Ms Fiona Chan > Appleby > Hong Kong, Hong Kong > Lawyer Profile
Appleby Offices
Suites 4201-03 & 12, 42/F, One Island East
Taikoo Place, 18 Westlands Road
Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
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Ms Fiona Chan
Work Department
Corporate | Banking and Finance
Position
Fiona Chan is a partner in the corporate department of Appleby’s Hong Kong office, leading the Banking and Finance practice in the Hong Kong office as well as Appleby’s Technology & Innovation Group in Asia. Fiona has over 20 years of offshore and onshore experience in the Asian market and advises on the laws of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.
Her broad offshore law practice spans banking and finance transactions including acquisition, leveraged and project financing, privatisation financing, shipping and aircraft financing, structured products, fund financing, bond issuance and restructuring of corporates and financial institutions.
Fiona is routinely instructed by major international and Asian financial institutions, listed and private companies, securities providers and leading law firms.
Career
Fiona has been widely recognised by her clients as well as legal directories, such as “Highly Regarded” and “Women Leaders” (2023) and “Rising Star” (2018 – 2022) by IFLR 1000 and “Leading Individuals” (2023) as well as “Next Generation Partners” (2019 – 2022) by Legal 500 Asia Pacific Guide. Legal 500 described her as “client-oriented”. She was also selected as one of the region’s 10 most notable offshore lawyers of the Asian Legal Business’ Offshore Client Choice List 5 years in a row from 2017-2021.
She was named as “Lawyer of the year for Offshore” at the Women in Business Law Awards 2020 and shortlisted as Women Lawyer of the Year by Asian Legal Business in 2019 and 2020. She was also selected as one of the 2017 Influential Women in Re/Insurance by Intelligent Insurer and recognised in Legal 500 Asia Pacific (Offshore).
She is also the editor of the firm’s quarterly publication Appleby Asia Alert.
Languages
Fiona is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Memberships
She sits on the firm’s global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee and leads the Women’s Leadership Network in Hong Kong. She is also a committee member of the InsurTech Committee of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong, Women in Law Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area Young Talents Association.
Education
University of Oxford, England
College of Law, London (England)
Lawyer Rankings
Hong Kong > Offshore law firms
(Leading individuals)Acting on its own, as well as collaborating closely alongside other key offshore offices, including Bermuda, BVI and the Cayman Islands, Appleby provides ‘very responsive, practical and cost-effective advice’ directly to clients as well as in a referral capacity across a wide range of transactional, regulatory and litigation matters. In his dual role as managing partner and corporate head, David Bulley has guided the firm through a challenging market, and has been very effective in picking up a considerable volume of distressed M&A for fund clients, as well as a number of key roles advising on the offshore aspects of Chinese real estate restructurings. One of many in the office with excellent language skills, the ‘proactive and commercial’ Judy Lee is ‘popular among Chinese clients’ on the offshore advice pursuant to both debt and equity capital markets matters. The ‘very approachable and technically sound’ Fiona Chan also has exceptional language skills which she harnesses to good effect across a range of banking and finance work. Other key transactional lawyers include Vincent Chan, who is ‘approachable and knowledgeable’ on M&A and IPO matters, and Chris Cheng, who provides ‘practical insights and advice’ on both international and HKSE listings. Eliot Simpson heads up the office’s litigation team and is noted, in particular, for shareholder and corporate disputes work as well as contentious insolvency matters. Richard Grasby heads up the office’s nascent private client offering and is ‘very strong on the technical points of both trusts and the regulatory issues’.