Nicholas Tam 谭柏荣

Nicholas is an Asia-based offshore litigator handling complex multi-jurisdictional disputes spanning banking, insolvency and restructuring, shareholder disputes, trusts, and general commercial matters. He advises in relation to matters before the BVI and Cayman Courts and arbitrations worldwide, including under the CIETAC, FOSFA, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, LMAA and UNCITRAL Rules. He has a strong track record managing multi-jurisdictional teams to obtain judgments or awards and thereafter achieving their enforcement, including in 'difficult to enforce' jurisdictions such as Bangladesh and China.

Background and experience

Nicholas is an Asia-based offshore litigator handling complex multi-jurisdictional disputes spanning banking, insolvency and restructuring, shareholder disputes, trusts, and general commercial matters. He advises in relation to matters before the BVI and Cayman Courts and arbitrations worldwide, including under the CIETAC, FOSFA, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, LMAA and UNCITRAL Rules. He has a strong track record managing multi-jurisdictional teams to obtain judgments or awards and thereafter achieving their enforcement, including in 'difficult to enforce' jurisdictions such as Bangladesh and China.

Nicholas joined Ogier in 2018 after almost 5 years with the Hong Kong office of leading maritime lawyers Ince & Co, where he specialised in dispute resolution, insolvency, transport, and trade and appeared frequently before the High Court of Hong Kong. He is sought-after by clients, industry associations, and global media as a thought leader on international trade sanctions and has been interviewed and published by media outlets including CNN and Lloyd's Intelligence. At Ogier he has advised liquidators, creditors, licensed fund managers, and directors of offshore companies listed on the Hong Kong, London, New York, and NASDAQ stock exchanges in relation to some of the most complex company and insolvency matters litigated before the BVI and Cayman Courts. Highlight matters include the restructuring of Luckin Coffee, the liquidation of the Adamas Funds, and numerous bondholder restructurings involving offshore investment structures into real estate assets in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He has also advised a global bank in Cayman litigation against the Saad Group, which collapsed after conducting the world's largest Ponzi scheme valued in excess of US$330 billion. Many of his cases have led to landmark judgments redefining the law in BVI and Cayman.

He read law and economics at The University of Melbourne and was the 2011 National Champion of the Sir Harry Gibbs Australian Constitutional Law Moot. Shortly thereafter he relocated to Hong Kong to complete the PCLL at The University of Hong Kong, from which he graduated with the Sir Po-shing Woo Gold Medal in Law as the top student in the litigation stream. Subsequently, Nicholas has qualified as a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an Associate of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, and has been appointed to the List of Arbitrators for the Cayman International Mediation & Arbitration Centre.

Nicholas is the first offshore lawyer and the first Australian to be granted rights of audience before the Astana International Finance Centre Court. This enables him to advise and represent clients with interests in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, a region of increasing importance and activity as part of the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative.

Prior to commencing his legal career, Nicholas was a researcher in the Washington DC office of US Senator Mike Crapo, the Ranking Member of the US Senate Banking Committee, which gives him unique insight into government and regulatory matters affecting the financial sector.

Publications

• Aircraft Finance: Regulation, Security and Enforcement (Sweet & Maxwell)
• Aircraft Liens and Detention Rights (Sweet & Maxwell)
• Atkin's Court Forms: Hong Kong (LexisNexis)
• Infrastructure Procurement After the Credit Crunch: A Guaranteed Future for PPPs in Australia? [2012] 7(1) EPPPL 30
• Lexis Practical Guidance HK: Carriage of Goods
• Lexis Practical Guidance HK: Cross-Border Trading

Memberships

• AIAC Young Practitioners Group
• Australian Chamber of Commerce
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• HK45
• Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators
• Law Society of Hong Kong

Admitted in:

2015 - Victoria, Australia
2017 - Hong Kong
2019 - Astana International Finance Centre
2019 - Norfolk Island
2022 - New Zealand
2023 - England & Wales
2023 - Pitcairn Islands
2023 – British Virgin Islands