Jian Jun (JJ) Liew

JJ has been instructed in a variety of commercial cases ranging from small claims to multi-track disputes to provide advice, settle pleadings, and take carriage of the claims to trial.

JJ’s experiences in this area include the following:

• A professional negligence and misfeasance claim against former joint liquidators for their conduct in a company’s liquidation.
• An application for a freezing injunction to prevent the dissipation of property or its proceeds from the jurisdiction.
• A fraudulent misrepresentation claim by a buyer of shares under a Share Purchase Agreement in respect of a seller’s failure to disclose existing claims against the company whose shares were purchased.
• Assisting in the preparation of an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the correct interpretation of a release agreement.

JJ has a particular interest in commercial litigation with Chinese elements, and frequently accepts instructions on cases relating to Chinese clients or interests in the UK. He is currently seconded to the China Practice team of McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP.

JJ regularly appears in the County Court and the Insolvency and Companies Court for various companies applications, including:

• Applications for an administration order.
• Applications to extend the period of administration.
• Applications for the approval of officeholder remuneration.
• Applications in relation to officeholder misfeasance.
• Applications to rectify the Companies Register.
• Applications for the reuse of company names.

 JJ’s experience on advising on company matters also includes:

• Unfair prejudice petitions.
• Informal decisions made under the Duomatic principle.
• Director’s disqualification proceedings.

JJ was seconded to the Retail Investments team of the FCA’s GCD for a period of 6 months to March 2022.

In the course of that secondment, JJ has assisted the FCA in the following matters:

• The implementation of the New Consumer Duty.
• The reform of the regulation of funeral plan providers.
• Work related to VREQs, including identifying appropriate wording for the terms of the VREQs and assessing the compliance of firms with their VREQs.
• Advising on the regulatory compliance of a P2P lending structure.
• Advising on whether certain communications fall to be regulated.
• Advising on the sanctions applicable on particular cases for breach of the general prohibition.

Outside of the FCA, JJ also has experience in financial services regulation by way of advising on regulatory obligations and exemptions, including the drafting of agreements which take advantage of regulatory exemptions.

JJ has experience across a range of contentious and non-contentious probate disputes, having advised and represented on a variety of probate matters including:

• The rectification of a will.
• The variation of a will trust under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958.
• Applications to remove a personal representative.
• Applications for accounts and distribution from the estate.
• Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• The non-contentious procedure following the lodging of a caveat.

JJ also has broader experience with onshore and offshore trust work. JJ has particular expertise with the intersection between trusts and insolvency, having advised on numerous instances on the effects of insolvency upon various trust property.

JJ regularly appears in the County Court and the Insolvency and Companies Court for various insolvency applications, including:

• Winding up petitions and bankruptcy petitions.
• Applications to annul bankruptcy orders.
• Applications to set aside statutory demands.
• Applications to restrain the presentation of winding up proceedings.
• Applications by insolvency practitioners including applications for examination under s.236 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

JJ also has experience advising on the effects of insolvency on assets held in trust and on jointly owned assets, including bank accounts and real property.

• Bar Professional Training Course, BPP University (Very Competent)
• LLM (Commercial), Wolfson College, University of Cambridge (First Class) (Thesis Title: “A House of Mirrors: a way forward for choices between causes of action?”)
• BA in Law (Jurisprudence), Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford (First Class)

• BBP BPTC Excellence Award (BPP University)
• Wolfson College Jennings Prize (University of Cambridge)
• Corpus Christi College Degree Award (University of Oxford)

• The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn
• Chancery Bar Association
• Society of Trust and Probate Practitioners (STEP)

• Mandarin Chinese (Conversationally Fluent)