Madam Justice Chan was born in Brunei. She obtained LL.B and P.C.LL. from the University of Hong Kong in 1980 and 1981 respectively. She was admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong in 1983, in England and Wales in 1987 and in Singapore in 1991. She was in private practice from 1983, working in commercial and financial dispute resolution, until she joined the Hong Kong Judiciary as District Judge in 2007. She was appointed as the Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2012, and has been in charge of the Construction and Arbitration List since September 2013.