Keith Hotten 賀傑峰

Martin Burr Chambers, London
 

Contact: keithhotten@proton.me

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Criminal Defence

Divorce, Relocation, Children & Family Law

Full Rights of Audience in All Courts

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I have been in private practice as a criminal and family trial lawyer for over 34 years, having been Called to the Bar of England & Wales in 1990 (Middle Temple) and Hong Kong in 2000.

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Some of My Reported Criminal & Matrimonial Cases & Judgments 

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​​​Formerly a member of Admiralty Chambers, Hong Kong 

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Keith Hotten 賀傑峰

                                                  Experience, Qualifications & Publications 

Education: BA (Hons), MA, PhD, Cert Ed., Dip Law, Barrister​; Adjunct Associate Professor, Faculty of Law University of Hong Kong; CEDR/HIAC Accredited Mediator.

Called to the Bar: England & Wales (Middle Temple, 1990); Hong Kong (2000)

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Areas of Practice: Full Rights of Audience

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• Criminal Defence - all areas of criminal law and criminal trial advocacy

• Family Law – all areas relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Finance, Trusts and MPS and the Law relating to Children: Custody, Access, Child Maintenance, Lawful and Unlawful Removal (Hague), Wardship, Injunctions, Domestic Violence, Marital Agreements ("Pre/Postnups") Enforcement and Cohabitees

• General Civil – Contract, Injunctions and Recovery

• CEDR & HKIAC Accredited Mediator

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Over the past 34 years as a trial advocate I have specialised almost exclusively in criminal defence and matrimonial law cases. In my early years in London, I practised from Chambers, 23 Essex Street, Middle Temple, undertaking over 800 jury trials as a criminal trial advocate in the Crown Courts. I also had a smaller civil practice concentrating mainly on family law in the County Courts. I was Called to the Bar in Hong Kong in 2000 and practiced for a three years before going back to London in 2003. I returned to Hong Kong to practise full-time in 2006, since when my work has focused almost exclusively criminal trial advocacy in the criminal courts and all aspects of family law and matrimonial finance in the Family Court. I was junior counsel in the Court of Final Appeal in LKW v. DD FACV 16/2008; (2010) 13 HKCFAR 537. This landmark CFA judgment is now the leading authority on the division of matrimonial assets in ancillary relief when Hong Kong adopted the position in England & Wales, as set out in White v White [2000] UKHL 54. I am also honoured to have held the post of Principal Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong, where, until 2022, I taught criminal procedure and professional practice and, from 2008, was responsible for the Matrimonial Practice & Procedure Elective on the PCLL. My post at HKU has also given me the time and opportunity to publish widely in matrimonial and criminal law. 

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I continue to publish widely; selected publications include

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• Hotten & Ho ‘On Family & Divorce Law in Hong Kong’ Vols. I, II, III, & IV LexisNexis, (2024-25), updated March & December)

• Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong (2nd Edition) ‘Criminal Law’ Vol 20 (2025)

• Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong (2nd Edition) ‘Criminal Procedure’ Vol 21 (2025)

• Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong, (2nd Edition)  ‘Legal Practitioners’ Vol. 37 LexisNexis (2021)

• Hotten & Ho “Hong Kong Family Court Practice” (Single Vol) LexisNexis (2023)

• Hotten & Ho Family Law Practice & Procedure in Hong Kong (Student Edition) LexisNexis (2020)

• Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong ‘ (2nd Edition) ‘Contempt of Court’ Vol. 16 LexisNexis (2019)

• Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong (2nd Edition) ‘Family Law’ Vol 28, LexisNexis (2018)​

• ‘Family Law Practice & Procedure in Hong Kong’, (2nd Edition), LexisNexis, (2015)

• ‘Right to Family’ Chapter 26, The Law of the Hong Kong Constitution Johannes Chan SC (Ed) 2nd Edition, Sweet & Maxwell 2015

• ‘The Hong Kong Family Court Practice’ LexisNexis, 1st Edition, LexisNexis, (2010)

• ‘Taking the Law into our Own Hands: Children & Collaborative Practice in Hong Kong’ Hong Kong Lawyer, (Feb 2009, p.57)

• ‘The Essential Statutes on Hong Kong Matrimonial Law and Procedure’, LexisNexis (2008)

•  Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong ‘Evidence’ (2006) LexisNexis, Vol. 12(1)

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English Appeal Cases

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• Re F (Contact) [1995] 1 FLR (CA) 510 Family Division Wilson. J

• Re S (Parental Responsibility) [1995] 2 FLR (CA) 648 Butler-Sloss P, Simon-Brown, Ward LJJ. 

• R. v Luke Anthony Piggott & Jeffrey Simon Litwin [1999] 2 Cr.App.R. (CA) 320 Court of Appeal CA (Crim Div) Waller LJ, Walker J and Judge Hyam, The Recorder of London.

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-oOo-

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