strategic second opinion where we are not the primary counsel. See Dispute Resolution.

Fraud, cryptocurrency & asset recovery

Tracing and recovering cryptoassets through proprietary and equitable tracing, worldwide freezing injunctions, and disclosure orders against exchanges and banks — Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust orders — together with defending claims that assets represent the proceeds of fraud. See Cryptocurrency Fraud & Asset Recovery and our guide to freezing orders and asset recovery in England.

POCA & financial investigations

Account Freezing Orders (POCA s.303Z1), property freezing orders (s.245A), civil recovery under Part 5, and confiscation under Part 2 — frequently in cases involving cross-border asset tracing between the UK, Greater China and offshore jurisdictions. See Proceeds of Crime.

Enforcing judgments & arbitral awards

There is no bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China for the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil or commercial judgments, but a PRC court judgment is enforceable in England under the common-law rules of recognition, as confirmed in Hangzhou Jiudang Asset Management Co Ltd v Kei [2022] EWHC 3265 (Comm). PRC arbitral awards are enforced under the New York Convention 1958. See our guides to enforcing Chinese court judgments in the United Kingdom and enforcing a mainland Chinese arbitral award in the United Kingdom.

Arbitration

Advice across the full arbitration lifecycle — drafting arbitration clauses, acting as counsel in commercial arbitration proceedings, and enforcing arbitral awards in the United Kingdom, including awards from CIETAC, SHIAC, SHAC, BAC and other mainland Chinese institutions. See Arbitration.

Public law & public bodies

Judicial review and other civil claims against public authorities, including regulators, where the exercise of a statutory power is said to engage a claimant's Convention rights or common-law duties. See Public Law, Judicial Review & Claims Against Public Bodies.

Selected matters

• Qian civil recovery. The firm leads a team acting for one of the cohorts of applicants in the King's Bench Division civil recovery proceedings arising from the conviction of Zhimin Qian in the Lantian Gerui cryptocurrency fraud. See the firm's note on the civil-recovery dimension of the case.
• R (Wang) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 21. Acted for a cohort of over 100 Mandarin-speaking investors challenging Home Office Tier 1 (Investor) decisions, at the Supreme Court. Read the firm's note on the ruling.
• Section 994 buy-out. Acted for a shareholder in a section 994 unfair-prejudice petition concerning a UK–China joint venture; resolved by negotiated buy-out at an independent valuation. See the case study.

Who leads this work

• Jackson Ng MCIArb, Partner & Barrister — cryptocurrency fraud and asset recovery, POCA and Account Freezing Orders, UK–China commercial disputes and enforcement, and commercial arbitration.
• Leon Chua, Partner — Commercial Court and Chancery Division litigation, shareholder disputes, public law and Human Rights Act claims, and immigration appeals and judicial review.