Hogan Lovells has appointed a new managing partner in Beijing following the departure of intellectual property (IP) partner Horace Lam to Jones Day.

Lam left Hogan Lovells to join Jones Day on 23 May and has been replaced by corporate partner Jun Wei, a corporate and commercial partner focusing on M&A, private equity and project financing. Wei advises multinational companies and financial institutions on structuring their investments in China and dealing with Chinese regulatory agencies.

Lam, who also headed Hogan Lovells' Chinese IP practice, leaves the firm with two IP partners in Beijing. He brings the number of partners in Jones Day's China IP practice to seven.

Hogan Lovells' regional managing partner Crispin Rapinet commented: "We are sorry to see him go but our IP practice continues to be one of the strongest in the region. We work very much on a regional basis and in addition to our IP partners in Beijing and Shanghai we have a further two IP partners in Hong Kong, three in Tokyo and a practice in Vietnam."

Jones Day's partner-in-charge of the Beijing office John Kao commented: "IP is a key issue for multinational companies in China, and Horace's extensive experience will also be beneficial to our Chinese clients who are investing and doing business in Europe and elsewhere overseas."

Lam represents multinational companies enforcing their IP rights in Asia and specialises in licensing, franchising and the sale of IP rights. He has also advised clients on merger control, non-merger investigations and litigation in Europe and China.