Addleshaw Goddard is continuing its global expansion with the launch of an office in Hong Kong and the creation of a new international division.  

The firm recently gained its Hong Kong licence from the local law society, gifting it its fourth international launch in the past 12 months. 

The Hong Kong base, which has been set up to target opportunities in China and the Far East, is expected to be fully operational by the end of May. This follows moves into Oman last month, and Singapore and Dubai last year. 

The Hong Kong office will initially be run by current private equity chief Andrew Carpenter and international arbitration partner Jonathan Tattersall, with Addleshaws in the process of recruiting additional staff for the base.

Carpenter has also been appointed as managing partner of the firm's newly created international division, after playing a key role in the development of all four of the new overseas offices. He will split his time between the four bases. 

Tattersall meanwhile will divide his time between London and Hong Kong, combining his role establishing the Asia office with his position leading the international engineering, projects and construction litigation team.

Leeds partner Yunus Seedat will succeed Carpenter as the firm's new private equity head.

The international division's remit includes ensuring overseas offices are fully integrated with the UK business, co-ordinating the firm's global activities, improving current international links and identifying new opportunities with other law firms and clients.

The division will incorporate around 20 full-time staff, of which roughly eight are lawyers, spread across the four international bases. Around 50 UK partners with a significant overseas element to their work will also be handed additional responsibilities within the international division. These include corporate partner Andrew Rosling and real estate partner Leona Ahmed, who are leading the firm's efforts in Africa and Malaysia respectively. 

Managing partner Paul Devitt said: "Andrew has played a formative role in these developments and deservedly becomes our first international division managing partner. The need for a new division is a measure of our recent progress, as well as our future ambitions."

Carpenter's appointment comes after Nabarro and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) both recently created international-focused leadership roles, with BLP handing corporate head John Bennett a new brief as international business partner and Nabarro appointing restructuring head Patricia Godfrey to the new role of head of international.