Amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance, gazetted today, are the
latest stage in the process to allow lawyers to charge based on
success in an arbitration. The amendments, long-awaited by clients,
passed Hong Kong's legislative review quickly and without
substantive amendment, demonstrating the strong support in the
territory for these long-awaited changes.
Hong Kong has enacted the sections of Part 10B Arbitration
Ordinance that set out the framework for outcome-related fees in
arbitration and establish an advisory body to draft appropriate
regulations.
The operative sections of Part 10B, which will allow lawyers and
clients to enter into success fee agreements, are expected to take
effect later in 2022, together with subsidiary legislation that
will regulate the new fee regime. Once these are in force, clients
and lawyers in and outside Hong Kong will benefit from one of the
broadest success fee regimes in the world for arbitration and
related proceedings.
