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Johnson Stokes & Master
Building on an important partnership
Ever since joining the HKGCC in 1895 Johnson Stokes & Master and the Chamber
have enjoyed a rich and varied history.
Mr Simon Ip, Senior
Partner of Johnson Stokes & Master, said that the association between the two has been
a very valuable and mutually supportive one.
"Through our long history of
membership we have utilised the Chamber both to expand our networks and as an information
provider for business in Hong Kong and the region. We regularly attend Chamber functions,
and will continue to build on this important relationship in the future,"he said.
Johnson Stokes & Master has been advising domestic and international clients
for over 130 years on commercial matters throughout Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and
China. The firm started life in Hong Kong in 1863, although it was known by the name
Edmund Sharp at that time, the sole proprietor. By the time the firm joined the Hong Kong
Chamber of Commerce in 1895 it was known as Johnson Stokes & Master. In January 1890,
the first notices appeared in the Government Gazette and local press over the name
'Johnson Stokes & Master'.
In 1895, Alfred Bulmer Johnson
who had joined previously in 1876, was now senior partner,with Alfred Stokes
and Godfrey Master as supporting partners. At the time of joining the
Chamber Johnson Stokes & Master was already legal adviser to The Hongkong &
Shanghai Banking Corporation. Shipping had revived from a slump a year before and the firm
was instructed on a series of cases in the Admiralty Court. The Shanghai office, set up in
1893 at the International Settlement in Shanghai, was also doing well.
On December 1, 1896, Johnson resigned
his position of Crown Solicitor which he had held from 1882 and he also retired from
private practice at the firm. On this occasion, the succession of the Crown Solicitor-ship
passed not to the firm's next in command - Stokes who was in
Shanghai, running the Shanghai branch of the firm - but to the next most senior solicitor
in the colony, Henry Lardner Dennys.
In July 1897, Johnson Stokes &
Master engaged the firm's first Hong Kong-born solicitor - the
Oxford-educated Mr Wei Wah-on, son of a compradore of the Chartered
Mercantile Bank.
In 1936, after a quarter of a century
in Prince's Building, the firm moved into the air-conditioned
offices of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Building. After the Second World
War, Hong Kong was in a sorry state but confidence in the colony remained and Johnson
Stokes & Master resumed business in the Bank Building.
In the early 1960s, the firm
rationalised its working methods and embraced technology. Solicitors began to focus on
specialised practice areas. The late sixties and early seventies saw a revival in the
property field and financial markets were growing like never before. The firm's growth paralleled Hong Kong's rapid economic
development and in the 1970s and 1980s, responding to the expansion of other regional
economies, Johnson Stokes & Master began establishing offices in other major Asian
cities.
The firm now offers advice on
commercial issues throughout Asia to an international and domestic client base. Johnson
Stokes & Master's substantial experience of advising on
trade and investment in China reflects the importance of China to Hong Kong's economy. In 1995 the firm received permission from the Ministry of Justice to
open a full branch office in Shanghai, over 100 years since Johnson Stokes & Master
opened its first Shanghai office in 1893.
In 1991, Johnson Stokes & Master
opened a regional office in Bangkok in order to satisfy the needs of its numerous local
and international clients investing in Thailand. The firm later opened offices in Hanoi
(1994) and Ho Chi Minh City (1995), due to increased demand for international legal
services.
Johnson Stokes & Master's head office will continue to be based in Hong Kong while its regional offices
will complement the Hong Kong office, providing the all-round legal services needed by
international investors doing business in Asia's markets today.
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