17 November, 2020
Editor’s note: This is an ongoing list.
November 2020
13 Nov – Hicksons Lawyers (NSW, Australia)
Lachlan Wilson is the second partner to jump from the international firm to an Australian firm this year. Lachlan, disputes partner, leaves DWF in Australia to join Hicksons Lawyers. (from http://www.law.com)
12 Nov – L&L Partners (New Delhi, India)
India’s L&L Partners has welcomed back technology media and telecommunications (TMT) specialist Asim Abbas as a partner in Delhi, nearly two decades after he first left the firm. Abbas joins from J. Sagar Associates. He focuses on TMT, M&A and general corporate advisory, and also advises clients on policy, regulatory, contractual, compliance and approvals, transactional and litigation. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
12 Nov Peter Doraisamy (Singapore, Singapore)
Singapore boutique firm Peter Doraisamy has added three new lawyers: Partners Mike Chiam and Kyle Gabriel Peters, and associate Nicholas Kwa. Chiam, who was working in CNP Law’s Blockchain-Cryptocurrency-ICO team until earlier this year, specialises in commercial and corporate advisory, regulatory financial services, M&A, fundraising, VCCs, private equity, venture capital, and fintech. Peters, who joins from K&L Gates Straits Law, specialises in commercial and corporate litigation, insolvency and restructuring, fraud and investigations, and international arbitration.
Peters’ exit from K&L Gates follows the recent departure of Nick Williams, who joined Hogan Lovells as a partner in the latter firm’s business restructuring practice in Singapore. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
11 Nov – Milbank (Hong Kong, China)
Milbank lands Magic Circle Hong Kong trio in major Asia push. Clifford Chance’s Andrew Whan and Neeraj Budhwani and Linklaters’ Davide Mencacci are the latest to move to a U.S. firm. (from http://www.law.com)
10 Nov – M.B.KEMP (Hong Kong, China)
Former Stephenson Harwood Greater China Chief, Voon Keat Lai, leaves for Hong Kong Boutique K.B.KEMP. (from http://www.law.com)
10 Nov – Hunton Andrews Kurth (Tokyo, Japan)
Hunton Andrews Kurth hires Tokyo partner from Shearman & Sterling. George Borovas will lead a global nuclear energy practice at the Houston-based firm. (from http://www.law.com)
9 Nov – Ashurst (Sydney, Australia)
Global law firm Ashurst has hired a projects partner, Bree Miechel, from Reed Smith in Singapore to join its Sydney office. (from http://www.law.com)
9 Nov – Mills Oakley (Perth, Australia)
Australia’s Mills Oakley hires another partner from Norton Rose Fulbright. A litigator with over 20 years’ experience in Australia, the U.K. and the BVI, Meriel Steadman joins Mills Oakley’s Perth office. (from http://www.law.com)
9 Nov – Latham & Watkins (Tokyo, Japan)
Latham expands Tokyo disputes offering with Ropes & Gray Partner. White-collar and antitrust specialist Kaede Toh moves over. (from http://www.law.com)
8 Nov – Kennedys (Melbourne, Australia)
Kennedys hires professional indemnity lawyer, Emily Schneider, from Australian Firm Barry.Nilsson to join its insurance group in Melbourne. (from http://www.law.com)
6 Nov – JunHe (Beijing/Shanghai, China)
JunHe warmly welcomes the prominent Corporate/Cross-border M&A lawyer, Ms. Zhang Hong who joined our Beijing and Shanghai offices on November 2, 2020. Ms. Zhang specializes in complex cross-border M&A and corporate restructuring in and outside China. (from http://www.junhe.com)
4 Nov – DeHeng Law Offices (Shanghai, China)
DeHeng Law Offices has recently expanded its team in Shanghai office by adding multiple partners: Deng Xueping, Ma Hongtao, Yang Min, Yu Yunbo, Zhao Zhidong and Wu Yanan. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
4 Nov – Desai & Diwanji (Mumbai, India)
Disputes specialist Anoj Menon has left Indian law firm AZB & Partners to rejoin Desai & Diwanji as a partner in Mumbai. Menon is an expert in litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution. He left Desai & Diwanji in 2017 to join AZB. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
4 Nov – Macpherson Kelley (Brisbane, Australia)
Deloitte Legal has lost a five-member tax team to local Australian firm Macpherson Kelley’, the second local departure from the accounting giant in a week. John Ioannou – a partner at Deloitte – and Dominic Moon – a special counsel at the accounting firm – have both joined Macpherson Kelley as principal lawyers and will be joined by three other lawyers from Deloitte. (from http://www.law.com)
4 Nov – Phoenix Legal (Mumbai, India)
Indian law firm Phoenix Legal has hired a six-lawyer maritime disputes team from boutique Legasis Partners, including partner Gautam Bhatikar and counsel Zoeb Cutlerywala. Bhatikar has more than two decades of experience in offshore maritime and shipping, insurance, environment, international trade, oil and gas, energy, commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He advises banks, shipowners, PSUs, oil companies and insurers. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
4 Nov – Baker McKenzie (Taiwan)
Baker McKenzie has elected Michael Wong as its new Asia-Pacific chair. Wong, the first Taiwanese lawyer to hold the role, succeeds Ai Ai Wong. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
3 Nov – S&R Associates (New Delhi, India)
Indian law firm S&R Associates has hired a team of five banking and finance specialists in Delhi from J Sagar Associates, including partners Divyanshu Pandey and Arpita Garg. Pandey specialises in banking, finance and restructuring including structured finance, cross-border lending transactions, hybrid debt financing, project finance, acquisition financing, real estate finance as well as restructuring, enforcement and insolvency matters. Garg’s banking and finance specialisation covers restructuring, insolvency, structured finance, real estate and trade finance, bond issuances and project finance. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
2 Nov – Ashurst (Hong Kong, China)
Ashurst has hired a new partner, Jonathan Chapman, in Hong Kong focusing on structured financing and derivatives transactions. (from http://www.law.com)
2 Nov – Ropes & Gray (Hong Kong, China)
Ropes & Gray has promoted Chune Loong Lum as Partner for its Hong Kong office. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
October 2020
30 Oct – Johnson Winter & Slattery (Melbourne, Australia)
Australian firm Johnson Winter & Slattery has hired Norton Rose Fulbright senior counsel James Love to join its dispute resolution team as a partner, as increases in regulation in the country lead to more litigation. (from http://www.law.com)
30 Oct – Lander & Rogers (Melbourne, Australia)
Australian law firm Lander & Rogers has nabbed a partner, Sarah Fregon, from Deloitte Legal to help build its regulatory and government disputes practices. (from http://www.law.com)
29 Oct – L&L Partners (Mumbai, India)
India’s L&L Partners has welcomed back Shonali Choudhry as a partner in the firm’s Mumbai office from Advani & Co., where she was a consultant. Choudhry specialises in mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure & project finance and private equity as well as in arbitration and environmental matters. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
28 Oct – Morrison & Foerster (Tokyo, Japan)
Morrison & Foerster adds Baker McKenzie M&A partner, Jeremy White, in Tokyo. (from http://www.law.com)
26 Oct – DSK Legal (Mumbai, India)
Sajit Suvarna has been promoted to Deputy Managing Partner of DSK Legal. He currently heads the Real Estate practice at the firm. (from http://www.barandbench.com)
26 Oct – HFW (Sydney, Australia)
HFW has hired a four lawyer team to join its Sydney construction offering, as the firm continues to expand its Australian presence. Partner Antony Riordan, senior associate Brooke Gilbey and associates Natasha Joukhdar and Rachel Irwin join HFW’s Sydney office from Australian firm Colin Biggers & Paisley. Riordan had been at the firm for over 30 years, according to his LinkedIn profile, and was most recently head of the firm’s commercial dispute resolution team. (from http://www.law.com)
26 Oct – Yoon & Yang (Seoul, Korea)
Big Six Korean law firm Yoon & Yang has hired Seung-Kook Synn and Sung Uk Park as partners in Seoul from conglomerate SK Group and Kim & Chang, respectively. At SK Group, Synn was general counsel, overseeing global legal affairs including M&A, antitrust, intellectual property and litigation. Meanwhile, Park was a senior foreign attorney at Kim & Chang, focusing on inbound and outbound M&A, private equity, fund formation and disputes and investigations relating to foreign direct investments involving multinational corporations. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
26 Oct – Jia Yuan Law Offices (Shanghai, China)
Jia Yuan Law Offices has recently hired Mo Huan as a partner in Shanghai. Mo is an expert in intellectual property, who previously practiced as an attorney in Ropes & Gray LLP. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
23 Oct – JunHe (China)
Legendary law firm co-founder and longtime leader, Xiao Wei, is set to pass the torch to the next generation. Launched in 1989, Xiao Wei led JunHe to be one of the China’s most prestigious law firms, with 880 lawyers including 240 partners working out of 13 offices in China and the US. Warren Hua will succeed Xiao Wei as managing partner on 1 January 2021. The other members of the management committee are: Beijing-based M&A partners Sammuel Zhao and Yongqiang Yu, Guangzhou office head Ping Zhang, and Shanghai-based disputes specialist Lei Wu, the only new member. (from www. globallegalpost.com)
23 Oct – Hylands Law Firm (Beijing, China)
Hylands Law Firm hires Lin Tiejun, an expert in dispute resolution and litigation, as a partner from King & Capital Law Firm in its Beijing office. Lin has expertise in dispute resolution and litigation, capital market/securities, M&A. His clients include large private companies and small and medium state-owned enterprises. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
23 Oct – Clifford Chance (Hong Kong, China)
Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has announced the appointment of Dauwood Malik to be Hong Kong’s new Office Managing Partner effective 1 November 2020. (from http://www.cliffordchance.com)
23 Oct – Trilegal (New Delhi, India)
Indian firm Trilegal has hired a new disputes partner Nitesh Jain from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. Jain specializes in commercial disputes, international and domestic arbitrations, and white-collar crimes. (from http://www.law.com)
22 Oct – Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (Mumbai, India)
India’s Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has bolstered its real estate practice in Mumbai with the hire of partner Bhoumick Vaidya and his five-member team from Kanga & Co. Vaidya focuses on title diligence, private equity investment, foreign investment, general corporate and commercial matters. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
20 Oct – Clifford Chance (Singapore, Singapore)
Clifford Chance has promoted Singapore office head Kai-Niklas Schneider to its global executive team. Schneider will take up a newly-created role on the firm’s executive leadership group, focusing on global financial investors such as private equity firms and asset managers. (from http://www.law.com)
19 Oct – Mayer Brown (Singapore, Singapore)
Mayer Brown has hired Paul JP Teo as a partner in Singapore from Baker McKenzie, where was the Hong Kong-based head of the firm’s international arbitration practice for Greater China. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
19 Oct – Gulapa Law (Manila, Philippines)
Al-Shwaid de Leon Ismael has promoted to the Corporate/Commercial Partner at Gulapa Law in Manila, Philippines.
16 Oct – Hylands Law Firm (Beijing, China)
Hylands Law Firm hired Shen Qian, an expert in trade, as a partner in its Beijing office from Guantao Law Firm, where Shen was a partner. Shen focuses on areas of domestic trade remedy, tax, competition and anti-trust. She has dealt with multiple domestic and international trade cases including representing a central enterprise in an arbitration case with a target value of nearly 1.6 billion yuan, acting as a Chinese expert witness in the United States federal courts for an international bankruptcy dispute case, acting as s a Chinese expert witness of an international investment dispute case in Singapore Supreme Court, advising China Iron and Steel Association in the Costa Rican rebar safeguard case, advising China Chamber of Commerce for Textile Importers and Exporters on the safeguard case of Turkey Polyester staple fiber, advising a central enterprise on the EPC project of the Africa Cup of Nations stadium, and advising China Council for the Promotion of Trade for the case of Argentina’s sunset review of anti-dumping. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
16 Oct – Baker McKenzie (HK & US)
Baker McKenzie has added two partners to its global executive committee to replace two existing members whose terms have ended. The firm has appointed Hong Kong partner Shih Yann Loo and Dallas-based partner Melinda Phelan to the executive committee as the terms of Singapore partner Ai Ai Wong and Washington, D.C., partner Duane Webber have come to an end, according to a statement. (from http://www.law.com)
13 Oct – Zhong Lun Law Firm (China)
Zhong Lun Law Firm has recently added five partners: Dou Xing, Sun Yu, Yang Jingyu, You Xiao and Zhao Yanchun. The five lawyers are based across its Nanjing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen offices. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
12 Oct – Han Kun Law Offices (Beijing, China)
Han Kun Law Offices is pleased to announce that Mr. Wang Xikang has recently joined the firm, further strengthening Han Kun’s capital markets and M&A practices. He will mainly be based in the firm’s Beijing office. Mr. Wang Xikang’s practice focuses on capital markets transactions, corporate/M&A, private equity and venture capital investments, corporate financing, and foreign direct investments. (from http://www.hankunlaw.com)
12 Oct – DaHui Lawyers (Beijing, China)
DaHui Lawyers welcomes new partners Xiang Li, a patent specialist, and Zhao Pei, an expert in private equity and M&A, in its Beijing office. (from china.legalbusinessonline.com)
10 Oct – East & Concord Partners (Chengdu, China)
East & Concord recently hires dispute resolution expert Li Yongsheng and finance expert Zhong Jingjing to join its Chengdu office as partners. Prior to joining East & Concord, Li practiced in Si Chuan Ying Ji Law Firm, while Zhong was a partner at AllBright’s Chengdu office. (from http://www.sohu.com)
8 Oct – Kobre & Kim (Hong Kong, China)
Kobre & Kim adds offshore Disputes Partner in Hong Kong. Timothy Haynes joins from Walkers where he headed its insolvency and dispute resolution group in Hong Kong. (from http://www.law.com)
8 Oct – Harry Elias Partnership (Singapore, Singapore)
Construction and engineering expert Yvonne Foo has left Clyde & Co, where she was a legal director, to rejoin Harry Elias Partnership as a partner in Singapore. She is Harry Elias Partnership’s first partner hire since its split from Eversheds Sutherlands in June, ending the three-year-old merger between the two firms. (from http://www.asianlegalonline.com)
7 Oct – Hogan Lovells (Singapore, Singapore)
Hogan Lovells has hired Nick Williams as a partner in the firm’s business restructuring practice in Singapore from K&L Gates. The exit of Williams from K&L Gates follows the July departures of corporate partners Nicholas Hanna and Mark Tan, who joined Pinsent Masons’ transactional services group in Singapore. (from http://www.legalbusinessonline.com)
5 Oct – Asia Search Partners (Hong Kong, China)
Matthew Bersani, who says he anticipates major changes and challenges for the legal industry in Asia, has joined a Hong Kong-based recruiting firm co-founded by wife Molly Cliff. (from http://www.law.com)
1 Oct – Bird & Bird (Singapore, Singapore)
Bird & Bird has hired Lijun Chui as a dispute resolution partner in Singapore. Lijun Chui, who joins as a partner, was most recently a counsel in the Singapore office of Clifford Chance. (from http://www.law.com)
1 Oct – Ashurst (Melbourne, Australia)
Ashurst has hired the global leader, Hilary Goodier, of Herbert Smith Freehills’ legal technology strategy to be the inaugural global chief operating officer of its NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance. The hire of Hilary Goodier signals a continued push to build out its New Law offering, Ashurst Advance. (from http://www.law.com)
For further information, please contact:
Sam Kenworthy, Director – Head of Private Practice, Hughes-Castell
skenworthy@hughes-castell.com.hk