Sham and illusory trusts are, in their modern forms, relatively recent and controversial doctrines. Although the sham doctrine has an orthodox core, Taylor v Savik has reopened questions about whether the common-intention requirement applies universally and whether sham necessarily entails an intention to mislead or dishonesty. The nature and limits of the illusory trust doctrine have likewise been debated since Clayton, Pugachev, and Webb. This seminar examines the foundational and recent case law and asks how settlor direction and control—exercised through letters of wishes, reserved powers, formal roles within the trust structure, or informal commercial pressure—should influence the development of these doctrines.

About the Speaker:

Mark Bennett is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is a trusts law scholar whose work examines the boundaries of legitimate trust form, including settlor control, illusory trusts, asset protection, and the use of trusts to avoid or subvert other areas of law. He is a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Trust Laws, and has published articles in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the King’s Law Journal, the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, the Journal of Equity, and Law and Philosophy, among others. Mark holds an LLB (Hons) and BA from Victoria University of Wellington, an LLM from Harvard Law School as a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow, and a SJD from the University of Toronto, where he was a Connaught Fellow.

*CPD credits are available upon application and subject to accreditation by the Law Society of Hong Kong (currently pending).

Register here on or before 22 October 2026, 12:30 pm (HKT).