Merits & Tree Law Offices recently announced the addition of Patrick Yip (叶伟文) who joins the firm as Co-Head of the Global Private Wealth practice based in the Hong Kong office. The arrival of Mr. Yip will further enhance the comprehensive professional capabilities of the firm in cross-border tax and wealth planning, offshore trust structuring, global asset allocation, and cross-border investment and financing M&A.
Mr. Yip focuses his practice on US international taxation, China-Hong Kong cross-border taxation, and structuring M&A transactions. He excels at assisting private equity and venture capital funds, multinational corporations, and large state-owned enterprises in designing cross-border transaction architectures, financing structures, profit repatriation, and exit mechanisms. Furthermore he advises high-net-worth individuals and family offices on multi-jurisdictional trust and estate planning. He also possesses in-depth expertise in compliance regarding the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). His institutional and corporate client roster includes Blackstone, KKR, CDH Investments, SAIF Partners, Apollo Global Management, Legend Capital, CK Group, Huawei, Target, and Best Buy.
Mr. Yip served as an International Tax Partner at Deloitte China from 1998 and concurrently assumed the role of Vice Chair of Deloitte China starting in 2018. Prior to this he worked in the Washington National Tax Office (International) of Deloitte US and the international tax group of a Big Four accounting firm in San Francisco, participating in numerous tax policy discussions with both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese tax authorities. Following his departure from Deloitte he served at Mishcon de Reya and its associated Hong Kong firm Karas So where he held the position of Asia Vice Chair and Tax Specialist.
Mr. Yip boasts an exceptionally distinguished academic background holding an LL.B. with honors from the University of Cambridge, an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago, an LL.M. from Columbia University where he was named a James Kent Scholar, an LL.M. from the University of California Berkeley where he earned a place on the Dean's List, and both a Master in Professional Accounting and a B.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
