Latham & Watkins has hired a Hong Kong partner from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

William Woo will join the firm's corporate practice. He advises on private equity investments and Hong Kong initial public offerings, having represented the underwriters on Bank of China Ltd.'s $8.9 billion Hong Kong IPO in 2010.

Woo joined Freshfields in January 2013 from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe where he was a partner for two years. Prior to moving to Orrick, Woo was a partner at Latham for two years after joining the firm from Allen & Overy as part of a seven-partner defection led by partner Michael Liu.