By Pádraig Seif
Hong Kong, 2 July 2021: After an eight-year hiatus in private industry managing a trading company, I recently re-entered private practice as a foreign registered lawyer with Boase Cohen & Collins. I received many congratulatory messages after the announcement earlier this year. Thank you very much. But the move also begged many questions, most notably: why rejoin private practice? Why in Hong Kong? And what areas of the law will I be focusing on? Here are my answers:
Why am I rejoining private practice? Let us start at the beginning. It does not seem so long ago that I began my legal career in the tax structuring department of Mayer Brown in Frankfurt. Nor that the Lehman Brothers crashed while I was doing capital markets work at Norton Rose. But that is what brought me to Asia: Lehman Brothers. Singapore’s financial industry was still doing fine, so just after the start of the global financial crises I found myself working on capital markets transactions, mostly restructuring work. It was all the better for being in the heat and the sun of Southeast Asia, not the doom and gloom of Europe.
Singapore is also where I took that big step to go in-house: I joined a fund manager and family office. This was the first taste of “business”: not only advising on structures, but actually implementing them. Incorporating companies and setting up trusts. Instructing lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and the like.
Having had that first taste of the business world I took a golden opportunity in 2013: I transitioned to Hong Kong and established a trading business. Buying and selling physical precious metals is somewhat different to drafting trust deeds and advisory contracts. Unaccustomed as I was to the actual running of a business, my initial learning curve was very steep indeed. Managing a whole range of employees, learning various trading practices, dealing with all sorts of counterparties and stakeholders required major adjustments and provided new perspectives and insights. At least my legal knowledge served me well as a solid foundation.
But I also learnt: when you are the boss, everything ultimately stops with you. Internet down? Toner empty? New logo for the reception? Now where is the boss …? The significance of standard operating procedures cannot be overstated.
Over the years, as the company and its track record grew, I was approached more and more frequently by other aspiring entrepreneurs for advice. Their questions often revolved around legal issues and how to approach them in a practical sense. Most of them had already received legal advice in some form or another. But they often felt the advice to be too theoretical or out of touch with the practical requirements and limitations of their business, their budget or manpower. There obviously was and continues to be a demand for practical legal advice from a lawyer with hands-on business experience. I thrived on being involved in projects like this and providing my “two cents worth”.
In 2020, then, I finally decided to go back to my roots and re-enter private practice to address this demand. And commenced the long process of registering as a foreign registered lawyer in Hong Kong. I have a global network of contacts.
Many outside of Hong Kong raised the question: of all places, why Hong Kong? Well, first of all, Hong Kong is my home. And yes, Hong Kong has seen its fair share of turmoil over the past years. But I agree with my colleague, Senior Partner Colin Cohen: not only do I have no intentions of leaving my home, but Hong Kong is also an extremely vibrant, energetic and safe city. It is a city that constantly reinvents itself and has a history of dealing with all sorts of calamities, always coming out stronger for the experience.
I could go on to cite all the relevant statistics. But suffice to say Hong Kong is and will remain one of the largest global financial centres with a very vibrant international business community. I am certain it will thrive in the years to come. I would be very surprised indeed, was this not to be the case.
Lastly, for today: what legal advice will I focus on? Trade between Hong Kong and Germany is just shy of the significant trade between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Yet there are only a handful of German lawyers working as foreign registered lawyers in Hong Kong. I want to start filling that void.
Fluent in German, with an understanding of both civil and common law systems, I offer practical German or EU legal advice on international commercial transactions, commercial and company law, data protection, tax structures and funds. I have an even longer track record on English law advice, with a focus on trusts, investments, fund structures, compliance and company law. Obviously there is plenty of competition in Hong Kong, but not many lawyers have the hands-on business experience I have been fortunate enough to gather over the past eight years.
With Boase Cohen & Collins, I am delighted to have found a new home. One with a stellar reputation, long track record and an ambitious, diverse team that strives to really look after its clients. And in Colin a colleague just as football crazy as myself. I am delighted to be one of the BC&C team! Even if my English Premier League club is … well, maybe let’s not go there just yet.
Pádraig Seif, a Foreign Legal Consultant for BC&C, is admitted as a German Rechtsanwalt as well as an English Solicitor. Through his various positions with major international law firms and in-house roles in Frankfurt am Main, Singapore and Hong Kong he has in-depth experience in investment funds, asset management, international commercial transactions and corporate law as well as tax structuring. He can be contacted at padraig@boasecohencollins.com.
