Elsie Chan

Partner | Employment and Pensions

elsie.chan@deacons.com
+852 2825 9604
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"Elsie is a very good and responsible lawyer. She always deliver her advice in a prompt and efficient manner. Her advice is also helpful and to the point."

"Elsie Chan offers practical and excellent employment law advice to our company in a very professional and efficient manner. She offers very professional and quality work to our company in a very expeditious manner. I appreciate her work very much."

"We usually work with Elsie Chan. We are very happy working with her. She gives sharp and practical advice. She knows her stuff and the market trend very well. She is an outstanding negotiator and can give very accurate judgement of the situations. She can always suggest good tactic moves which make our case in the best position. So far she wins all cases for us."

"We are very happy with Elsie's service. Even if we ask her matters which are not employment-related, she always gives us some initial views and refers us to the relevant lawyers, even lawyers outside Hong Kong. She is very resourceful."

Elsie has extensive experience in advising on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment matters in Hong Kong.

Her experience includes:

  • drafting, negotiating and advising on employment agreements and executive benefit packages;
  • advising on all aspects of employment law in Hong Kong including employee protection, benefits, maternity leave and sickness allowance requirements, severance and long service payments and termination requirements;
  • advising on employment matters upon mergers and acquisitions of companies, transfers of business undertakings and restructuring of corporate entities;
  • advising on the various discrimination ordinances (Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance) applying in Hong Kong and on claims at the Equal Opportunities Commission;
  • advising on employment disputes, including preparation of documents relating to Labour Tribunal actions;
  • advising clients in relation to industrial disputes; and
  • advising on rights and obligations under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, and access to employee data.

Highlights

  • conducting employee investigation concerning allegation of sexual harassment at an international pharmaceutical company. It was a very delicate and sensitive matter and we as outside counsel assisted in an independent and impartial investigation to help minimise the liability of the employer.
  • providing advice for a large food and beverage group in relation to sex discrimination and harassment complaint by one of its employee and worked on the defence of the claim brought by the complainant who had dropped and discontinued the case ultimately.
  • acting for the Hong Kong subsidiary of an international integrated chemicals and energy company in defending a case brought by an ex-employee for value of promissory notes and unpaid commission.  We assisted the client all to way through the whole Labour Tribunal hearing and the client succeeded in their case with costs awarded.
  • advising a large Hong Kong bank on a HK$30 million claim involving the withdrawal of an employment contract for a potential CEO.

Elsie frequently writes articles on topical matters in the industry and has been featured in China Law & Practice, Lexology, Conventus Law and Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management Journal.

She spoke on Hong Kong employment law in United Kingdom for several occasions for human resources professionals upon invitation. She also delivered employment law seminars for LexOmnibus, the Law Society of Hong Kong, Trade Development Council, and her clients.

She was also one of the editors of the supplement of the Employment Law and Practice in Hong Kong published by Sweet & Maxwell.

More about Elsie Chan

Legal 500 Asia Pacific

  • Labour and Employment (Hong Kong) – Leading Individual (2024)
  • Labour and Employment (Hong Kong) – Next Generation Partner (2021 – 2023)

Chambers Greater China Region

  • Employment (Hong Kong Law) – Leading Individual (2022 – 2024)

Chambers Asia Pacific

  • Employment (Hong Kong Law) – Leading Individual (2021)

Benchmark Litigation

  • Labor and employment (Hong Kong) – Litigation Star (2022 – 2024)

Asialaw Profiles

  • Labour and Employment (Hong Kong) – Distinguished Practitioner (2023 – 2024)

Who’s Who Legal

  • Labour Employment & Benefits in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR – Recommended Lawyer (2023 – 2024)
  • Labour & Employment in Mainland China & Hong Kong SAR – Thought Leader (2024)
  • Labour Employment & Benefits in Mainland China & Hong Kong SAR – Thought Leader (2022 – 2024)

  • APAC leader of Next Gen, Employment Law Alliance (2023 – 2024)

  • Passed Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Qualification Examination (2023)
  • LLB, PCLL, University of Hong Kong

Publications

  • contributed in Exiting Executives – Hong Kong Chapter, published by Shoosmiths LLP, March 2024

Speaking engagements

  • speaker, 3rd Annual Employment Forum on “Restrictive covenants”, Global Leader Forum, May 2024
  • moderator, podcast on “Key employment law developments in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in 2024”, Employment Law Alliance, May 2024
  • speaker, Asia Pacific Next Gen 2024 First Meeting, Employment Law Alliance, January 2024
  • speaker, webinar on “2024 Asia Pacific year in review: Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, India”, Employment Law Alliance, January 2024
  • moderator, Deacons In-house Corporate Counsel Forum on “Tackling workplace mental health through the power of storytelling”, October 2023
  • speaker, webinar on “Claims arising from remote and hybrid work:
    executive briefing from North America & Asia Pacific”, Employment Law Alliance, August 2023
  • speaker, seminar on “Working from Anywhere”, The Global Leaders Forum Employment Chapter 2023, May 2023
  • moderator, webinar on “2023 Asia Pacific Employment Law Year in Review”, Employment Law Alliance, January 2023

"Elsie is a very good and responsible lawyer. She always deliver her advice in a prompt and efficient manner. Her advice is also helpful and to the point."

"Elsie Chan offers practical and excellent employment law advice to our company in a very professional and efficient manner. She offers very professional and quality work to our company in a very expeditious manner. I appreciate her work very much."

"We usually work with Elsie Chan. We are very happy working with her. She gives sharp and practical advice. She knows her stuff and the market trend very well. She is an outstanding negotiator and can give very accurate judgement of the situations. She can always suggest good tactic moves which make our case in the best position. So far she wins all cases for us."

"We are very happy with Elsie's service. Even if we ask her matters which are not employment-related, she always gives us some initial views and refers us to the relevant lawyers, even lawyers outside Hong Kong. She is very resourceful."

Languages

  • English
  • Cantonese

Jurisdictions

  • Hong Kong

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