Tara Liao
Year of call
2023; BVI 2024; (Hong Kong Barrister 2015; Hong Kong Solicitor 2010)
Instructing Tara Liao
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
Prior to her call in the UK, Tara practised in Hong Kong as a solicitor in an international law firm from 2010 to 2014 and as a Barrister from 2015.
She is ranked as a leading junior in the Commercial Disputes category by Legal 500 Asia-Pacific since 2021. She has sat as a Deputy District Judge in Hong Kong in 2021 and 2023. She is on the HKIAC List of Arbitrators (July 2023-December 2026) and sits as arbitrator from time to time. Apart from her UK and Hong Kong practice, she is developing a fast growing offshore practice since her admission to the BVI bar in 2024.
Tara has a broad commercial practice with a focus on commercial injunctions and civil fraud, international arbitrations, shareholders’ disputes, company, insolvency, trust and cross-border disputes. She also has experience in insurance and regulatory matters. She was a Committee member of HK45 from 2020 to 2022, an active young arbitration practitioners group in Asia.
Tara is a native speaker of both Mandarin and Cantonese. She holds a bachelors degree in PRC laws from Peking University, one of the most prestigious universities in Mainland China, and passed the PRC National Judicial Examination.
Due to her language skills and background, she has been instructed by PRC law firms and clients in arbitrations and to provide legal opinions in PRC legal proceedings from time to time.
Legal Expertise
Arbitration (as counsel)
Arbitration (as counsel)
- Acting as junior counsel in an HKIAC arbitration governed by English Law concerning a loan dispute arising out of a US Dollar loan funding certain infrastructure development in Myanmar which suffered devastating loss following the military coup and ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar and involves the legal implications of restrictions imposed by Myanmar Central Bank on the conversion of local currency to foreign currencies and repayment to foreign banks;
- Acted as sole advocate in the substantive hearing of a Germany/Korean joint venture dispute which involved allegations of falsification of accounts and meticulous forensic analysis of financial statements of multiple subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Korea;
- Acting as co-counsel in the substantive hearings of a complex securities lending case involving two parallel arbitrations in St Kitts & Nevis and Hong Kong, injunction applications in aid of arbitration as well as court proceedings concerning enforcement of the awards and the resolution of residual issues;
- Acting as sole counsel or junior counsel in various injunctions/ancillary relief in aid of arbitrations.
Commercial Injunctions & Civil Fraud
Commercial Injunctions & Civil Fraud
- Acting for the victims of a complex Ponzi scheme perpetrated by a Hong Kong trust company involving the tracing and recovery of assets through Cayman funds, various UK entities and real estate projects in the UK;
- Acting for the borrower of a complex securities lending case involving two parallel arbitrations in St Kitts & Nevis and Hong Kong, injunction applications in aid of arbitration. ZS Capital Fund SPC & others v Astor Asset Management 3 Limited & Zundiao Securities Limited [2024] HKCFI 1535;
- Acting for the borrower in a complex securities lending arrangement involving civil fraud, breach of trust and the tracing and preservation of the pledged securities by way of proprietary injunctions and Norwich Pharmacal orders. Silver Universe Investments Ltd v China Times Securities Limited & ors [2019] HKCFI 834, [2019] HKCFI 153, [2021] HKCA 105;
- Acted for a prominent Chinese private equity firm in a claim against its former senior legal counsel for breach of confidentiality and defamation;
- Acted for the second largest shareholder of a Hong Kong listed company in a complex shareholders’ dispute involving numerous interlocutory applications including applications for prohibitory, mandatory, proprietary and Mareva injunctions, and applications for receivership and provisional liquidators. Acropolis Limited & another v W&Q Investment Limited & others [2018] HKCA 184, HCA 1496/2017, 31 August 2017; Aeso Holding Limited & another v Chan Siu Chung & others, HCA 1737/2017 & HCMP 1647/2017, 4 September 2017; Aeso Holding Limited & others v Chan Siu Chung & others, HCMP 1721/2017, 11 August 2017;
- Acted for a Hong Kong legislative council member of the education sector in an interim injunction application concerning breach of confidence and the restriction of freedom of expression. The University of Hong Kong v Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Co Ltd & another [2016] 1 HKLRD 536;
- Acting for the executors of the estate in a common intention constructive trust/civil fraud case, whereby the estate seeks the recovery of various properties and shares of companies, which the deceased allegedly transferred to his son and daughter-in-law or their nominees on trust for the deceased in order to avoid the assets being claimed by his second wife in the divorce proceedings. Lam Hon Keung Keith v Lam Chi Tai Anthony & others; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Silver Door Development Ltd & others; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Harvest Win Development Ltd & another; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Dalny Estates Ltd & others; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Elegant Fund Ltd, & other; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Jollida Enterprises Ltd & others; Lam Hon Keung Keith v Gold & Silver Enterprises Co Ltd & Others [2021] HKCFI 1282;
- Acting for the respondent in a common intention constructive trust/civil fraud case concerning the alleged trust arrangement of shares in a Hong Kong company. Zhao Zhi Qiang v Zhao Zhiguang & Asian Trinity Limited [2022] HKCFI 3356.
Company & winding up
Company & winding up
- Acting for the liquidators of a BVI company in the preservation/recovery of a luxury yacht.
- Acting for the judgment creditor of a PRC judgment in the enforcement actions in the BVI including applications for Norwich Pharmacal Orders, interim receivership over shares of a BVI company and the recovery of a private jet.
- Acted for the second largest shareholder of a Hong Kong listed company in a complex shareholders’ dispute involving numerous interlocutory applications including applications for prohibitory, mandatory, proprietary and Mareva injunctions, and applications for receivership and provisional liquidators. Acropolis Limited & another v W&Q Investment Limited & others [2018] HKCA 184, HCA 1496/2017, 31 August 2017; Aeso Holding Limited & another v Chan Siu Chung & others, HCA 1737/2017 & HCMP 1647/2017, 4 September 2017; Aeso Holding Limited & others v Chan Siu Chung & others, HCMP 1721/2017, 11 August 2017.
- Acting for a former shareholder of a BVI company in an unfair prejudice petition in the BVI.
- Acted for the company which successfully opposed a creditor’s winding up petition on the basis that the petitioner was carrying on business as an unlicensed money lender in contravention of provisions of the Money Lenders Ordinance, Cap. 163. Re Florescent Holdings Ltd. [2022] HKCFI 649; [2022] 2 HKLRD 203
- Acted for the respondents who successfully opposed an unfair prejudice and just-and-equitable winding up petition and claims of breach of fiduciary duties in respect of a well-known tutoring business in Hong Kong. Tsang Woon Ming v Lai Ka Lim & Others (HCCW 407/2016); King’s Glory Educational Centre Limited v Tsang Woon Ming & Others (HCA 33/2017); Nobility School Limited v Tsang Woon Ming & Others [2020] HKCFI 1503
- Acted for the members of a wine club who successfully challenged the validity of resolutions purportedly passed at the annual general meeting to appoint new members of the Executive Committee. WHC Limited trading as Wine High Club & others v Hong Kong Wine Chamber of Commerce Limited [2019] HKCFI 2548
Regulatory
Regulatory
- Acting for the respondent who is the chairman and founder of a Hong Kong listed company in a public interest petition presented by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission seeking a disqualification order and an order (the “Buy-out Order”) that the Respondent buy out the shares of public shareholders in the trial at the Hong Kong Court of First Instance and the appeal, where the Hong Kong Court considered the applicable principles of a Buy-out Order and the valuation of the shares for the first time. Securities and Futures Commission v Sound Global Ltd & Others [2022] HKCFI 3025, [2025] HKCFI 2052.
Instructing Tara Liao
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
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