“Des Voeux Chambers is a leading first-tier commercial set that offers expertise in the relatively new and niche area of competition law.”
“The set is well-endowed with talent and resources in civil litigation and is one of a very few number of sets that can handle competition law litigation from start to finish.”
-Legal 500 Asia Pacific Hong Kong Bar (2024)
Ever since the Competition Ordinance (Cap 619) was enacted, undertakings in Hong Kong have been subject to various investigative and enforcement actions for both anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominance.
DVC is the proud home of many competition law specialists who have acted in many landmark competition cases. Members are frequently instructed by the Competition Commission and the Respondents at every stage of the competition litigation from liability to pecuniary penalties. They are also active in advisory work on various issues arising out of the competition and associated regulatory regimes.
Specific Areas of Expertise
- Enforcement
- Investigation
- Follow-on Action
- Leniency
- Mergers (Telecommunications)
Our members practising in competition law are:-
Catrina has been “widely identified as Hong Kong’s front runner for competition matters”. Directories describe her as “an outstanding advocate” with “second-to-none knowledge of Hong Kong competition law and litigation”. She has acted in many of the first landmark cases on competition law in Hong Kong including Competition Commission v Nutanix Hong Kong Ltd & Ors (CTEA 1/2017), the first enforcement case brought by the Competition Commission, Taching Petroleum Company Ltd v Meyer Aluminium Ltd (CTA 1/2018), the first case in which a contravention of competition rule was raised as a defence to a civil claim, Competition Commission v Quantr Ltd & Ors (CTEA 1/2020), the first enforcement case brought following a successful leniency application, and Competition Commission v ATAL Building Services Engineering Ltd & Ors (CTEA 2/2022), one of the biggest cartel cases brought in Hong Kong. She has also appeared on behalf of PCCW-HKT in an abuse of dominant position case and in an appeal concerning the sharing of essential facilities before the then Telecommunications (Competition Provisions) Appeal Board (led by Sir Peter Roth QC, former President of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the United Kingdom).
She is currently the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association’s Committee on Competition Law, the Founder and Vice-Chairman of the International League of Competition Law, Hong Kong Chapter, and a Vice President of the Bureau of Ligue Internationale du droit de la Concurrence (LIDC). She was the Competition Commission’s Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network from 2018 to 2021. Catrina is ranked a “Band 1” leading junior barrister across multiple practice areas in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 including competition law. She is also recognised as a Recommended Global Leader in competition law in Who’s Who Legal.
Catrina holds a Master of Arts in EU Competition Law (Distinction) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics for Competition Law from King’s College London. In 2016, she undertook a secondment to Monckton Chambers, a leading London set specialising in competition law.
John obtained a distinction in the competition law paper in his BCL degree. He has been actively developing a competition law practice in Hong Kong. In 2015, he acted as junior counsel for the Communications Authority in Hong Kong (led by Mark Hoskins QC from Brick Court Chambers in London and Johannes Chan SC from Denis Chang’s Chambers) in a judicial review, culminating in the Honourable Mr. Justice G Lam’s judgment in Television Broadcasts Limited v Communications Authority & The Chief Executive in Council [2016] 2 HKLRD 41, a landmark decision in Hong Kong discussing the general principles of competition provisions and other important issues such as the standard of proof in competition law proceedings. In January 2016, he was appointed to the Hong Kong Competition Commission’s Panel of External Counsel. In October 2016, he was selected by the Hong Kong Bar Association to undertake a secondment at Brick Court Chambers, a leading London set specialising in competition law.
Connie studied Competition Law at the University of Oxford whilst doing her BCL. Since 2016, she has been on the Competition Commission’s Panel of External Counsel in Hong Kong. She was also selected by the Hong Kong Bar Association as one of the four counsel to undertake a secondment at Brick Court Chambers in London where she spent two weeks with Mr. Robert O’Donoghue, a leading competition practitioner.
She represented one of the parties in a 4-week trial before the Competition Tribunal: Competition Commission v. W. Hing Construction Company Limited & Ors, CTEA 2/2017, the first case on market sharing and price fixing as well as determination of penalty in Hong Kong. She is recently involved in Competition Commission v. T.H Lee Book Company Limited & Ors CTEA 2/2020, an enforcement action on alleged price fixing and bid-rigging involving textbooks for secondary schools .
Patrick combines his training in law and economics in handling competition cases. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class degree in Economics and Management. He has subsequently obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in EU Competition Law from King’s College London. His article “Liability of Private Equity Investors for Breaches of Competition Ordinance” in the Hong Kong Lawyer is one of the first to discuss parental liability of a subsidiary’s anti-competitive conduct.
Patrick has experience in competition regulation even prior to the commencement of the Competition Ordinance. Before practising in the Bar, Patrick worked as an Administrative Officer in various bureaux of the Hong Kong Government, including the then Economic Development Branch where he was involved in the investigation of alleged anti-competitive conduct in the provision of marine pilotage services in Hong Kong.
Patrick is currently a sole counsel for a defence team in Competition Commission v ATAL Building Services Engineering Limited CTEA 2/2022, which the Commission states to be “one of the biggest cartel cases ever handled by the Commission in terms of the quantity of evidence”.
She has a broad commercial and civil practice, with particular interest in land disputes, company and insolvency matters, property and trusts claims, as well as regulatory and public law cases. In addition to appearing in arbitrations regularly, she is an HKIAC Arbitrator. She joined DVC in 2012 after graduating from Oxford with a BCL and ranking first in her LLB degree at Hong Kong University.
She specialises in Competition Law during her Master’s degree at Oxford University, and has given talks on the new Competition Ordinance upon her return to Hong Kong.
Martin is a Rhodes Scholar, and is also a Bar Scholar and a Charles Ching Scholar. He obtained a Distinction in the postgraduate BCL degree at the University of Oxford (during which he read competition law), after graduating at the top of his HKU LLB class with First Class Honours.
Martin’s practice covers both advisory and advocacy work in a broad range of civil matters, including competition law. He is also a Committee Member of the Hong Kong Bar Association’s Committee on Competition Law.
Kelvin specialises in competition law as a practising barrister in DVC and an academic at the University of Hong Kong, where he continues to teach and research in competition law. He has considerable experience handling competition law matters involving dispute resolution, exemption/exclusion-related applications, and advisory/consultancy work (including pre-IPO opinion). He has advised the Hong Kong Competition Commission and private parties in various sectors of the economy (including the financial, media, professional and retail sectors). He was an ad-hoc consultant to i-Cable in the Communication Authority’s Preliminary Enquiry (OFCA/M/BO2/1-12) leading to the early 2016 decision that i-Cable had no case to answer.
Jonathan joined Des Voeux Chambers in 2015. He studied Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with Distinction. Following this, he obtained his JD degree from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honours and his LLM degree from the University of Cambridge, during which he read competition law. He has a broad civil and commercial practice, with an emphasis on construction, company, insolvency, bankruptcy, competition, trusts and land matters. He regularly appears in the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal, both in his own right and as junior counsel, and routinely receives instructions for advisory work.
Stephanie accepts instructions for both advocacy and advisory work and has been instructed on matters covering a wide range of areas of law. Her practice covers general Civil, Commercial, Intellectual Property, Competition, Chancery, Public Law and Arbitration. Prior to joining the Bar, Stephanie has read and obtained distinctions in EU and UK competition law at the University of Oxford and US antitrust law at the University of Hong Kong. She was also a research assistant to Mr. Thomas Cheng (competition law specialist and a member of the Hong Kong Competition Commission) and has conducted research on diverse competition law issues.
Stephanie is a Lecturer (Non-Clinical) at the Department of Law of the University of Hong Kong. She is also currently serving as a Member to two Practice Area Committees of the Hong Kong Bar Association, namely the Committee on Intellectual Property Law and the Committee on Competition Law.
Cherry is developing a broad practice in civil and commercial law, including competition law. She has been involved in both advisory and advocacy work in relation to competition law. Prior to joining the Bar, Cherry has read competition law as part of her BCL degree at the University of Oxford and obtained a distinction in the subject.
Tommy Cheung is a Bar Scholar. He joined Des Voeux Chambers in 2017 after obtaining a Distinction in his BCL from the University of Oxford, with a prize for best performance in Corporate Insolvency Law. He also received First Class Honours in both his LLB and BBA (Law) (Majoring in Accounting) from the University of Hong Kong, ranking first in his year.
Tommy appears regularly in the High Court as an advocate in his own right and as junior counsel. On top of advocacy work, he advises on a broad range of civil matters, including competition law. He was a research assistant to Mr Thomas Cheng (competition law specialist and a former member of the Hong Kong Competition Commission) and has conducted research on diverse competition law issues. He has also given talks on a wide range of legal matters, including the Competition Ordinance (Cap 619). He represented one of the parties in a 4-week trial before the Competition Tribunal: Competition Commission v W Hing Construction Co Ltd and Others [2020] 2 HKLRD 1229; [2019] 3 HKLRD 46; [2018] 5 HKLRD 437 (the pioneering case on market sharing, price fixing and determination of penalty in Hong Kong, with Ms Connie Lee).
