Eversheds has appointed arbitration and disputes partner Oommen Mathew to lead its Singapore office, following the departure of former head Desmond Ong.

Mathew (pictured), who joined Eversheds in 2009 after starting his career at top Singapore firm Allen & Gledhill, also heads up Eversheds' Southeast Asian dispute resolution practice. His new official title will be Singapore managing director.

He replaces Ong, who helped launch Eversheds' Singapore operation in 2009 after joining from DLA Piper. Ong left the firm earlier this year as part of a shake-up of the firm's regional leadership, which saw corporate partner Stephen Kitts handed the Asia managing partner role,

Kitts succeeded Nick Seddon, who has also left the firm, while the Hong Kong-based Asia management team also includes corporate head Stephen Mok, head of litigation Ivan Ng and head of finance King Tak Fung.

"The next stage of our journey in Asia is to drive closer integration with the rest of our global business and to continue to invest in high calibre front line practitioners, in particular in corporate, finance and litigation," said Kitts.

"Oommen has a key role to play in the development of our practice in Singapore and our plans to invest further in the region."

Mathew's practice covers both commercial and corporate matters, including sale of goods, banking, joint venture disputes as well as procedural matters involving the interplay between court proceedings and arbitration practice.

Eversheds does not currently have a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice licence to practise local law in Singapore. Four firms – Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Jones Day, Linklaters and Sidley Austin – were awarded licences in a second round of applications last month.