The opening ceremony was presided over by Justice Gong Jiali, president of the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province. President and Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Zhang Juneng, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong Cheung Kui-nung, President of the Court of Final Appeal of Macao Sam Hou Fai, and the Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong Teresa Cheng, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Also in attendance in the seminar were President of the Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court Wang Shumei, Director of the Research Office of the Supreme People’s Court Duan Nongen, Senior Justice of the First Circuit of the Supreme People’s Court Sun Xiangzhuang, Executive Vice President of the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province Zhong Jianping, and invited experts and scholars from the Supreme People’s Court, Guangdong courts, Guangdong Lawyers Association, the judiciary of Hong Kong, the Department of Justice of Hong Kong, the Court of Final Appeal of Macao.
 
 The seminar mainly consisted of two parts: mock trials conducted in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and the thematic session.
 
Part 1: Mock trials

Mock trials were conducted in courts of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao based on the same sets of facts surrounding a cross-border commercial dispute to facilitate better understanding of the similarities and differences of the litigation modes and procedural rules in the three places.
 

Mock trial in Guangdong



Huang Hui participates in mock trial



Mock trial in Hong Kong



Mock trial in Macao


 Party 2: Thematic session
 

The thematic session, themed “convergence of procedural rules for resolving cross-border commercial disputes in the GBA”, brought together experts and scholars from the three places to share their insights and experiences. As the only lawyer representative from the Mainland, our managing partner Huang Hui made a presentation on the topic of “Cooperation in Ascertainment of Foreign Law”.

  

Topic 1: Jurisdictional Conflicts and Coordination



Speaker: Chief Justice Wang Shumei
President of the Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court Wang Shumei





Topic 2: Comparison and Reference of Evidence Rules



Speaker: Wong Ming Fong
Barrister in Hong Kong



 
Top 3: Cooperation in Ascertainment of Foreign Law



Speaker: Bing SHUI
Professor at University of Macau




Speaker: Huang Hui
Managing partner of Huang &Huang Co. Law Firm
 

Huang Hui’s speech was based on his considerable experience as well as an extensive search, classification and analysis of available Mainland court judgments involving ascertainment and application of foreign laws, summarized the frequently-seen reasons for failure to ascertain foreign laws in practice, distribution of jurisdictions that were covered, the means of ascertainment and the judicial status quo, pointed out practical problems encountered, and introduced the improved and innovative ways of ascertainment adopted by Mainland courts in practice. He also put forward constructive suggestions on how to explore and promote an in-depth cooperation among the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the Macao Court of Final Appeal in ascertainment of laws of other jurisdictions.