The Transfer Window: Asia is a regular round-up of recent legal moves in Asia Pacific. Please send all announcements to: [email protected] 

Hong Kong law firm Deacons has added to its corporate team with the hire of private equity partner Robert Woll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (WilmerHale). 

Woll, who headed the US firm's Beijing office for six years, is a specialist in M&A and private equity transactions, and deals involving venture capital and real estate investment funds.

He moved back to Hong Kong earlier this month, where he previously spent eight years as a partner at Morrison & Foerster. Five of these he served as managing partner of the Hong Kong office.

RHT Law Taylor Wessing, Taylor Wessing's Singapore venture, has also recruited Richard Tan as a partner in its corporate and securities practice from local firm Colin Ng & Partners.

Tan has nine years' experience advising and representing companies on a range of commercial transactions such as asset acquisitions, IPOs and other fund raising exercises, mergers and acquisitions, corporate advisory and compliance.

US firm K&L Gates has meanwhile added a China-focused partner, Linda Zhou, to be based its Palo Alto office.

Zhou, who is PRC qualified and joined the firm from Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, will be part of the emerging growth and venture capital practice.

She will advise start-up and public companies in the internet, software, telcos and technology sectors, on corporate and securities law, financing, M&A and corporate partnering transactions.

Prior to being recruited by Gunderson, she was an associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Menlo Park. She also worked in the Palo Alto office of Jones Day.

In Europe, Beijing-based Zhong Lun has hired its first British partner for its London office.

Corporate partner Tom Fairley joined the firm from British outfit Taylor Vinters, prior to which he worked for Norton Rose in Shanghai, and Linklaters in Shanghai, Hong Kong and London.

Fairley has 10 years of experience in China and is fluent in Mandarin. His recruitment follows the launch of Zhong Lun's London office last year.

Meanwhile in Singapore, the former deputy prime minister and one of Asia's longest serving law ministers, Shunmugam Jayakumar, has been appointed by local firm Drew & Napier to work as a consultant, and to spearhead the firm's international law, trade and constitutional law practices.

Prior to holding office in government, Jayakumar was the Dean of the Faculty of Law in the National University of Singapore, and had earlier also served as Singapore's permanent representative to the United Nations.

He joins Drew & Napier on May 1.

Also in Asia, China carmaker Geely Holding Group has recruited in-house lawyer Kenneth Tung as chief legal counsel.

Tung, who began his career with now defunct Coudert Brothers, has held a variety of legal counsel roles in the world's second largest economy.

They include that of legal director for PepsiCo in China, director of legal affairs in Asia Pacific for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and regional general counsel for Honeywell in its transportation, systems and speciality materials department.

Down under, Sydney-headquartered national firm Hunt & Hunt has added to its finance team in Melbourne with the hire of banking partner Richard Williams, former Melbourne managing partner for MacGillivrays Solicitors.

At MacGillivrays, which recently ceased operation as the result of a merger with Gadens, Williams specialised in consumer credit, compliance and government relations issues, advising clients on lending, recoveries, legislative change, compliance and general corporate matters.

He also has expertise in the national credit code, privacy law, anti-money laundering, finance broking and other legislation affecting financial institutions.

Boosting its IP team in Tokyo this month was Hogan Lovells, which took on Herbert Smith Freehills' senior associate Frederick Ch'en as Of Counsel.

Ch'en, who is the fifteenth IP practitioner to be hired by the UK firm in Tokyo over the past 12 months, was head of IP at HSF in Tokyo, specialising in multi-jurisdictional patent litigation as well as IP licensing and IP aspects of transactions.

He also has substantial expertise advising clients in the life sciences sector.

Squire Sanders has meanwhile taken on senior financial services lawyer Josh Clarke from Watson Farley & Williams in Singapore, to join its team in Perth as Of Counsel.

A dual-qualified US and Australian attorney, Clarke has spent more than 15 years working in New York, Melbourne and Singapore, specialising in cross-border finance, syndicated and secured bank financings.

His experience in the energy and resources sector was particularly important to Squire Sanders, as the US firm looks to ramp up its energy and finance practices in tandem.

In the Middle East, Squire Sanders also this month announced the appointment of senior associate Nadia Al-Anani in its Riyadh office, from Hani Qurashi law firm in association with Kilpatrick Townsend.

Specialising in banking and regulatory issues, Al-Anani is the first female to be hired for the firm's Saudi office, and will lead the firm's women lawyers section in Riyadh and play a key role in supporting its expansion across MENA.

She has broad experience in corporate, capital markets and general commercial law, as well as related complex litigation.

Her appointment marks the opening of Squire Sanders' new facilities for female lawyers in Riyadh.

Gide Loyrette Nouel has at the same time strengthened its China practice with the recruitment of a new partner in Shanghai.

Paul-Emmanuel Benachi was previously head of the Shanghai office for another French law firm, Lefevre Pelletier & associates, and boasts nine years of practicing law in China.

He has particular experience advising foreign companies investing into the country, focusing on corporate and M&A work, cross-border transactions and restructuring. He also regularly advises clients on retail, real estate and labour law matters.