Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired two partners from magic circle rivals to launch a Hong Kong law practice, writes The Asian Lawyer.

Celia Lam, the joint Greater China managing partner for Linklaters, and Christopher Wong, the former head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's China corporate practice, will join Simpson Thacher in the autumn.

The hires make Simpson Thacher the latest leading Wall Street law firm to move into local Hong Kong practice after previously only practising US law in the region. Simpson Thacher has had an office in Hong Kong since 1993.

Lam, who formerly headed Linklaters' Beijing arm before becoming co-China head in 2009, is a veteran of several large-scale capital markets and M&A transactions. Last year she advised China Mobile on its $6bn (£3.65bn) acquisition of a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. She also led Linklaters' representation last spring of the underwriters in the $707m (£431m) Hong Kong initial public offering of French skin care and cosmetics company L'Occitane.

Wong, who also was previously Beijing managing partner for his firm, has a similar practice focus. Last year, he represented Chinese auto dealer Zhongsheng Group on its $370m (£225m) IPO, as well as the underwriters in the $548m (£334m) IPO of Chinese department store and supermarket operator Springland International Holdings.

Simpson Thacher's move into Hong Kong law follows that of several of its New York-based competitors. Davis Polk & Wardwell; Shearman & Sterling; Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy; and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton all launched Hong Kong law practices last year. Wall Street firms in Hong Kong were previously satisfied to advise companies on either US listings or US law aspects of Hong Kong transactions, letting other firms handle the generally lower-yielding local counsel work.

But the explosive growth of Chinese listings work in Hong Kong, which has led the world in IPOs the last three years, has convinced them to take the plunge into local practice.

Simpson Thacher was slightly slow off the mark. To meet Hong Kong Law Society requirements to practise local law, half of a firm's partners must be Hong Kong-qualified. While partners from Davis Polk, Cleary, and other US firms got ready by taking the once-a-year Hong Kong bar exam in 2009, Simpson partners only took it last autumn.

But Simpson knew right away who it wanted to launch its Hong Kong practice, according to China practice partner Leiming Chen. "We only talked to two people, and those are the people we hired," said Chen. "We were very lucky they saw the same possibilities we did."

The New York firm's choice of recruits illustrates the vulnerability of the major UK firms, which have long dominated Hong Kong capital markets practice, to poaching by their American competitors. Davis Polk hired Freshfields partner Antony Dapiran and Linklaters partner Paul Chow for its Hong Kong team. Cleary hired Norton Rose's China corporate finance head, Freeman Chan, to head its Hong Kong practice.

Simpson Thacher's move also undoubtedly puts pressure on the handful of remaining elite New York firms without Hong Kong practices, most notably Sullivan & Cromwell. Chen, who was himself skeptical of the need for a Hong Kong practice just last year, said that he and the firm changed their minds in part because of the moves by peer firms Davis Polk and Cleary.

The Asian Lawyer is an affiliate title of Legal Week.