Olswang has hired a partner from DLA Piper for its Singapore arm as the firm gears up for its official office launch in the New Year.

Jonathan Choo joined the top 40 firm as a partner and local head of dispute from DLA Piper, where he was of counsel in the firm's Singapore office.

Choo's hire comes as Olswang has also relocated two London partners to the new Asian office, with media, communications and technology partner Elle Todd to head up the firm's Singapore commercial practice. Meanwhile, corporate senior associate Andrew Stott will relocate to the office in January as a partner, with Olswang opting to bring forward his promotion to the partnership in light of his relocation.

The news comes after London telecoms and technology partner Rob Bratby moved to Singapore last month to head the new venture.

Bratby said: "The office is in a soft launch phase at the moment with a view to formally going live in January next year. We're looking to have a diverse group of lawyers in the office that are qualified in a number of different jurisdictions – Malaysia, Indonesia, India, etc, to allow us to service the wider Asia region from Singapore; however, we will not be advising on local law.

"The firm's strategy is very simple: to be 'the' technology, media and telecommunications firm, and we are now in the process of broadening our platform to take this model global."

Olswang is in the process of hiring between four and eight associates to staff the office, with plans to grow the branch to between 15 and 20 lawyers by the close of 2012.

The office will provide corporate, commercial, intellectual property and dispute resolution advice, with the firm intending to add a finance capacity at a later date.