Merits & Tree has recently recruited Patrick Yip, former vice chair of Deloitte China, as co-head of the firm’s global private wealth practice and he will be based in Hong Kong.
“I am really thrilled to join M&T [Merits & Tree] at an opportune time. China has recently promulgated a slew of important new policies that would significantly impact cross-border business and investment activities. Without the backing of a strong China law firm, it would be hard for me to provide adequate solutions to clients on these increasingly complex cross-border issues,” Yip told China Business Law Journal.
“M&T is perfect in the sense that it has a lot of firepower (top legal talents) in China, yet it is very much ‘outward’ looking to the world as many of its clients are ‘going out’. In my new role, I would act as a channel through which to help facilitate the services required for these cross-border business and investment flows. I strongly believe that this combination of ‘China + going out’ all within one firm would be a winning proposition in the years to come.”
Yip served as an international tax partner at Deloitte China from 1998 and concurrently as its vice-chairman from 2018. After leaving Deloitte in May 2025, he worked at Mishcon de Reya and its Hong Kong associate firm Karas So, serving as Asia vice-chairman and a tax specialist, respectively.
He is a certified public accountant in both the US and Hong Kong, and is admitted to practise law in California.
Yip focuses on international tax and M&A matters. He advises private equity and venture capital funds, multinational corporations and state-owned enterprises on US, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong tax issues, including cross-border transactions, financing arrangements, transaction structuring, profit repatriation and exits. He also advises family offices and high-net-worth individuals on cross-jurisdictional trusts, estate tax planning and family succession.
“In this new role, I look forward to contributing to M&T’s global expansion and to providing higher-quality, more integrated services to clients with China [the Chinese mainland], Hong Kong, and US tax and legal needs.” Yip wrote in a LinkedIn post.
