Susan Lavender believes Hong Kong is the ideal base for foreign companies with long-term plans for China

Susan Lavender is an Associate at Dibb Lupton Alsop (DLA)'s Hong Kong office. Previously a member of the Bar of Quebec, her background is in criminal defence. Ms Lavender held the position of Federal Adjudicator in Montreal deciding refugee status, and was later recruited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to work in Hong Kong on the cases of the Vietnamese "boat people" for six months. Twelve years on, this is her Hong Kong story.

"I arrived at Kai Tak on 1st June 1992, from Montreal, Canada, where I had previously emigrated from England. I arrived, as the Eagles say, "having packed up my hopes and dreams like a refugee". Ironically, refugees were also the reason I came to Hong Kong.

Twelve years later I am still here as plans for my return west changed from "this year, next year" to "sometime" and eventually a very definite "never".

I knew instinctively that I belonged in Hong Kong as soon as I arrived in Kowloon. The huge street signs with bright Chinese script, obscuring the narrow streets below, were completely different from Montreal's wide open highways. Hong Kong's paradoxical, schizophrenic nature, both modern and eccentrically traditional at the same time, charmed me from my first day.

I noticed a silent Buddhist monk sitting at one table with shaven head and wine-coloured robes, in sharp contrast to two businessmen at another table, one Western and one Chinese, in suits, equipped with mobile phones and brief cases, engaged in animated negotiation of a business deal. All were equally at home in Hong Kong and so was I, different from each of them as they were from each other. Hong Kong accepts all of us, just like the ocean liners and tiny sampans which populate its breathtaking harbour, the skyscrapers of Central and the fishing villages of the outlying islands.

Determined to stay in Hong Kong after my work with UNHCR ended, despite various renewals of my contract, I studied Chinese law at HKU, obtained distinction in the Postgraduate Diploma in PRC law and then headed up to Beijing to learn Mandarin.

Being half Italian, I worked in the first PRC representative office of an Italian law firm in Beijing before returning to Hong Kong to continue working with Italian clients. By that time it was 1997. I watched Britannia sail away from the fragrant harbour from my round office window in Jardine House. Appropriately in post-1997 Hong Kong, having become a permanent resident and re-qualified as a Hong Kong solicitor, I now sit in an office in the Bank of China Tower, an Associate Solicitor at Dibb Lupton Alsop (DLA).

I still work predominantly with Italian clients, who are involved in trade and investment in Hong Kong and China. Many are using Hong Kong as a base for their China operations in order to take advantage of its infrastructure, skilled labour force and services, including sophisticated banking services and of course Hong Kong's rule of law. These are all important factors for a foreign company which is committed to long-term operations in the greater China region. 

I am happy to see that Cepa benefits my clients, such as those who had the foresight to establish a Hong Kong base within the relevant time frames to allow them to be qualified as Cepa defined Hong Kong companies.

I believe Hong Kong is an integral, but very special part of China, with a changing yet fundamental role to play in the developing China of the future. Hong Kong is constantly reinventing itself to fit current needs. I have no doubt that it will always survive and will always be China's the one and only Eastern Pearl."

Related link
Dibb Lupton Alsop