Watson Farley to open in Hong Kong with Goodwin Procter partner hire
Watson Farley & Williams has announced plans to open a Hong Kong office with a partner hire from Goodwin Procter. The UK top 40 firm is recruiting Loretta Lau, a corporate and capital markets lawyer qualified in England and Hong Kong.
February 16, 2012 at 01:15 PM
2 minute read
Watson Farley & Williams has announced plans to open a Hong Kong office with a partner hire from Goodwin Procter, reports The Asian Lawyer.
The UK top 40 firm is recruiting Loretta Lau, a corporate and capital markets lawyer qualified in England and Hong Kong.
Lau joined Goodwin Procter in 2010 from Mayer Brown's Hong Kong arm, where she was also a partner, while she also previously worked at Simmons & Simmons and legacy Richards Butler in Hong Kong.
She will be joined in Watson Farley's Hong Kong office by Madeline Leong, an asset finance partner relocating from the firm's Singapore base. Leong, who is qualified in Hong Kong, the UK and Australia, focuses on the transport and natural resources industries.
The Hong Kong office, the opening of which is pending regulatory approvals, will be the third in Asia for 321-lawyer Watson Farley, which also has offices in Singapore and Bangkok. Last October, the firm launched a joint law venture in Singapore with local firm Asia Practice.
Firm managing partner Michael Greville said in a statement that Watson Farley hoped to build on its success in Singapore and Bangkok, where it has a combined total of 60 lawyers.
"As these offices have grown, and as the economic activity in Asia has increased, the requirement for a complementary presence in Hong Kong, and direct access to mainland China, has emerged," said Greville. "Establishing a Hong Kong branch is therefore a significant strategic development for not only our Asia footprint but the firm as a whole."
The Asian Lawyer is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.
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