Year of Call - 2005

Lee joined chambers in 2023 having previously practised as a Barrister in Hong Kong.

Family law practice

Children (private): Child Arrangements Orders, including residence and contact; Specific Issue Orders, such as medical treatment and schooling; and Prohibited Steps Orders, including relocation of the child within or outside the UK.

Children (public): Local Authority care proceedings, representing Local Authorities, parents, other family members, children’s guardians, prospective Special Guardians and adoptive parents.

Injunctions: Non-Molestation Orders in respect of all forms of domestic abuse, harassment and intimidation; and Occupation Orders precluding a person from living in the family home.

Financial orders & TOLATA claims: Representing divorcing parties at all stages of ancillary relief proceedings, as well as cohabiting parties in respect of TOLATA claims; also accepting instructions to represent clients in private FDR hearings, mediation and arbitration.

Advocacy, advice and negotiation 

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Lee is regularly instructed in multi-day contested hearings and has a robust advocacy style when testing evidence for or against serious allegations of abuse, including physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and financial. He is sensitive to the requirements of vulnerable clients and those with particular language or communication needs.

Lee is known to give practical and realistic advice, cutting through to the crux of the issues in the hope of achieving a speedy, just and effective resolution of contentious matters. Wherever possible, practicable and appropriate, he will endeavour to facilitate an agreement between the parties, believing that a conciliatory approach and party-agreed order – through compromise and input from both sides – is more likely to succeed in the long-term, being particularly important to the welfare interests of any children involved.

Previous work overseas

Before returning to work in the UK in 2022, Lee spent several years practising as a Barrister in Hong Kong, chiefly in the civil field, having a broad contentious and non-contentious practice, including contract, commercial and chancery matters, as well as accepting instructions in various criminal cases. He has also been granted rights of audience at the AIFC Court, Kazakhstan. In terms of ADR, Lee was accredited as a Mediator by CEDR in 2008 and HKMAAL in 2013 and was admitted as a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb) in 2008.

In addition to legal practice, Lee was appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at The University of Hong Kong where he has, for many years, lectured law in both the Faculty of Law and the School of Professional and Continuing Education, predominantly in the Law of Contract and Equity & Trusts. He has published extensively, including sole-authored books on the general law of contract (‘Contract Law in Hong Kong’) and contract interpretation (‘Construction of Commercial Contracts in Hong Kong’), as well as contributing chapters to the leading contract law practitioner text (‘Chitty on Contracts: Hong Kong Specific Contracts’). Lee is also the original and present author of the current chapter on Consumer Protection in the leading criminal law practitioner text (‘Archbold Hong Kong’). In addition to this, he has penned numerous articles for various international refereed law journals, including many that have been repeatedly cited elsewhere in academic literature and by the English Law Commission. 

During his years in Hong Kong, Lee has accepted various local and international invitations to deliver lectures to universities, professional bodies, organisations and law firms, including Magic Circle, as well as a commission to produce training materials for the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has also accepted invitations to participate in Hong Kong law reform, such as by providing consultation paper comments to the Hong Kong Department of Justice and delivering submissions in deputation to the Bills Committee of the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

Before moving to Hong Kong, Lee worked in Germany for a couple years, lecturing at a leading law school in Hamburg.