Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has recruited Hong Kong corporate partner Julie Gao from Latham & Watkins.

Gao, who joined Latham straight out of law school in 1998 and was promoted to partner in 2006, was regarded as an up-and-comer in Latham's Asia practice, focusing on M&A and capital markets transactions.

Gao's appointment will be regarded as further bolstering Skadden's top-tier Asia practice in public listings and corporate. Gao has represented a variety of clients, including financial institutions, investment funds and high net-worth individuals.

Skadden has also recently bolstered a number of its Asian offices, last month relocating three lawyers, including partner Paul Mitchard QC, from London to Hong Kong to launch an Asian litigation practice. The top 10 US law firm has four offices across Asia in addition to Hong Kong – Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Singapore and a practice of more than 100 lawyers in the region.

Notable instructions for Skadden include acting as US and Hong Kong counsel for China CITIC Bank on its $5.9bn (£3.6bn) dual-listed initial public offering (IPO), one of the world's largest public floats in 2007, as well as representing Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS as joint global co-ordinators on the $1.9bn (£1.1bn) IPO of real estate developer SOHO China.

Latham, meanwhile, has also been in expansion mode in the region. In April, the firm officially welcomed a large group of corporate partners recruited last year from Allen & Overy's Hong Kong office.

Both firms declined to comment.