James Man

Company law

James is frequently instructed in shareholder and company disputes in England and Hong Kong, including unfair prejudice petitions, claims for breach of directors’ duties, derivative actions and contested winding-up proceedings. Many involve family-owned businesses or foreign and listed companies.

He has particular experience in:

• unfair prejudice petitions under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006 and the corresponding Hong Kong provisions;
• claims against directors for breach of fiduciary duty, including duties owed to creditors and duties arising on share transactions;
• statutory and common law derivative actions;
• winding-up petitions, including on the just and equitable ground and against foreign companies, and validation orders; and
• shareholder injunctions and members’ rights to inspect company records.

Notable cases include:

• Advising on a claim in Guernsey for breach of directors’ duties owed to creditors
• Acting for the petitioner in an unfair prejudice petition under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006 concerning a family-owned lighting business with operations in England and Hong Kong; ongoing
• Delco Participation V. v HWH Holdings Ltd & Ors [2025] HKCFI 4739 (breach of fiduciary duty owed by a director to a shareholder in relation to sale of shares of the company between the director and the shareholder)
• Re Overseas Associates Ltd [2022] 2 HKLRD 790 (CA) (striking out part of the petition for winding-up relief)
• Sea Heritage Holdings Ltd v Nice Wave International Ltd [2023] HKCFI 3076 (inspection of company documents under s.740 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622))
• Bank of Taiwan, Hong Kong Branch v Zhaoheng Hydropower (Hong Kong) Ltd [2021] HKCFI 1434 (winding up order sought by one of the banks of a consortium)
• Re Orient Venture Investment Ltd [2020] HKCFI 576 (validation order)
• Re Hang Heung Cake Shop Company Limited, HCMP 812/2017 (appointment of receivers and managers)
• Re Kingstone International Wealth Management Ltd, CACV 56/2017 (leave for statutory derivative action; application of fiduciary no-conflict rule)
• Revelry Gains Limited v Joy Rich Development Limited [2017] 1 HKLRD 769 (proper procedure for creditor to intervene to defend proceedings for company in liquidation)
• Hao Xiaoying v Wong Yiu Lam William [2017] 6 HKC 151 (committal of directors; construction of 152FA of the former Companies Ordinance)
• Re Yung Kee Holdings Ltd (2015) 18 HKCFAR 501 (jurisdiction to wind up foreign company)
• Crown Master International Trading , Ltd v China Solar Energy Holdings Limited [2015] 4 HKC 505 (injunction restraining shareholder from voting at the meeting of a listed company)
• Caspian Resources Development Pte Limited v Fortune Oil Plc & Ors [2015] 5 HKLRD 836 (effect of deregistration of a defendant foreign company in ongoing HK proceedings)
• Myers Management Consulting Limited v Topmix (International) Company Limited, DCCJ 3051-3054/2014; CACV 194-197/2015 (common law right for minority shareholder to intervene to defend proceedings for the company)

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Civil fraud and asset recovery

James acts in civil fraud and asset recovery claims with an international dimension, frequently concerning investment frauds, cryptocurrency thefts and Ponzi-type schemes, and the tracing of their proceeds into assets in England, Hong Kong and offshore.

Notable cases include:

• Instructed by Cayman attorneys as junior to Lexa Hilliard KC, who was admitted for the case and argued the hearing, in a novel application to the Chief Justice of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands for a proprietary injunction against persons unknown over stolen USDT and ETH frozen on two exchanges, on behalf of the victims of a cryptocurrency hack (2026)
• Acting as sole counsel for the victims of a sophisticated investment fraud in a proprietary tracing claim in the Business List against the alleged recipients of the proceeds (including development land in England), on the defendants’ application for strike-out, summary judgment and security for costs (2025)
• Tsai Lee Ting v Best Leader Precious Metals Ltd [2023] HKCFI 2124; [2026] HKCA 361 (alleged fraudulent Ponzi scheme)
• Xie Li Xin v Law Ka Yan Thompson [2022] HKCFI 1591 (fraudulent scheme deceiving the claimant to invest in money lender business)
• Dingway Investment Ltd v China City Construction & Development Co (Hong Kong) Ltd [2022] HKCFI 3422 (fraudulent scheme stripping away the company’s assets in the US)

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Property

James has a substantial real property practice in England and Hong Kong, covering agreements for lease and development agreements, the construction of deeds of mutual covenant and other title documents, rights of way, adverse possession, resulting trusts and the enforcement of mortgages and charging orders.

Notable cases include:

• Acting for the prospective tenant in a claim exceeding £55 million for alleged repudiation of an agreement for lease of a build-to-suit industrial development; ongoing (led by Joanne Wicks KC)
• Kiu Lok Service Management Co Ltd v Mightyton Ltd [2026] HKCFI 796 (construction of a deed of mutual covenant: whether clubhouses are common parts)
• Unionward Investment Ltd v Yeung Foon Tai [2024] HKCFI 3684 (purchase price resulting trust)
• Donora Co Ltd v Incorporated Owners of Tsuen Kam Centre (2024) 27 HKCFAR 166; [2021] HKLdT 49 (construction of DMC with respect to common parts; acting, led by Benjamin Yu SC, for the successful appellant in the Court of Final Appeal, which held that the external walls were common parts)
• Dairy Farm Co Ltd v Secretary for Justice [2020] HKCFI 306 (right of way; whether government obliged to give owner of lot vehicular right of way)
• HSBC v Tai Yue For [2020] 1 HKLRD 718 (application of limitation statute on enforcement of charging order)
• Hammer Capital Private Investments Ltd v Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd [2018] HKCFI 2603 (injunction restraining intended public auction of mortgaged properties)
• Re Garden Lot 68, Shek O, Hong Kong [2017] 2 HKLRD 374 (squatter control policy; adverse possession of land in Shek O)
• Tierra Trading Ltd v Land Base Ltd, HCMP 374/2014 (adverse possession of land in Causeway Bay)
• Kwai Tak Ming v KS Capital One Limited & Ors, HCA 679/2012 (setting aside of sale & purchase agreement of property)

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

James is regularly instructed in high-value contentious trust and succession disputes, particularly those concerning substantial family wealth held through Hong Kong and offshore structures. His cases include long-running disputes within the families of the founders of the Nan Fung, Chen Hsong and Great Eagle groups.

He has particular experience in:

• challenges to the validity of wills;
• claims for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Ordinance (Cap. 481), the Hong Kong counterpart of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975;
• breach of trust and fiduciary duty claims, including allegations of sham, undue influence and family arrangements;
• applications concerning trustees’ powers and remuneration, including under s.57 of the Trustee Act 1925;
• applications to remove personal representatives; and
• disputes concerning enduring powers of attorney and the affairs of persons lacking capacity.

Notable cases include:

• Acting for the trustees of a high-net-worth family trust estate in an application under s.57 of the Trustee Act 1925 to vary the trustees’ remuneration arrangements and extend their administrative powers; ongoing (led by Michael Furness KC)
• Advising a potential applicant on a claim for reasonable financial provision from a very substantial Hong Kong estate (2026)
• Advising a member of the family of the late Dr Chiang Chen, founder of the Chen Hsong Group, in related Bahamian proceedings concerning control of the family’s offshore structures
• Chiang Lai Yuen v Chiang Chi Kin [2025] 2 HKLRD 1243 (application of the requirement of advancing all rival claims in probate action simultaneously)
• Angela Chen v Wai Wai Chen [2025] 2 HKLRD 978; [2026] HKCFI 3067; [2026] 2 HKLRD 929 (dispute over the validity of the will of the former wife of the founder of the Nan Fung Group; trial pending)
• Ng Yuk Tin v Fan On La [2023] HKCFI 658 (trial on validity of a handwritten will)
• Liu Tieh Ching Brandon v Liu Ju Ching [2021] HKCFI 821 (repugnant condition in inter vivos gift)
• Tao Soh Ngun v HSBC International Trustee Limited [2019] HKCFI 1268 (discretionary trust set up by the founders of the Great Eagle Group; proper exercise of the trustee’s powers)
• Yip Wing Ching v Yip Shung Kin [2019] HKCFI 2018 (exercise of court’s discretion for interim maintenance under 7 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Ordinance (Cap.481))
• Yang Foo-Oi by Leung Ping Chiu Roy, her next friend v Wai Wai Chen, HCA 1739/2010; [2021] HKCA 941 (distribution of assets by the founder of the Nan Fung Group; sham, fiduciary duties, family arrangement and undue influence; acting for the defendants)
• Herman Budihardjo & Ors v Hadi Gunawan & Ors [2018] HKCFI 1450 (alleged misappropriation of funds under family trust)
• Re Estate of Chow Kwok Leung, HCMP 797/2016 (application to remove administrator)
• Wong Chi Ho Jimmy v Wong Oi Lun [2020] HKCFI 1073 (application for account by EPOA attorney; meaning of “interested party” under the EPOAO)
• C v B [2019] 2 HKLRD 613 (best interests test, interplay between MHO Part II regime and EPOA regime)

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International arbitration

James acts in Hong Kong- and Singapore-seated arbitrations and in related court proceedings, with particular experience of insurance coverage arbitrations and of the enforcement of arbitral awards.

Notable cases include:

• SIAC Arbitration re sale of military simulation software
• A v B [2022] HKCFI 607 (whether enforcement proceedings should be adjourned pending final determination of application to Netherlands court to set aside award)
• Xiamen Xinjingdi Group Co Ltd v Eton Properties Ltd (2020) 23 HKCFAR 348; [2024] HKCFI 1291 (jurisdiction of enforcement court in common law action on the award; assessment of damages, upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2026)
• HK-seated arbitrations between an international insurer and (i) a NYSE-listed company under directors’ and officers’ (claim over US$5m) and corporate liability (claim over US$20m) policies, and (ii) a leading Mainland technology company under a professional indemnity policy (claim over US$10m)
• HK-seated arbitration re international sales of goods
• HK-seated arbitration re licence and distribution arrangement by international retail brands
• HK-seated arbitration re hotel development dispute

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