Alternative Dispute Resolution of Shareholder Disputes in Hong Kong Institutionalizing its Effective Use

The landscape of shareholder dispute resolution in Hong Kong has changed vastly since the launch of the Civil Justice Reform in 2009. Key initiatives - the voluntary court-connected scheme and reform of the statutory unfair prejudice provisions - were employed to promote the greater use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in shareholder disputes. While the Hong Kong government and judiciary introduced such schemes to prove the legitimacy of extra-judicial over court-based litigation processes, their success is still uncertain. In this book, socio-legal theory and sociological institutionalism are used to develop a theoretical framework for analyzing the key stages of institutionalization. The author analyzes how procedural innovations could acquire legitimacy through different types of legal and non-legal inducement mechanisms within the institutionalization process. Recommendations on codifying and innovating ADR policy in Hong Kong shareholder disputes are also made with comparison to similar policies in the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand.

1. Introduction; 2. Mapping out a pathway to the development of ADR for shareholder disputes in Hong Kong: an overview; 3. Key methodology and methods for evaluation of policy development on ADR in shareholder disputes; 4. Securing the legitimacy of court-connected ADR initiatives for shareholder disputes; 5. Legislative reforms facilitating both informal processes and court-based shareholder proceedings; 6. Diffusion of procedural innovations: an empirical analysis of Hong Kong lawyers' attitudes about the use of ADR for shareholder disputes; 7. Innovative approaches to the future codification of ADR for shareholder disputes in Hong Kong: borrowing models from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa.

Ida Kwan Lun Mak has a multi-disciplinary academic background with degrees in law and accountancy. She earned her Doctor of Legal Science (S.J.D.) from The University of Hong Kong, where she was the recipient of postgraduate scholarship. Bilingual in English and Chinese, her research interests are primarily in the fields of company law, dispute resolution, arbitration, mediation and socio-legal studies, with a strong emphasis on empirical work in Hong Kong. Dr Mak is now working as a research assistant in the Department of Law, The University of Hong Kong.