Des Voeux Chambers

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Hong Kong

Arbitrators

Cherry Xu

Cherry Xu

Career

Cherry obtained her LLB degree from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honours, ranking top of her year.  She was elected the Rhodes Scholar for Hong Kong in 2013 and proceeded to read BCL at Oxford University.  She graduated from the BCL degree with a distinction in competition law. In addition to the distinguished Rhodes Scholarship, she has been awarded various scholarships including the Charles Ching Memorial Scholarship in 2016.

Prior to joining Chambers as a tenant in 2016, Cherry completed pupillage with William Wong SC, Johnny Ma SC, Rachel Lam SC and Derek CL Chan SC.

Cherry is developing a broad practice in civil and commercial law with a particular focus on commercial, company, insolvency securities, competition and regulatory matters.  She is also regularly instructed to act as counsel in arbitrations and related court applications.  She has dealt with various arbitration cases in the HKIAC, SIAC and LCIA.  She is also experienced in dealing with regulatory matters involving securities and competition matters and is regularly instructed to appear as counsel and/or provide legal opinion in related matters.

Cherry is also well sought after for her advice on compliance matters due to her experience in civil, commercial, securities and competition matters.  Her clients include various listed companies, especially those in the pharmaceutical industry.  Her professional experience and her deep understanding of the Chinese culture make her a popular choice amongst clients.

Cherry is a native Mandarin speaker and is fluent in English and Cantonese. With her unique background, she is quick to understand the needs of Chinese clients and has been regularly instructed to represent Chinese clients in cross-border litigation and international arbitration, including acting as sole counsel in trials.

Besides acting as an advocate, Cherry has served as a guest lecturer in the International Commercial Arbitration/International Commercial Dispute Resolution course for LLM students at Peking University since 2016. She has been serving as a Judicial Associate to the judges of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong from time to time since February 2020.  She is also a member of the Committee on Competition Law and the Standing Committee on Mainland Affairs of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

She was recognised by Legal 500 as a Rising Star in commercial dispute resolution in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, as well as Leading Junior (Band 3) for 2025:

“Cherry is extremely responsive, efficient and hard-working in her high-quality work. In particular, as one of the relatively few HK barristers with native Mandarin capabilities both spoken and written, she is in a unique position to act for Mainland clients in cross-border arbitration and litigation cases.”

“Cherry‘s judgement and output is far superior to her year of call and she is incredibly bright, really thinks around the case, and fights hard to achieve the best outcome for the client. She is a very good team player with great tactical awareness, and as one of the few barristers with native Mandarin abilities, she is in pole position to deliver effective results in cases involving Mainland elements.”

“Cherry is analytical , thorough and adopts a practical approach. She is very industrious, and her advocacy is persuasive.”

Year of call 2016

Languages

English, Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese

Memberships

List of Arbitrators of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre List of Arbitrators of the Tianjin Arbitration Commission Panel of Arbitrators of the SCIA Jiangmen (Jiangmen Arbitration Commission) Deputy Adjudicator, Small Claims Tribunal (April 2023) Judicial Assistant to the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong (March-April 2020, January-February 2021, and continuing) Member, Manpower Development Committee under Hong Kong Maritime and Port Development Board (2025-now) Member, Committee on Competition Law of the Hong Kong Bar Association (2020-now) Member, Standing Committee on Mainland Affairs of the Hong Kong Bar Association (2016-2017, 2022-now) Tutor, Contract Law, University of Hong Kong (2016-2017) Guest Lecturer, International Commercial Arbitration / International Commercial Dispute Resolution course, Peking University (2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023) Guest Lecturer, Common Law Course, East China University of Political Science and Law (2023) Guest Lecturer, Common Law Course, Peking University (2024)

Education

LLB (HKU) (First Class Honours) PCLL (HKU) (Distinction) BCL (Oxon)

Mentions

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