Ilona Groark is a partner in our Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring practice groups, based in Hong Kong. She specialises in cross-border commercial and private wealth disputes, with extensive experience in resolving shareholder and partnership conflicts, contentious trusts and succession matters, asset recovery, insolvency, and matters involving regulators and law enforcement agencies. She advises a diverse range of clients, including ultra-high-net-worth individuals, founders, directors, shareholders, creditors, and court-appointed officeholders, on the laws of the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
With over 20 years
...Ilona Groark is a partner in our Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring practice groups, based in Hong Kong. She specialises in cross-border commercial and private wealth disputes, with extensive experience in resolving shareholder and partnership conflicts, contentious trusts and succession matters, asset recovery, insolvency, and matters involving regulators and law enforcement agencies. She advises a diverse range of clients, including ultra-high-net-worth individuals, founders, directors, shareholders, creditors, and court-appointed officeholders, on the laws of the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
With over 20 years of experience, Ilona is known for combining technical precision with a clear understanding of clients’ commercial and personal objectives. She has acted in numerous fund and shareholder disputes, often involving allegations of fraud, mismanagement, or breach of duty, and has devised and implemented cross-border recovery strategies leading to early settlement and real recoveries.
Before joining Harneys in 2025, Ilona was a principal at Kobre & Kim in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. She also worked at other offshore firms in the Cayman Islands. Ilona spent the first 10 years of her career with Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer). During that time, she also undertook secondment roles as legal counsel at the Royal Bank of Scotland and as judicial assistant to Lord Justice Jackson during the Review of Civil Litigation Costs.
Among her achievements, Ilona is an INSOL Fellow. She has led major cases involving high-profile asset recovery and fraud investigations, such as protecting and distributing over US$2 billion of assets to Point Investments’ stakeholders after it was liquidated in Bermuda following implications of wrongdoing by the US Department of Justice. She is an Honorary Overseas Member of COMBAR. She has been a member of INSOL International (having previously served as a director of RISA Cayman, INSOL’s Cayman Islands chapter), the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, the International Bar Association, and 100 Women in Finance.
