Michelle Ho

Full Profile

Michelle is a Counsel and advises major international insurers on claims under D&O, professional indemnity, crime, employment, and other financial lines policies. She also focuses on commercial litigation, including shareholder disputes.

As part of her financial lines practice, Michelle focuses on cyber breaches and data breach response in Hong Kong, and regionally.  This includes having recently assisting an international hotel chain facing a material cyber breach and ransomware attack, requiring notification under the GDPR regime and in multiple APAC jurisdictions.

As part of her commercial litigation practice, Michelle successfully defended a client and obtained wide ranging injunction orders in the English High Court (Queen’s Bench Division); the Supreme Court of the Eastern Caribbean (BVI), and European countries including Germany and Luxembourg. Michelle also has a wide range of experience in relation to recovery of corporate assets including first-hand experience in successfully obtaining an injunction and subsequently seizing an Airbus.

Michelle was recently named as “Rising Star” for Insurance in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023 Guide. Legal 500 cites that “Michelle Ho constantly provides high-quality service, spot-on advice, and timely support.”

Michelle was previously on secondment with a major international insurer and assisted on their claims handling with the primary focus on financial lines.

During her time on secondment she was involved in providing coverage analysis for areas including SFC investigations, large loss matters, employee theft, social engineering claims, employment claims by employees, education liability, various professional indemnity claims from a multitude of corporations, shareholders disputes and breach of contract claims.  Michelle also worked on US class actions and securities claims, which she continues to do in her current retainers.

Experience

• Legal proceedings regarding a breach of multiple orders – successfully committed the defendant to prison and obtained permanent injunctive relief;
• Advice on Section 114 SFO;
• Advice to an international hotel chain on notification of a cyber breach;
• Legal proceedings regarding an aviation dispute – Successfully obtaining an injunction against an airline restraining the departure of two airbuses from Hong Kong and successfully repossessed and delivered the two airbuses to the airline.
• Advice to a major insurer in relation to a significant amount of metals detained by a governmental body which were subject to a fraud investigation and affected various trading firms, warehouse operators and banks across multi jurisdictions.
• Advice on a Social engineering claim in the US for USD$900K
• Monitored on Regulatory actions where the investigations have now proceeded to MMT tribunals in Hong Kong and where directors face criminal prosecution
• Claims handling for a major insurance company involving an employee theft claim for USD4M
• Claims handling for a major insurance company involving a Private Equity Venture Investing Claim for USD37M involving alleged misrepresentation as to EBITDA margins