As Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) makes a key team hire in Singapore, Morrison & Foerster, Ince & Co and Ashurst have all added to their benches around the globe.
In the same week merger talks with US firm Greenberg Traurig were called off, Berwin Leighton Paisner lost a seven lawyer asset finance team in Singapore to HFW.
HFW has appointed partners David Brotherton and Justin Sun, who are recognised names in the Asian asset finance sector. The duo join the firm along with five associates. Brotherton and Sun are experts in aviation finance, and have also handled a number of Islamic finance transactions. The head of the firm’s Asia-pacific aviation practice, Mert Hifzi said: ‘This is an exciting hire for HFW which enables us to continue to push the growth of our practice in the Asia region and in particular into China where Justin successfully developed a strong relationship with the lessor market. We are now able to provide our global client base with the full suite of services they require in most of the major aviation hubs in the world.’
Morrison & Foerster has also made a key hire in Asia, appointing corporate partner Vivian Yiu in Hong Kong to boost the firm’s M&A capability. Yiu joins from Allen & Overy, and has significant experience in capital markets offerings and China focused M&A matters. Morrison & Foerster’s firmwide managing partner for Asia, Eric Piesner said: ‘Vivian’s technical capabilities, fluency in Mandarin and Cantonese, and deep experience dealing with both Chinese and international companies make her a strong addition to our highly experienced team of corporate lawyers in Hong Kong.’
In Dubai, Ince & Co has appointed Tom Briggs as a partner. Joining from Charles Russell Speechlys where he was head of corporate/commercial in the firm’s Bahrain office, Briggs was primarily responsible for the development of the corporate, finance and commercial law practice in the Middle East. Ince & Co global head of corporate Stephen Jarvis said: ‘Tom’s wealth of experience in leading cross-border corporate finance transactions will add considerable strength to our offering to clients. Furthermore, his appointment demonstrates the continued progress that we are making in enhancing our transactional capability in our chosen sectors across our international network.’
In Germany, Ashurst has made a resources and infrastructure hire with the appointment Maximilian Uibeleisen to the firm’s Frankfurt office. Moving from Germany indie Noerr, Uibeleisen specialises in public law issues in energy and healthcare, as well as environmental risk. Ashurst Germany managing partner Tobias Krug said: ‘We have continued to make significant investment into our resources and infrastructure teams and this appointment will further deepen and strengthen our regional and international offering to clients.’
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk