Dewey & LeBoeuf and Chadbourne & Parke are considering expanding their presence across eastern Europe, with Dewey looking at Georgia and Chadbourne considering opening in Turkey.

Dewey has relocated energy partner Nicola 
Mariani, previously a partner 
in the firm's Paris office, to Tbilisi to service Georgia's sovereign wealth fund and to investigate whether the 
firm should formally open in the country.

If the US firm does decide to push ahead with a 
launch it would become the second international firm in Georgia alongside DLA Piper, which took over Ernst & Young's law firm arm in the CIS in 2005, gifting it offices in Moscow, St Petersburg, Tbilisi and Kiev.

Meanwhile, Chadbourne has relocated capital markets partner Ayse Yueksel to 
Turkish capital Istanbul to 
start preparing for a 
formal launch.

Yueksel, a native Turkish speaker, previously headed the Turkey corporate desk from New York and has experience in M&A, private equity investments, privatisations, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and financing transactions.

Chadbourne intends to build an office focused on capital markets and project finance work in Turkey, with Istanbul also of strategic importance in servicing clients in the Middle East and North Africa.

Other firms to have launched in Istanbul in recent months include magic circle firm Clifford Chance, which opened in Turkey in April this year, DLA Piper and Linklaters' eastern European spin-off Kinstellar, both of which launched in 2010.