Alex CH Yeung and Jason Fee on Limiting the Fiduciary’s Account of Profits: But-for Causation? (Trusts & Trustees)

"Limiting the fiduciary’s account of profits: but-for causation?"

Alex C H Yeung (BBA(Law) 2020) & Jason Fee (LLB 2020)

Published in October 2020

Trusts & Trustees

Abstract: In an account of profits for breach of fiduciary duty, courts have understandably required some form of nexus between the breach and the gains to be disgorged, but have otherwise struggled to articulate a precise test. In the recent case of UVJ v UVH, the Singapore Court of Appeal broke new ground by requiring but-for causation, apparently branching off from the Anglo-Australian jurisprudence which advocates a more liberal approach to causation. While the but-for test is practically appealing as a technique well known to various areas of law, this article seeks to assess the normative justifications for such a bold move, in view of the attendant issues of deterrence, the unique policy of fiduciary law, and the juridical nature of an account of profits.

Hong Kong Law Students Win First Round of Global Legal Hackathon

HKU BBA(Law) & LLB Year 3 students, Alison Li Pui Wun, Edelweiss Kwok Yuet Yi and Sally Yiu Man Ki together with two CUHK LLB students and four computer science/information technology experts won the Hong Kong round of Global Legal Hackathon. They will represent Hong Kong in the next round of the competition, with a chance to head to the finals in New York in April.

     The Global Legal Hackathon 2018, which took place on 23-25 February 2018, was co-organised by various legal-tech companies including IBM Watson, Global Legal Blockchain Consortium and Integra, and is one of the largest legal hackathons taking place in over 20 countries and 40 cities. It brought together stakeholders in the legal industry, including legal professionals, technologists, business strategists and law students in an intense sprint of legal tech education, creativity and invention. Each team was required to create a technological solution for improving the legal industry worldwide under a tight schedule. A video for the event can be viewed here.

     The winning project "Decoding Law" is a machine learning powered browser plugin that helps people read and understand legislation. It finds the relevant section(s) of legislation by identifying keywords in questions entered by users, explains defined terms for easier navigation and breaks down complex legislative drafting into simple language, which is particularly useful to unrepresented litigants. If you are interested in knowing more or want to support the team, please like and follow their Facebook page.  They need as many likes as possible to get to the final round.
     Alison, Edelweiss and Sally are newbies to hackathon. Edelweiss said, "the competition is an eye-opening experience that provides lots of different insights for legal tech that I have never imagined before." Alison said, "the GLH is a great platform for us to meet legal and tech talents and exchange and even realise our innovative ideas. It is indeed inspiring to see different teams' approaches and solutions, which is unprecedented but feasible." Sally said, "I am indeed impressed to see so many talented minds collaborate and come up with feasible solutions to solve certain legal problems in the society."  For more information, read Brian Tang (curator of the event)'s coverage in Asia Legal Business.

Photo with the judges and the organiser

(First row left 2: Edelweiss Kwok; first row left 3: Alison Li; first row left 4: Sally Yiu)

Law students team photo

(Left 2: Sally Yiu; Middle: Alison Li; Right 2: Edelweiss Kwok)