Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has just made a huge lateral hire for its Hong Kong office. Maurice Hoo has joined the firm as co-head of the global private equity practice. Hoo most recently practiced at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Source:  www.sfgate.com

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton plans to focus on growing its presence in Hong Kong, New York and London. The firm is famous for rarely making a lateral hire and it continues to be cautious about making such decisions. But, the firm’s finances fared better after the economic downfall than many other US firms. Its total revenue declined by $4 million to $965 million and its profit per equity partner remained the same.

Source: wwww.thelawyer.com

Winston & Strawn LLP has boosted its Hong Kong office with addition of four new attorneys. The firm hired Adrian Yip, a commercial litigation partner, who is joined by three associates: Cliff Mok, Philip Kwok and Genevieve Ku. Winston & Strawn has plans to grow its offices in Beijing and Shanghai as well.

Source:  www.prnewswire.com

Sidley Austin has made a substantial addition to its Hong Kong office. Alex Lloyd has joined the office’s U.S. Corporate Finance department starting May 1^st. Lloyd has practiced in Hong Kong for the last five years. He received his J.D., cum laude From Georgetown University.

Source:  www.businesswire.com

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has hired Allen Shyu in its Hong Kong office. Shyu joins as a partner in the capital markets department, making the office’s fifth partner. Many law firms are either starting or expanding offices in Hong Kong especially in the fields of mergers and private equity.

Source:  www.businessweek.com

Latham & Watkins has boosted its Hong Kong office with the hire of Raymond Kwok. Kwok joins as a partner in the real estate practice. Prior to joining Latham, he practiced in Blank Rome’s Hong Kong office.

Source:  www.jdjournal.com

Law firms, such as CMS Cameron McKenna, Latham & Watkins and Shearman & Sterling, are expanding in China. Camerons plans on launching a new office in China this year. Latham & Watkins is in the midst of opening its office in Beijing. Shearman has recently boosted its Hong Kong office with two lateral partner hires from O’Melveny & Myers. Colin Law and Peter Chen have jumped the O’Melveny ship.

Source:  www.legalweek.com

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has hired two partners from Simmons & Simmons to boost its China practice. Henry Ong has joined the firm’s Hong Kong office and Jasson Han splits his time between Hong Kong and Beijing. Both partners focus on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets.

Source:  www.bloomberg.com

Less than a week has passed since Baker & McKenzie announced China layoffs of 11%, the firm has hired Steven Sieker.  Sieker joins the Hong Kong office as a tax partner.  This will actually be the second time Sieker has joined Baker & McKenzie.  He worked there from 1998 to 2004.

Source:  www.asialegalbusinessonline.com

Intellectual Property lawyers are foretelling some major growth in the practice field throughout Asia.  Connie Carnabuci and Mark Parsons, both lawyers with Freshfields in Hong Kong, explain that the economic decline, changes in regulation, and an increase of IPR awareness are playing off of each other and subsequently increasing work for IP lawyers in Asia.  In short, the downturn is increasing the willingness of businesses to protect what is theirs, since so much has already been lost.  The money-making options are slimmer than they once were, so businesses feel a greater need to protect what is rightly theirs.  China’s States Intellectual Property Office has noted a 19% increase in patent applications since the implementation of a national IPR strategy.  This growth may also be seen in law firm response.  The following firms have boosted their IP groups in Asia:  Bingham McCutchen, Deheng, and Rouse and Dacheng.  

Source:  www.asialegalbusiness.com