Australian Solicitor

I need my signature witnessed by a Solicitor for some Australian documents, but my enquiries in Hong Kong suggest that the fees to do this are around $2000HKD?! Are there any Australian Solictors out there who could help me out at a more reasonable fee?

Thank you

As far I am aware there are only three Australian law firms with Hong Kong offices: Allens Arthur Robinson, Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Minter Ellison. I assume you have approached each one.


A long option is to trawl through the list of registered foreign lawyers or Notaries Public on the Law Society's website for Australian solicitors at other law firms.


http://www.hklawsoc.org.hk/pub_e/memberlawlist/mem_foreignlawyers.asp


http://www.hklawsoc.org.hk/pub_e/memberlawlist/mem_notary.asp


Have you so tried the Australian Consulate for a referral or in-house solicitor?


Also try a Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=hong+kong+australia+solicitor+notary


and see what comes up. You will find Australian solicitors at smaller HK law firms which, generally, will be less costly.


But perhaps someone here knows of a suitable solicitor, although HK$2000 may be the "going rate".

Frankly, I'd turn up to one of the offices and just ask - there are actually a few other law firms (eg Deacons) with HK branches.


I'm an oz solicitor but am offshore for the next while - if you go to one of the smaller offices (eg Minters is pretty small) and just beg it should be fine - they shouldn't charge for witnessing (as long as they're not a notary public). At the very least you should get an appointment.

If you are Australian, the Australian consulate itself provides this witnessing service once a week (only Wednesday mornings). It will cost you HK$118 per item. See

http://www.australia.org.hk/eng/services/notarial.htm



Btw, unless Oz is different to the rest of the world, an alternative to an Oz solicitor would be to have the docs witnessed by any "Notary Public" (whether Aussie or not). To find one near you, select "Notary Public" in the "Specialised Area" drop-down box and tick your district at:

http://www.hklawsoc.org.hk/pub_e/lawfirmdirectory/

Thank you very much for this information. Yes, the Oz Consulate helped me out.

Cheers