The inspiration to write this article came from a film I watched recently – The Whale – starring Brendan Fraser, who plays an obese man leading an extremely sedentary life. In my opinion, his character’s (Charlie) physiognomy is one of the elements that captures the story narrative. Again, the inspiration to write the article, after…

In 2006, the Hong Kong Government introduced a scheme that marriages can be officiated by civil celebrants at a time and a venue chosen by the couple. Since then, I have been practising as a civil celebrant along with my other areas of practice. At the time of becoming a civil celebrant, I thought officiating…

Secondary school students also have an important role to play in upholding the rule of law.   The idea of organising a mediation essay competition for secondary school students was mooted in 2019. Despite the covid pandemic, the Mediation Essay Competition 2020 was successfully organised by the Department of Justice, the Education Bureau, Rotary International…

Dear Young Mediation Enthusiast, Thank you for writing to me again. Time really flies as my last letter to you was written ten months ago on 2 December 2021. It is most encouraging to hear that you have been doing mediation cases of different nature and you find the work as a family mediator most…

Mr Rimsky Yuen GBM SC JP was appointed as the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (“Hong Kong Government”) on 1 July 2012. Prior to July 2012, Rimsky practised as a barrister primarily in different areas of commercial law. Apart from acting as advocate in court or arbitral proceedings, he…

Most people’s experience of artificial intelligence (AI) is limited to interacting with a chat bot on their bank’s website. These bots are unimpressive, dispensing trivial and mostly unhelpful answers. Don’t be misled into thinking that unhelpful chat bots represent the state of the art in AI, though. The cutting edge of AI research has moved…

Below was a conversation between two Chinese philosophers, namely, Huizi (“Hui”) and Zhuangzi (“Zhuang”) on the Joy of Fish when they were strolling on a bridge over River Hao more than two thousand two hundred years ago.   Zhuang :    That minnow swims leisurely and it must be joyful. Hui        :   You…

Online processes in all professions soared during Covid. The legal profession was transformed. A multitude of online mediation platforms miraculously appeared and mediators barely skipped a beat. Benefits emerged – especially in a geographically vast continent like Australia – where advocates and their clients in distant locations saved significant costs in time, travelling expenses and…

As soon as the news of the Ukrainian invasion emerged in late February, I felt the urgent need to address in writing what had been unthinkable only days earlier but which has now changed Europe for good. At the same time, I felt a massive sense of despair and helplessness which rendered me mute. Weeks…

As a mediator, have you ever come across a situation where the parties and their respective legal representatives insist to have a face-to-face mediation session with you against a backdrop of sudden rise of confirmed Covid cases in your city to the extent that social distancing measures are being tightened and the Judiciary has announced…