Where the debtor is,so are we.
Unpaid goods or construction invoices, a joint venture that has stopped distributing, an award no one has yet sought to enforce. Procedure abroad is unfamiliar, and counsel who bill by the hour will not be drawn on the outcome. Within fifteen business days we give a written view on whether the claim merits pursuit. Where it does, we put counsel and enforcement agents in place where the debtor is, and on qualifying matters a funder meets the costs.
Correspondent firms where the assets are
Each point marks a local firm whose licence and record we have verified: counsel, asset tracers, enforcement agents and funders. Once a claim is assessed, firms are selected by the location of the assets and the nature of the dispute, and none is introduced without the client’s consent.
- Southern Cross Claims Finance (Sample · 示例) Sydney · Co-funder Sydney funder, established in the early 2000s and among the earlier Australian class-action funders. Commits from A$3m per matter across class actions, liquidators’ claims and commercial litigation, and provides security for costs where ordered.
- Paulista Contencioso Advogados (Sample · 示例) São Paulo · Local counsel São Paulo litigators, founded in the 1990s. Conducts STJ homologation of foreign awards and commercial litigation in Argentina and Chile; much of the practice concerns payment disputes on Chinese equipment and energy projects.
- Mainz Asset Intelligence GmbH (Sample · 示例) Frankfurt · Asset tracing Frankfurt asset-tracing firm, founded in the 2000s, whose staff include former bank-compliance officers and forensic accountants. Searches company, land and beneficial-ownership registers across the German-speaking jurisdictions and assembles the asset evidence for freezing applications, typically looking through offshore structures to the European assets behind them.
- Harbour Bridge Capital (Sample · 示例) Hong Kong · Co-funder Hong Kong funder, established in the early 2010s, specialising in HKIAC arbitration and award monetisation. Commits US$1m–10m per matter and will acquire award proceeds at a discount; its typical matter is a Chinese award creditor enforcing against offshore holding companies.
- Marunouchi Dispute Resolution (Sample · 示例) Tokyo · Local counsel Tokyo disputes practice, founded in the 1980s. Appears before the JCAA and the Tokyo District Court in cross-border matters, principally technology-licensing and joint-venture disputes; a bilingual Japanese–Chinese team acts for PRC clients.
- Chang’an Cross-Border Law Firm (Sample · 示例) Beijing · Local counsel Beijing cross-border disputes team, established in the 2010s. Conducts the initial assessment, selects and negotiates terms with foreign counsel, and works alongside them throughout — reporting each step to the client in Chinese.
- Straits Arbitration Counsel (Sample · 示例) Singapore · Local counsel Singapore arbitration practice, founded in the mid-2000s; several partners sit on the SIAC panel. Its principal work is South-East Asian infrastructure, port and commodity-trade disputes, notably EPC delay claims and letter-of-credit payment disputes. Will act on partial conditional fees.
- Highveld Asset Tracing (Sample · 示例) Johannesburg · Asset tracing Johannesburg investigators, established around 2010. Company, mining-right and energy-asset searches across sub-Saharan Africa, with verification on the ground; the usual mandate is to identify enforceable assets within mining and power projects.
- Han River Recovery Services (Sample · 示例) Seoul · Enforcement agents Seoul enforcement firm, established in the 2010s. Conducts recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and awards before the Korean courts, together with provisional attachment and garnishment of bank claims; typical targets are subsidiaries of listed Korean groups.
- Gulf Enforcement Partners (Sample · 示例) Dubai · Enforcement agents Dubai enforcement specialists, established in the mid-2010s. Enforces judgments and awards before the DIFC and onshore UAE courts — bank attachments and seizures of vehicles and real property — with reach into Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
- Temple Row Litigation Fund (Sample · 示例) London · Co-funder London funder, established in the late 2000s, committing £2m–15m per matter to Commercial Court and LCIA claims, and arranging ATE adverse-costs cover through its broker panel. Typical matters: shareholder disputes and the enforcement of foreign awards against assets in England.
- Hudson Commercial Disputes LLP (Sample · 示例) New York · Local counsel New York commercial litigators, founded in the 1990s. Acts in state and federal commercial litigation and in New York Convention recognition of foreign awards, with extensive discovery and §1782 experience. Regularly represents Chinese exporters in claims against US distributors for unpaid goods.
Three stages: responsibilities and timing
The sequence matters: first whether the claim can succeed and be enforced, then who acts on it and who funds it.
Assessment
Client: provides the contract, the correspondence, any award or judgment, and what is known of the debtor’s assets.
ArbiHonor: scores the claim on seven dimensions, among them merits, claim-to-cost, recoverability and the enforcement venue; a lawyer reviews and signs a written opinion. Where a claim does not merit pursuit, we say so.
Timing: fifteen business days.
Selection
Client: agrees the strategy and budget, and chooses who acts.
ArbiHonor: proposes firms at the seat, before the court and where the assets are, with a division of work and a cost estimate, and introduces them on the client’s instruction for direct engagement.
Timing: usually two to three weeks.
Funding and enforcement
Client: signs the funding or assignment agreement and assists with evidence.
ArbiHonor: on qualifying matters, a funder meets fees and costs; once the award or judgment issues, recognition and enforcement are sought where the assets are, with freezing relief alongside.
Timing: arbitration usually 12 to 24 months; enforcement varies by venue and is stated in the assessment.
Three recurring situations
Composites drawn from several matters, not specific clients.
A power plant in the Gulf, completed a year ago. The owner is withholding the final payment on quality grounds, and the contract provides for SIAC arbitration.
The concern is committing millions in fees with no view of the outcome. We first test whether an independent technical expert can resolve the quality point, then instruct counsel in Singapore. A funder may meet the costs: repaid from the recovery if the claim succeeds, owed nothing if it fails.
An award made two years ago remains wholly unpaid, and the assets sit in Europe and in offshore companies.
The New York Convention makes the award enforceable in more than 170 states; the difficulty lies in finding the assets. We trace first, then file where the assets are most concentrated and the procedure most efficient, with freezing relief alongside so that nothing moves.
An overseas customer is more than a year in arrears, no longer responds, and appears to have changed its name.
We trace first: the parent, affiliates, bank accounts and assets country by country. Where assets can be found, we sue or seek preservation in the most effective venue; where the debtor is already insolvent, we prove the claim and pursue the best dividend available.
A written assessment within fifteen business days.
The initial assessment is without charge and creates no obligation. Materials are held under NDA and seen only by the assessment team.