Fifteen top global legal and financial institutions have joined forces to file an application to intervene in a landmark Hong Kong legal battle over same-sex spousal visas.
The applicants include several Out Leadership member companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Nomura Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co., Barclays Plc, Macquarie Group, Clifford Chance LLP, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
The QT case, named for the plaintiff, centers on a British lesbian who sued after Hong Kong denied her permission to reside there as a dependent of her same-sex partner.
A court ruled in favor of QT last September, but the government appealed the ruling, and the case is now being heard by Hong Kong’s highest court.
B. Chen Zhu, the Hong Kong-based attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP who is representing the companies pro bono in their application to intervene told Bloomberg that they took this action in order to “express their support for equal treatment for LGBT immigrants.”