José-Antonio Maurellet, SC > Des Voeux Chambers > Hong Kong, Hong Kong > Lawyer Profile
Des Voeux Chambers Offices
38/F Gloucester Tower
The Landmark
Central, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
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José-Antonio Maurellet, SC
Career
José-Antonio Maurellet S.C. is a Hong Kong born Eurasian. He is an English, Cantonese and French native speaker. He also can speak some Mandarin.
José read law at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.
He was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 2000 and to the Inner Bar in 2016. He was admitted in 2020 as a solicitor of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, British Virgin Islands circuit. He is also a registered foreign lawyer with rights of audience in the Singapore International Commercial Court.
He has sat as a Deputy High Court Judge for periods between 2018 to 2021 , and since October 2021 has been appointed as a Recorder of the Court of First Instance.
José is an Associate Member of 3 Verulam Buildings in London.
He has advised and acted in numerous shareholder disputes, winding up petitions, and applications arising out of liquidations of companies (for example applications for provisional liquidators, receivers, validation orders, private examinations, unfair preference proceedings). He is a member of the International Insolvency Institute. He has also dealt with director disqualification proceedings commenced by the Official Receiver as well as the SFC.
He has appeared in cases arising out of
– corporate insolvency (including winding petitions) or restructuring related to or arising from: China Evergrande Group , China Huiyuan Juice Group, Peking University Founder Group, Tsinghua Unigroup Co Ltd , Fantasia Investment Holdings, Hsin Chong Construction Company Ltd, China Solar Energy Holdings, HNA Group Co Ltd, CW Advanced Technologies Ltd and China City Construction Co Ltd, Hua Han Health Holdings , Grand China Shipping HK Co Ltd, MF Global HK Holdings Ltd, China Medical Technologies Inc, Trinity Management Services Ltd, Reignwood International Investment group Ltd , Re HK Airlines Ltd, Dangdai International Investments Ltd , Ming Yuen Ltd (a subsidiary of Logan Group Co Ltd)
– in disputes involving shareholders or directors involving for example Convoy Global Holdings, China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd, The Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong Airlines Ltd, Pacific Bulk Investment Ltd and Ping An Securities Group Holdings
He also appeared in schemes involving:
– Privatisations (Re Rivera Holdings Ltd, Re SHK HK Industries Ltd, Re Joyce Boutique Group Ltd, Re China Agri-industries Holdings Ltd, Re Dah Chong Hong Holdings Ltd, Re China Power Clean Energy Development Company, Re HAECO, Re eContext and Re Wheelock Properties) as well as
– Creditor schemes (Re China Evergrande Group, Kaisa Group Holdings, Mongolia Mining Corporation and Z-Obee Holdings, Re Century Sun Intl Ltd, Re NewOcean Energy Holdings Ltd, Re Tai Kam Construction Engineering, Re UDL Holdings Ltd)
He regularly acts in disputes arising from banking/financial services, in particular alleged mis-selling of financial products.
He has previously acted for the Securities and Futures Commission as well as the Listing Division of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. He has appeared before the Listing Appeals Committee , the Takeovers and Mergers Panel as well as the Securities and Futures Appeal Tribunal.
Mr. Maurellet is a member of the HKIAC Panel of Arbitrators and the Panel for Financial Services Disputes; as well as the HKIAC Panel of Emergency Arbitrators. He currently is a Council member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center as well as a former member of its Appointments Committee.
He regularly appears as counsel in arbitrations, and has acted in Court related proceedings such as injunctions in aid of arbitral proceedings as well as applications for leave to enforce and leave to set aside arbitral awards. He also sits as an arbitrator from time to time both a member of a panel of three or as chairman of the panel.
He is also a CEDR accredited mediator.
He was a Contributing Editor of the Hong Kong Civil Procedure (“the White Book”) from 2003 to 2018, is a Consultant Editor of the Hong Kong Law Reports and Digest and is also a Contributing Editor of “Company Law in Hong Kong.”
Languages
English, Cantonese, Putonghua, French
Memberships
Arbitration related
- Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of HKIAC
- Member of the HKIAC Panel of Arbitrators for Financial Services Disputes
- Member of the HKIAC Panel of Emergency Arbitrators
- Member of the Panel of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC)
- Member of the Panel of the Shanghai International Arbitration Center
- Member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration
- Xiamen International Financial Arbitration Centre, listed arbitrator
- Member of the Approved List of Arbitrators of the Chinese European Arbitration Center
- Council member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center Panel of Arbitrators (“HKIAC”) (since October 2018)
- Member of the Appointments Committee of the HKIAC (May 2017 to May 2020)
Statutory board/tribunal, advisory panels and other appointments
- Member of Disciplinary Chair Committee of Securities and Futures Commission (since July 2022)
- Member of the examining panel of Higher Rights of Audience Assessment Board (March 2020-)
- Member of the High Court Rules Committee (August 2018-)
- Law Reform Commission, Access To Information sub-committee member (May 2013 – now)
- Law Reform Commission, outcome-related fee arrangements for arbitration sub committee member (November 2019 – December 2021)
- Member of the Independent Police Complaints Council (2016-2019)
- Buildings Ordinance Appeals Tribunal, Chairman (2012 – 2018)
- Member of the Board of Review (2011 – 2013)
- Member of the Disciplinary Board Panel under the Lands Survey Ordinance (2007 – 2013)
Judicial appointments
- Deputy District Judge (December 2012)
- Deputy High Court Judge (for periods in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021)
- Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court (from October 2021)
Hong Kong Bar Association
- Vice Chairman (2017-2019, three terms, 2022-)
- Standing Committee on International Practice (past vice chairman)
- Standing Committee on Practice Development (past chairman)
- Standing Committee on Professional Development (past vice chairman)
- Standing Committee on Bar Scholarship (member)
- Committee on Financial and Securities Law (member)
- Member of the Bar Council (2002-2003, 2010, 2011-2012)
- Member, Barristers Qualification Examination – Panel on Company Law (2013-)
Academic
- Hong Kong University, former External Examiner for the PCLL “Commercial Dispute Resolution” and “Corporate and Commercial Transactions I”
Education
- BA Jurisprudence (Law), University of Oxford (St. Edmund Hall) (1999)
- PCLL, University of Hong Kong (2000)
Lawyer Rankings
Hong Kong Bar > Commercial disputes
(Leading Silks)José-Antonio Maurellet SC – Des Voeux Chambers ‘José is super smart and quick on his feet, he can see cases from different angles and devise innovative strategies and tactics, and his submissions are usually succinct and powerful.’
With ‘plenty of very high-quality barristers’, Des Voeux Chambers ‘is regarded as one of the leading sets in commercial disputes’. At the senior end, insolvency experts José-Antonio Maurellet SC and Rachel Lam SC led on the landmark case of Citicorp International Limited v Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd, which concerned the nature and extent of the obligations that keepwell providers have to bondholders, as well as novel issues of Greater China insolvency. Charles Sussex SC led Tom Ng in PT Asuransi Tugu v Citibank NA, which assessed bankers’ Quincecare duty, which dictates that a bank should not, in certain circumstances, take a payment from a customer’s account which is fraudulent. Catrina Lam‘s practice encompasses a wide range of contentious commercial matters, and she is also highly adept at handling domestic and international arbitrations, representing clients from the banking and finance, technology, real estate, media and entertainment, education, aviation, and gambling sectors. Benny Lo has also been increasingly active in international commercial arbitration proceedings, while a significant proportion of Frances Lok‘s practice involves acting for listed companies, their shareholders, and directors across a range of mandates, including winding up proceedings and unfair prejudice petition matters. Christopher Chain SC made Silk in the 2023 round.