Practice overview

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Jia Wei is a commercial chancery practitioner, who specialises in commercial, trusts and civil fraud work. Most of Jia Wei’s practice entails complex disputes that lie at the intersection of fiduciary, commercial and property law, and he especially enjoys finding novel solutions from across the full spectrum of private law concepts. He is therefore particularly suited to acting for clients whose issues bleed across the traditional practice areas. Jia Wei is ranked in The Legal 500 2024 as a Rising Star in Fraud.

Much of Jia Wei’s caseload involves a multi-jurisdictional element. His recent experience has involved cases, clients and laws in Hong Kong, the BVI, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Monaco, Switzerland and the Channel Islands. Jia Wei is accordingly well-placed to assist his clients with jurisdictional disputes, or claims involving a foreign law element.

Jia Wei acts and advises both as sole counsel (appearing primarily in the Chancery and Commercial Divisions), and as part of a counsel team led by a silk. Whether instructed in his own right or otherwise, Jia Wei is an effective and adaptable team player, who believes firmly in the importance of close collaboration with solicitors and clients alike.

Before coming to the Bar, Jia Wei completed his undergraduate studies in law at Cambridge University, graduating in 2015 with a stared first-class degree. He then spent a year completing the BCL with distinction in 2016, having been awarded the Pump Court Tax Chambers Scholarship to support his graduate studies. He proceeded to teach and examine undergraduate courses in property and trusts law at Cambridge and UCL prior to commencing pupillage.

Jia Wei has been called to the New York State Bar. He is also fluent in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese, and is comfortable working on cases, and with clients, that require an effective command of the Chinese language.

Commercial disputes

Jia Wei has a busy and varied commercial practice. He has experience of disputes in a range of different industries, and the cases he works on require him to think beyond the contract, and across the spectrum of private law, including the law of trusts, confidentiality, property, professional liability, and banking.

Jia Wei is equally comfortable acting in his own right and as part of a team. He has experience in seeking various forms of ancillary relief, including Norwich Pharmacal applications, freezing injunctions, pre-action disclosure applications, and charging orders.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

  • Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al-Jaber v Greig Mitchell & Ors. Acting for the defendant, against whom a US$ 3.5 billion claim has been brought alleging breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy relating to the assets of a BVI company in liquidation. Judgment was given ordering the defendant to pay equitable compensation in the sum of US$67m. Jia Wei (with Jonathan Crow KC and Clare Stanley KC) has successfully obtained permission to appeal on, inter alia, the trial judge erred in her application of the law on equitable compensation, fiduciary duties of stewardship, and equitable liens. The appeal is set to be heard over 2 days in March 2024.
  • Tsifamei Lyndou v Dmitry Lazarichev & ors. With Max Mallin KC, acting for a claimant who conceived a business idea to create a platform for exchanging fiat currency with cryptocurrency. The idea was shared in confidence with the Defendants, with whom he then established a cryptocurrency startup. He now alleges that the Defendants excluded him from the startup business, and Jia Wei’s client now brings a claim seeking, inter alia, his rightful share of that business. To date, Jia Wei has successfully aided his client in resisting a security for costs application (in respect of which an appeal to the Court of Appeal is pending).
  • Kutjesa Net SH P.K. v Tring. Acting for a claimant television broadcaster, who had entered into various contractual arrangements with the defendant under which the latter agreed to deliver, by satellite, several TV channels worth of content to the claimant. The claimant now alleges that the defendant breached these contracts, including by warranting that it owned the rights to TV channels it was making available for retransmission. The claimant and defendant are Kosovan and Albanian entities respectively, and Jia Wei acts for the claimant in a jurisdiction challenge due to be heard in November 2023.
  • CPF One Limited & anor v Ortus Secured Finance I Limited & anor. Acting for the defendants, who were senior lenders and security trustees under a syndicated loan agreement. The claimants are a former security trustee and the junior lender. The borrower defaulted on the loan, and a settlement was eventually reached on which the borrower repaid part of that loan. The claimants allege that the defendants owed them fiduciary duties akin to those owed by successive mortgagors when entering into this settlement, and that these duties were breached because the settlement figure resulted in the claimants recovering nothing. Jia Wei acted for the defendants in their summary judgment/strike out application. Judgment on this application is awaited.
  • (Confidential) Acting in an LCIA arbitration, in which Jia Wei’s client alleged breaches of a contract pertaining to the operation and ownership of a mine. The damages sought ran into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

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  • Quote symbolA really bright and attentive junior who goes out of his way to accommodate the client. A star in the making.

    The Legal 500 2024

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    Recent Cases

    Judgment handed down in Lazarichev & Ors v Lyndou [2024] EWHC 8 (Ch)

    Commercial disputes, Company law, Joint venture and partnership disputes

    Max Mallin KC | Jia Wei Lee
    Tuesday 16 January 2024

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2023

    Wednesday 8th November 2023 | 12.45pm - 5.30pm, followed by drinks
    Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London

    £120 + VAT | 3.5 CPD

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Commercial Litigation Conference 2023

    Thursday 12th October 2023 | 12.30pm - 6pm, followed by drinks
    The Langham, London

    £130 + VAT | 4.0 CPD

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Cayman Conference 2023

    Thursday 14th September 2023 | 3.45pm - 6.55pm followed by a dinner buffet
    Kimpton Seafire Resort

    Free to attend | 2.25 CPD

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

Jia Wei has significant experience in complex trusts litigation. Much of it concerns substantial wealth (whether belonging to individuals or corporate entities) held offshore, with instructions from jurisdictions including BVI, the Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong.

Before commencing practice, Jia Wei taught equity and trusts at the University of Cambridge and University College London.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

  • Raiffeisen International Bank AG v Scully Royalty Ltd. With John Wardell KC. Acting for various defendants in civil fraud proceedings in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, involving claims over €40m under the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Law and in conspiracy. This includes two separate appeals on interlocutory matters before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.
  • Chia Hsing Wang v Otaibi & Ors. With John Wardell KC, John McGhee KC and Tom Roscoe. Acting in an ongoing dispute between a private individual and his financial advisors about his substantial investments in various offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the BVI (with John Wardell KC and Tom Roscoe).
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a large offshore trust in relation to potential claims in mistake, misrepresentation and under the Re Hastings-Bass jurisdiction arising out of historic dispositions made to the guardian of various beneficiaries.
  • (Confidential) Acting for a court-appointed deputy in confidential Court of Protection proceedings relating to the management, investigation, and disposition of a protected person’s assets.
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a multimillion-dollar Guernsey settlement as to any claims in restitution, misrepresentation, breach of trust or mistake that may lie against the beneficiary’s guardian.
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a trust over land, settled for the benefit of a rugby club, as to the. impact on such trust of the dissolution of the rugby club, and its subsequent reconstitution as a limited.

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV

  • Quote symbolA really bright and attentive junior who goes out of his way to accommodate the client. A star in the making.

    The Legal 500 2024

Trusts, probate and estates: contentious insights & events View all thought leadership View all events

  1. Placeholder

    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2023

    Wednesday 8th November 2023 | 12.45pm - 5.30pm, followed by drinks
    Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London

    £120 + VAT | 3.5 CPD

    View more
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    Recent Cases

    Judgment handed down in CPF One Limited & anor v Ortus Secured Finance I Limited

    Banking and financial services, Property, Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

    Zoë Barton KC | Jia Wei Lee
    Thursday 5 October 2023

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Cayman Conference 2023

    Thursday 14th September 2023 | 3.45pm - 6.55pm followed by a dinner buffet
    Kimpton Seafire Resort

    Free to attend | 2.25 CPD

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce BVI Conference 2023

    Tuesday 12th September 2023 | 3.30pm - 6.25pm followed by a dinner buffet
    Scrub Island Resort

    Free to attend | 1.5 CPD

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International / offshore

Jia Wei has significant experience in complex trusts litigation. Much of it concerns substantial wealth (whether belonging to individuals or corporate entities) held offshore, with instructions from jurisdictions including BVI, the Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong.

Before commencing practice, Jia Wei taught equity and trusts at the University of Cambridge and University College London.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

  • Raiffeisen International Bank AG v Scully Royalty Ltd. With John Wardell KC. Acting for various defendants in civil fraud proceedings in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, involving claims over €40m under the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Law and in conspiracy. This includes two separate appeals on interlocutory matters before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.
  • Chia Hsing Wang v Otaibi & Ors. With John Wardell KC, John McGhee KC, and Tom Roscoe. Acting in an ongoing dispute between a private individual and his financial advisors about his substantial investments in various offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the BVI (with John Wardell KC and Tom Roscoe)
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a large offshore trust in relation to potential claims in mistake, misrepresentation and under the Re Hastings-Bass jurisdiction arising out of historic dispositions made to the guardian of various beneficiaries.
  • (Confidential) Acting for a court-appointed deputy in confidential Court of Protection proceedings relating to the management, investigation, and disposition of a protected person’s assets.
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a multimillion-dollar Guernsey settlement as to any claims in restitution, misrepresentation, breach of trust or mistake that may lie against the beneficiary’s guardian.
  • (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a trust over land, settled for the benefit of a rugby club, as to the impact on such trust of the dissolution of the rugby club, and its subsequent reconstitution as a limited.

Download International / offshore CV

  • Quote symbolA really bright and attentive junior who goes out of his way to accommodate the client. A star in the making.

    The Legal 500 2024

International / offshore insights & events View all thought leadership View all events

  1. Placeholder

    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Cayman Conference 2023

    Thursday 14th September 2023 | 3.45pm - 6.55pm followed by a dinner buffet
    Kimpton Seafire Resort

    Free to attend | 2.25 CPD

    View more
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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce BVI Conference 2023

    Tuesday 12th September 2023 | 3.30pm - 6.25pm followed by a dinner buffet
    Scrub Island Resort

    Free to attend | 1.5 CPD

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    Articles

    Grand View v Wong and the doctrine of improper purposes

    Article by Jia Wei Lee[1], 30th June 2023 To read or download this article as a PDF, please click here. 1. The improper purpose doctrine is an easy one to state: a power may only be exercised for a purpose... Read more

    By Jonathan Hilliard KC | Jia Wei Lee
    Friday 30 June 2023

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    Recent Cases

    Permission to appeal in Mitchell v Al Jaber [2023] EWHC 364 (Ch)

    Company law, Commercial disputes, International / offshore

    Clare Stanley KC | Jia Wei Lee | Lemuel Lucan-Wilson
    Wednesday 5 April 2023

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Civil fraud and asset recovery

Jia Wei is often instructed on complex, high-value fraud and conspiracy claims with a multi-jurisdictional element.

Before commencing practice, Jia Wei taught equity and trusts at the University of Cambridge and University College London.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

  • Takhar v Gracefield Developments Limited. Acting for the claimant in a case where she alleges that two members of her extended family, by a conspiracy involving repeated lies and undue influence, cheated her out of ownership of 5 properties in Coventry. Judgment was originally given against her in 2010, but Jia Wei (acting with John Wardell KC) secured an order setting aside that original judgment on the basis that it had been procured by the fraud of the defendants. Jia Wei is set to appear for the claimant in a 7-day retrial of her original claim in December 2023.
  • Ajayi v Ebury. Acting for the claimant in a case where she alleges that her former employers had procured judgment in their favour by fraud. The client had originally brought a claim in the High Court asserting that she was, in fact, entitled to share options worth several millions of pounds, but was only granted approximately one tenth of her actual options entitlement. She maintains that the defendants managed to procure judgment in their favour by, inter alia, misleading the Court as to the price of its shares.
  • Raiffeisen International Bank AG v Scully Royalty Ltd. With John Wardell KC. Acted for the defendants to a claim made under the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Act, and in conspiracy, in which the claimants alleged that Jia Wei’s clients had restructured hundreds of millions of pounds in assets, in an effort to defeat obligations owed to RBI. The claim was valued at up to €153m. Jia Wei was initially instructed in an appeal against a freezing order granted against his clients, which was heard over 2 days and resulted in an order limiting the maximum sum on the freezing order.
  • Chia Hsing Wang v Otaibi & Ors. With John Wardell KC, John McGhee KC and Tom Roscoe. Acting in an ongoing dispute between a private individual and his financial advisors about his substantial investments in various offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the BVI. Jia Wei’s client has since obtained orders for the appointment of receivers and liquidators over these investment vehicles.
  • Ensign House Limited v FEC Development Management Limited & Ors. With Joanne Wicks KC, acting successfully for the claimant developer who had, over several years, assembled a deal to redevelop a development site in Canary Wharf. The claimant alleged that the defendants, a major international development consortium, engaged in a conspiracy with one of the claimant’s agents to misuse confidential information and hijack the deal. Judgment was given in the claimant’s favour after a 6-week trial at the end of 2022.

Download Civil fraud and asset recovery CV

  • Quote symbolA really bright and attentive junior who goes out of his way to accommodate the client. A star in the making.

    The Legal 500 2024

Civil fraud and asset recovery insights & events View all thought leadership View all events

  1. Placeholder

    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2023

    Wednesday 8th November 2023 | 12.45pm - 5.30pm, followed by drinks
    Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London

    £120 + VAT | 3.5 CPD

    View more
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    Events / Webinars

    Civil Fraud Conference 2023

    Thursday 8th June 2023 | 12.15pm - 5.55pm followed by drinks & canapés
    The View at The Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3PE

    £130 + VAT | 4.0 CPD

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    Recent Cases

    Raiffeisen Bank part 2: Cayman Court of Appeal dismisses two jurisdiction challenges, providing guidance as to the Cayman FDA

    Commercial disputes, Banking and financial services, Civil fraud and asset recovery, Insolvency, International / offshore

    John Wardell KC | Tim Penny KC | Jamie Holmes | Caspar Bartscherer | Jia Wei Lee
    Monday 13 June 2022

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    Recent Cases

    Raiffeisen Bank part 1: Cayman Court of Appeal upholds €153m worldwide freezing injunctions

    Commercial disputes, Banking and financial services, Civil fraud and asset recovery, Insolvency, International / offshore

    Tim Penny KC | John Wardell KC | Jamie Holmes | Jia Wei Lee | Caspar Bartscherer
    Thursday 9 June 2022

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Jia Wei's Details

BSB/VAT information

Registered name: Mr Jia Wei Lee
VAT number: 305729603

Privacy Notice pdf

Qualifications and Appointments

  • BA in Law, University of Cambridge (Starred First Class)
  • BCL, The Queen’s College, Oxford (Distinction)
  • BPTC, BPP University (Very Competent)
  • Awarded a number of university prizes and scholarship, including the Clifford Chance CJ Hamson Prize for Aspects of Obligations, the Fairest Prize, and the Pump Court Tax Chambers Scholarship
  • Taught the law of trusts at University College London and Selwyn College, Cambridge
  • Lord Denning and Eastham Scholar of Lincoln’s Inn
  • Called to the New York State Bar

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