Ashurst is relocating London partners Stuart Rubin and Philip Thomson to Hong Kong and Singapore respectively as the firm moves to bulk up its presence in the Asia region.

Ashurst counsel Rubin transferred from the UK top 20 law firm's London capital markets practice to Hong Kong in April. It is understood he will be made up to partner in the firm's 2010 promotions round, which will take effect on 1 May.

Meanwhile, energy, transport and infrastructure partner Thomson is set to relocate to Singapore on 1 May to work alongside the six existing partners in the office.

Thomson, who joined Ashurst in 2005 after 10 years at Linklaters, has advised on major energy projects in Chile, Italy, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt and Nigeria.

Thomson said: "I have spent a lot of time in Asia working on various projects out there. Energy has been at the core of our base in Singapore ever since the office was established and remains the biggest sector for the office."

Ashurst global energy group head Geoffrey Picton-Turbervill said: "Our strategy is to remain flexible and position high quality people in the key financial centres. The advantage of having people with the right skills is that they can move around easily to where the work and demand is."

Ashurst recently boosted its Singapore office with the hire of former Allen & Overy (A&O) City corporate partner Keith McGuire, who joined the office on 11 January. McGuire headed up A&O's Singapore corporate practice from 1998 to 2005.