You know the story he / she went to this or that firm and so on and so forth
Australian firm Gadens has added to its corporate team in Perth with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons partner David Perks.
Having spent a decade at Mallesons, Perks has significant experience in Australia’s M&A market, specialising in energy, projects and resources and advising clients such as BHP Billiton, CITIC Resources, Goldcorp and Focus Minerals.
In his new role he will help drive Gaden’s expansion into South-East Asia by providing support to the Singapore office and consolidating its corporate practice there. Gadens opened its Singapore office in May this year.
Mayer Brown JSM has meanwhile ramped up in China with the hire oftwo lawyers.
Corporate partner Betty Tam has recently joined the US firm’s Shanghai office from Herbert Smith Freehills, where she was also a partner, whilst capital markets lawyer Guoqing Li, previously a partner with Chinese law firm Jingtian & Gongcheng, has moved to Mayer Brown’s Beijing office as a consultant.
Lam specialises in M&A and foreign direct investment into China, with a focus on power, water and waste water treatment utilities. Li, who has also worked for Hogan Lovells, specialises in new listings on the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
Two senior lawyers have also joined Herbert Smith Freehills in Greater China this month as the firm looks to bolster its disputes group in Asia.
Arthur Ma, previously was Fangda Partners, is now based in Beijing as a counsel, whilst Emily Lam, formerly with Jones Day, has joined the commercial litigation team in Hong Kong as a senior consultant.
Ma, a Chinese national, focuses on international arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution, advising a range of clients from US private equity firms to Chinese airlines and European outfits.
Lam’s experience includes advising Chinese and international companies on commercial litigation matters related to banking, commercial contracts, employment, fraud, insolvency and product liability.
Japanese outfit Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T) has at the same time added to its insolvency and white collar investigation groups with the recruitment of two new partners, Hideaki Kobayashi and Nobuaki Kobayashi from Kobayashi & Associates Law Office.
Hideaki Kobayashi, who specialises in internal fraud investigations, compliance and crisis management, has in the past served as a public prosecutor and a member of the Board of Governors of Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK).
Nobuaki Kobayashi advises on insolvency and restructuring proceedings, particularly at large-scale corporate reorganizations, and will be joining NO&T as a partner on October 1.
Also this month, two partners from Baker & McKenzie and Herbert Smith Freehills and one lawyer from Farrer & Co in London have moved across to Hong Kong litigation boutique Gall lawyers.
Jennifer Van Dale from Bakers co-headed the US firm’s Hong Kong employment practice, is top ranked by Chambers and Partners for employment work in Hong Kong and China and will give the firm capacity in the non-contentious arena.
Disputes partner Michael Withington, who spent 10 years at Herbert Smith, will meanwhile boost Gall’s offering in the commercial litigation space, with a focus on contentious employment, professional negligence claims and shareholder disputes.
Finally Caroline McNally will head the firm’s newly formed matrimonial team, building on her 15 years of experience advising on all aspects of family breakdown.
Clifford Chance is another firm to add to its headcount in Asia-Pacific, with the hire of a new resources arbitration specialist in Australia.
Sam Luttrell has joined as a senior associate from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Paris office, and specialises in complex commercial arbitration in the energy sector and foreign investment disputes under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties.
The magic circle firm said his recrutiment will help it serve clients with overseas investments, joint ventures and assets, and those with concerns about resource nationalism.
Also Down Under, domestic firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth has taken on two new construction and projects partners from rival Clayton Utz and one partner from King & Wood Mallesons.
Andrew Stephenson and Michael Earwaker, who have joined the firm in Melbourne, previously led Clayton Utz’s construction and major projects, and international arbitration groups in the city.
Former KWM banking and finance partner Alex Regan will split his time between Sydney and Perth, working with commercial and investment banks on leveraged and projects in the field of energy, infrastructure and resources.
Offshore firm Walkers has likewise recruited investment funds specialist Mark Cummings for its Hong Kong office, who will assume the role of counsel.
Cummings previously worked at Appleby Global advising on Cayman and BVI law with regard to structuring and establishing private equity and hedge funds.
Arbitration partner from Singaporean firm Rajah and Tann has also joined Clyde & Co in the city.
The firm, which has a JLV known as Clyde & Co Clasis in Singapore, has hired Prakash Pillai – the former head of Rajah & Tann’s South Asia practice, to tap an increasing number of Indian led disputes being heard at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
Squire Sanders has meanwhile expanded its financial services practice with the appointment of partner Tom Lennox and a team of lawyers in Sydney from DibbsBarker.
Lennox has 30 years of banking and finance experience, including 19 years at Mallesons, where he was managing partner of the firm’s Sydney and Hong Kong offices, and a stint at Allco Finance Group where he was General Counsel and Company Secretary before joining DibbsBarker in 2009.
He has joined along with senior associate Kate Prior and associate Abigail Sardinia, who have spent over six years at DibbsBarker.
Squire Sanders now has finance capability spanning Australia, having hired banking and finance lawyer Josh Clarke from the Singapore office of Watson Farley & Williams in April, to work in the firm’s Perth office as Of Counsel.
Australian outfit Hunt & Hunt has also expanded its corporate team with M&A and commercial lawyer, Nick Miller from Clayton Utz.
Miller spent 25 years with his previous firm, and is the eighth new partner to have been hired by Hunt & Hunt in 2013.
In Dubai, Canadian firm Bennett Jones has hired corporate finance and private equity lawyer Hasan Rizvi from UK outfit Taylor Wessing.
Rizvi is ranked by Chambers & Partners for his banking and finance work in the city, and advises clients on investment funds, cross border M&A, debt and equity offerings, project development and financing, and regulatory compliance.
Also in the region, infrastructure and energy partner Gurmeet Kaur has joined the Middle East projects team of Eversheds to focus on structuring, procurement, regulatory, corporate issues and contractual documentation.
Based in Dubai she will be working closely the global energy and infrastructure groups and the wider team spread across the firm’s six Middle Eastern offices.
She was previously head of Wragge & Co’s UAE projects group and has also worked DLA Piper in the city, as well as Mallesons Stephen Jacques Allens Arthur Robinson in Australia.
In India, top firm Amarchand Mangaldas, has appointed tax partner S.R. Patnaik as to head its tax practice in Mumbai.
He joins from Luthra & Luthra Law Offices in Delhi, and brings Amarchand’s partner count to 86 nationwide across seven offices.
Patnaik has extensive experience on matters such as international tax, transfer pricing and corporate tax, advising clients on in-bound and out-bound M&A in sectors such as infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, real estate and telecoms.
Lastly, HWL Ebsworth has also hired two new partners in Perth.
Senior employment partner Erica Hartley has joined the firm as head of the workplace relations and safety practice in the city from Herbert Smith Freehills, whilst Minter Ellison partner Paul Wilson has joined its property group.
Paul has over twenty years experience acting for significant publicly and privately owned property companies and government agencies.
The hires are significant for the firm’s growth in Western Australia where it launched an office in July this year.
