Herbert Smith has recruited its first US-qualified investigations partner with the hire of Goodwin Procter's Kyle Wombolt in Hong Kong.

Wombolt joined Herbert Smith's Hong Kong dispute resolution practice as a partner last month from US firm Goodwin's local office.

Wombolt, who made partner at Goodwin in 2007, takes partner headcount in Herbert Smith's Hong Kong disputes group to seven. He specialises in multi-jurisdictional anti-corruption, fraud and accounting investigations.

Herbert Smith Asia disputes head Mark Johnson said: "There has been significant growth in investigations work for financial institutions and multinational corporates throughout Asia.

"While the focus of our work to date has been on Asian issues arising in these investigations, they increasingly have a US law component. The upcoming introduction of the UK Bribery Act will add a further international dimension."

Herbert Smith has 16 disputes partners across Asia and a total of 75 lawyers in the regional group.

The news follows the firm's relocation of London disputes partner Robert Hunt to Hong Kong in March this year in response to growing activity in Asia.

Meanwhile, a three-partner disputes team resigned from Herbert Smith's Paris base to join Allen & Overy last week, including the firm's newly-appointed head of disputes for Continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), Denis Chemla.

Chemla will join A&O alongside arbitration partner Michael Young and litigation partner Erwan Poisson to launch a full service disputes practice for the magic circle firm.