Dear valued clients
We are pleased to announce that with effect from 10th September 2018 (“the Effective Date”):-
(1) our firm has been changed to a limited liability partnership (“LLP”) in accordance with the requirements of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Cap. 159 of the Laws of Hong Kong) (“LPO”); and
(2) the name of our firm has been changed to:-
English name: “HENRY WAI & CO., Solicitors LLP”
Chinese name: “韋業顯律師行（有限法律責任合夥）”
As our new name suggests, partners of our firm, subject to the provisions of Part IIAAA of the LPO, now carry on the practice of law with a degree of limited liability as from the Effective Date. In general, partners are not personally liable for the negligent or wrongful acts or omissions or misconduct (collectively “default”) of another partner or of an employee, agent or representative of the firm. However, each partner is personally liable for his or her own default, and for the defaults of those employees, agents, or representatives he or she directly supervises in respect of a particular matter. The limitation on a partner’s liability also does not apply if the partner knew of the default of another person at the time of its occurrence and failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent its occurrence.
The limitation on a partner’s liability also does not extend to the partner’s interest in the firm’s property from claims made against the firm. The firm continues to be liable for the defaults of its partners, associates, employees, agents and representatives, and accordingly there is no reduction or limitation on the liability of the firm.
A law firm must satisfy several requirements under the LPO in order to practise with limited liability, including the following:-
1. The firm must inform a client of the identity of at least one overall supervising partner (“OSP”) for each matter it handles for the client not later than 21 days after the firm accepts instructions on the matter and must keep the client informed of the identity of at least one OSP for the matter throughout the time that the matter is handled by the firm.
2. The firm also must maintain, in addition to the statutory professional indemnity cover which is currently of HK$10 million per claim, a top-up insurance policy of not less than HK$10 million per claim.
In compliance with Paragraph 1 above, we set out in the Schedule hereto the OSP in respect of each of the matters in which our firm is acting for you (“the Matters” ). For the avoidance of doubt, the OSP of our firm for the Matters is Mr. WAI Yip Hin (also known as Henry Wai) （韋業顯）, the Senior Partner of our firm.
As for Paragraph 2, our firm has already complied with such requirement.
A client may also request for the provision of the names of all other OSPs and partners responsible for supervising particular parts of his matter.
The explanation above is only a brief summary of how the liabilities of partners are affected by our firm becoming an LLP. For details, you should refer to Part IIAAA of the LPO.
With the change of our firm to an LLP, we have laid the foundation of the growth and development of our firm, and look forward to continuing to serve you as our valued client.
Yours faithfully,
Henry Y. H. Wai, Senior Partner
HENRY WAI & CO., Solicitors LLP