We held our first webinar on 28 October 2021 in the form of a mock hearing canvassing usual financial issues which may arise in cases involving unmarried couples and illegitimate children. We are grateful to receive support from legal practitioners, private bankers, other professionals, law students, etc. nearly 100 attended. Unlike the usual webinar’s presentation, there was role play by our presenters with our Counsel acting for the Mother and our Principal representing the Father.
We were honored to have Mr Eugene Yim (Barrister-at-law at Bernacchi Chambers) who was a Deputy District Judge at the Family Court to act as the Judge in this webinar. He asked pertinent questions which had to be addressed with care and gave a detailed judgement in the end. Our participants were able to observe how a court hearing was conducted and to experience the decision making process in a courtroom.
Our Principal, Mr Jonathan Mok acted as the Solicitor Advocate for the fictitious Respondent Father. Having also served as a Deputy District Judge before, our Principal had a difficult time dealing with the very pertinent and direct questions from the Bench which identified the shortcomings of the Father’s position. It was certainly not easy to act for the Father who declined to provide financial disclosure by pleading the "millionaire's defence" and he was also late in submitting his DNA sample, in contravention of a prior court Order that he sought for a paternity test report as he denied to be the biological father of one of the children.
Our Counsel, Ms Elaine Sum acted as the Solicitor for the fictitious Applicant Mother, likewise did not have an impeccable case. It was exceptionally challenging to seek maintenance on the Mother's behalf for one of the children who was born out of the Mother's previous marriage and the position was not made easy by the Mother having her own financial resources, when it came to determine her carer’s allowance and litigation funding requests.
Thank you to our Associate, Rachael Leung and our Trainee Solicitor, Angela Li together with other colleagues who have helped with this in-house production. Please watch out for our future events and we aim to provide the participants with an innovative and different webinar experience.
Disclaimer: The case scenario and characters are fictitious. No identification with actual persons is intended or to be inferred. This webinar is not intended to create any legal relationship or provide legal advice.