Wong Fung Law Firm was requested to complete client transaction by the takeover partner and was refused to review the decision of the Law Society

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Written by: Zhu Dixin

2021-01-21 18:24

Last update date: 2021-01-21 18:25

Wong Fung Law Firm was temporarily taken over by the Law Society of Hong Kong due to the misappropriation of client funds by a former clerk, and his account was also frozen.

One of the partners of the law firm proposed a number of proposals to deal with unfinished transactions of the client, but they were not accepted by the Law Society.

He applied to the High Court for judicial review yesterday (20th), saying that the Law Society’s takeover approach was unreasonable.

He asked for the overthrow of the takeover and asked the lawyer to reconsider his plan.

The applicant was Wu Yongxiong, the respondent was the Law Society of Hong Kong, and Ruan Guoqiang, another partner of Huang Fung Law Firm, was listed as an interested party.

The application stated that a former clerk of Huang Fung Law Firm was involved in the misappropriation of approximately 6.1 million yuan from clients in 2019. The Law Society will investigate Huang Feng Law Firm’s accounts in mid-2020 and allege that the bank violated the Lawyers’ Account Rules and that its clients About 23 million yuan in the account was in deficit.

Refers to the computer system error and the money has not been emptied

The applicant explained to the lawyers' association that it was only an error in the company's computer accounting system and the relevant funds were not in deficit.

The applicant and Ruan also deposited 23 million yuan into the designated account as required by the Law Society.

The client involved has been compensated

The applicant also stated that the former clerk did not steal money from the Huang Fung Law Firm’s account, but involved filling in his own name on the cheque issued by the client but not filling in the payee before depositing it into the account.

The client involved in the case has been compensated afterwards and there was no loss.

Huang Feng Law Firm was taken over last month, and the account was immediately frozen. A large number of clients were affected and a press conference was held to explain the situation.

(Profile picture/Photo by Huang Shuhui)

Multiple proposals were rejected

However, the Law Society still took over Huang Fung Law Firm in December last year.

Although the applicant put forward a number of proposals, including allowing the applicant to process the company and the client’s account to complete the transaction under the strict supervision of the Law Society, or involving another lawyer, the Law Society did not accept it.

There are more than 700 outstanding transactions

The application mentioned that from December 23 last year to January 31 this year, Huang Feng Law Firm had more than 700 outstanding transactions.

In the practice taken by the Law Society, the clients of Wong Fung Law Firm are also victims. They do not know when they will get the money back, and they have not been able to complete their transactions.

23 million account has been deposited as required

The applicant stated that he had deposited 23 million yuan in the designated account and submitted the accounting report as required by the Law Society, but the Law Society still took over the Huang Fung Law Firm.

The applicant stated that the practice of the Law Society’s takeover violated the applicant’s reasonable expectations and was unreasonable.

The applicant now requests that the Law Society’s decision to take over Huang Fung Law Firm be overturned, and the Law Society needs to reconsider its plan.

Case number: HCAL70/2021

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Judicial Review Court of the Law Society of Hong Kong