Davis Polk & Wardwell is opening an office in Hong Kong with the addition of two new partners. Bonnie Y. T. Chan and Antony Dapiran are joing the firm. Chan was previously with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Dapiran previously practiced with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he was the Beijing managing partner.

Source:  www.amlawdaily.typepad.com

Kobre & Kim LLP, based in New York, is launching an office in Hong Kong. William McGovern, from Morgan Stanley, will lead the office. The firm hopes to open the new office by the end of September.

Source:  www.sfgate.com

Norton Rose is on an a hiring spree in Asia it seems. The firm hired two lateral Intellectual Property partners for its Hong Kong office. Gigi Cheah and Justin Davidson have joined the firm DLA Piper. The addition of these two partners brings Norton's Hong Kong partner count to 18.

Source:  www.thelawyer.com

Dacheng Law Offices, China's largest law firm, has just launched in Hong Kong to take advantage of the increase in finance and mergers. The office will have 15 partners by the end of 2010. Dacheng has 29 offices in Chinca, one in Los Angeles and one in Singapore.

Source:  www.bloomberg.com