Des Voeux Chambers boasts an extensive competition practice, skilled in a range of competition law matters, with a niche market knowledge in areas including banking, trade disputes, insurance, telecommunications, fraud, sale of goods and distributorship agreements. Catrina Lam, chair of the Hong Kong Bar Association’s Special Committee on Competition Law, handles numerous complex and high-value disputes. Connie Lee continues to develop her competition practice, acting on key and novel enforcement actions in a range of matters.
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Profile
Career
Connie obtained double First Class Honours in both BSS (Govt. & Laws) and LLB at the University of Hong Kong as well as her master degree in Bachelor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford.
She was awarded the Bar Scholarship before she joined Chambers in 2009.
She has a broad practice in commercial litigation and arbitration including those with cross-border elements and with particular experience in company and insolvency matter. She regularly represents liquidators and trustees in bankruptcy in insolvency related proceedings.
She also advises on regulatory investigations and competition law matters. She has experience in representing directors of Listcos in disciplinary proceedings of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (both before the Listing Committee and the Listing Appeal Committee). She represented the SFC in the first trial for reversing an IPO (over a HK$1 billion buy-back offer) : SFC v. Hontex International Holdings CACV 128/2012 & HCMP630/2010. Recently, she is representing a Listco to stay and review the Insurance Authority’s decision to appoint managers to take over the largest taxis insurer in Hong Kong: Target Insurance (Holdings) Limited v. Insurance Authority ITA/1/2022.
Since 2016, she has been appointed to the Competition Commission’s Panel of External Counsel. She represented one of the parties in the first trial on market sharing and price-fixing as well as the first determination of penalty and its appeal in Hong Kong: Competition Commission v. W. Hing Construction Company Limited & Ors, CTEA 2/2017.
She is also the exclusive winner of Lexology’s Client Choice Award 2022 – Hong Kong – Competition.
Connie also sits as an arbitrator in both administered and ad hoc arbitrations. Since 2018, Connie has been regularly appointed to sit as a Deputy District Judge and Temporary Deputy Registrar of the High Court. Currently, she also serves on 6 administrative and quasi-judicial boards and tribunals.
Year of call
- 2009 (Hong Kong)
Languages
Cantonese, English, Putonghua
Memberships
Statutory Board/Tribunal, Advisory Panels
- Temporary Deputy Registrar of the High Court (2020 & 2022)
- Deputy District Judge (2018, 2019, 2021 & 2023)
- Member of the Appeal Panel (Estate Agents Ordinance) since January 2021
- Chairman of Appeal Boards (the Entertainment Special Effects Ordinance) from June 2020
- Chairman of the Appeal Panel (Housing) since February 2020
- Member of the Board of Review (Inland Revenue Ordinance) since January 2020
- Adjudicator of the Immigration Tribunal since October 2019
- Chairman of the Appeal Tribunal Panel (Buildings) since December 2018
- Panel of External Counsel to the Competition Commission since 2016
- Member of the HKIAC List of Arbitrators
- Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of NAC, SHIAC and SHAC
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)
- Fellow, Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand INC
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Women in Arbitration initiative (WIA) appointed under the auspices of the HKIAC since 2020
- Vice Chairman, Hong Kong Bar Association, Committee on Competition Law
- Member, Hong Kong Bar Association, Committee on Company Law (2018)
Education
- BCL(OXON)
- PCLL (HKU)
- LLB(HKU)
- BSS(Govt&Laws)(HKU)
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'DVC is one of the strongest chambers in Hong Kong.'
- 'DVC is one of the powerhouses of counsel's chambers in town.'
- 'The set as a whole is a leading and resourceful set on competition law, with members briefed to act for the Competition Commission as well as for respondents in enforcement proceedings in the increasingly complex and comparatively novel issues involved enforcement.'
- 'Des Voeux Chambers is one of the premier chambers in Hong Kong. They have several counsel who are among the top barristers in Hong Kong in their specialties. It is a deep, top-notch chambers.'