Ben Ko

Ben has extensive experience of commercial litigation, including heavy trials the High Court; appeals to Court of Appeal and Supreme Court; applications for injunctive relief; enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards; and settlement of disputes pursuant to various forms of ADR. He also acts in commercial arbitration under various institutional rules, including the HKIAC, LCIA, and ICC Rules, as well as ad hoc arbitrations.

During his training contract, Ben spent eight months at the Court of Appeal as the Judicial Assistant to Sir John Thomas, then the President of the Queen's Bench Division and later the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Between August 2013 - March 2014, Ben was seconded to the global litigation team of an international oil major, during which time he gained wide experience in upstream and downstream energy disputes.

Commercial Litigation

• Acting for a London-based regulated securities broker in parallel proceedings, including various applications for concurrent injunctive relief, brought in the High Court of Hong Kong and the English Commercial Court in claims involving allegations of misrepresentation, fraud, breach of trust and dishonest assistance.
  
  
• Successfully defending Prandicle Limited, a company beneficially owned the former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and former CEO of Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz, in claims before the English Commercial Court. The complex, multi-billion dollar litigation – involving 25 separate parties and various claims, counterclaims and additional claims under Ukrainian and English law - arose out of the separation of valuable joint business interests of three Ukrainian businessmen. Following an eight week trial, all claims against Prandicle were dismissed with the award of indemnity costs.
  
  
• Acting for the Defendant, one of the world’s largest interdealer brokers, in complex Financial List proceedings involving allegations of dishonest assistance in a Missing Trader Intra-Community VAT carousel fraud on the carbon credit trading market.
  
  
• Acting for the receiver of a large insolvent Thai bank to enforce Thai judgments against the English assets of former members of the bank's senior management, who are currently serving prison sentences in Thailand for embezzlement of the bank's funds.
  
  
• Acting at first instance and on appeal for a Taiwanese bank in a High Court dispute over the true quantum of a Belgian court judgment sought to be enforced against it in England. Successfully obtained an award of costs following detailed assessment proceedings.
  
  
• Acting for a luxury hotel chain in its successful defence of a multi-million pound claim brought in the English High Court, including securing the award and payment of indemnity costs.

International Commercial Arbitration

• Acting for the Respondents, two Chinese state-owned manufacturers of electronic consumer goods, in an arbitration seated in Paris under the ICC Rules worth almost USD 100 million brought by its former Egyptian distributor.
  
  
• Acting for one of the world’s leading oilfield services providers in its recovery of unpaid invoices from a major Chinese conglomerate arising out of operations in Sub-Saharan Africa under contracts providing for arbitration administered by the HKIAC.
  
  
• Acting for an international oil major, the Operator of a gas processing facility, in successful multi-million pound ad hoc arbitral proceedings against another oil major in a dispute over the specification and processing of gas extracted from the North Sea. Arbitration conducted on an expedited basis and concluded within six weeks from execution of the arbitration agreement to the rendering of an Award.
  
  
• Acting in LCIA proceedings for an oil major in a dispute over the construction of force majeure provisions in a contract for the sale and delivery of base oils.
  
  
• Acting for an offshore subsidiary of a Russian bank in LCIA proceedings against a joint venture partner relating to the conduct and performance of a joint venture company in commercial real estate investment and development activities in Moscow.

• Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association - Committee Member
• HKIAC HK45
• LCIA Young International Arbitration Group
• London Solicitor Litigation Association

• Hong Kong