CMS Hasche Sigle has entered the Hong Kong market as a tenant in the Hong Kong Arbitration Chambers.

The firm, part of the CMS network, is the first and only German firm to have a base in the chambers, and has put together a team of five senior disputes lawyers to work there on a part-time basis.

Among those splitting their time between Germany and Hong Kong will be corporate and projects specialists Nicolas Wiegand, Klaus Sachs, Dorothee Ruckteschler and Torsten Lorcher, as well as shipping and commodities expert Matthias Schlingmann.

Nicolas Wiegand, who is a listed arbitrator for the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and on the panel of arbitrators of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), will be the main point of contact in Hong Kong.

As well as spearheading the practice's growth in Asia, he has also handled a number of disputes between Asian and European parties and those concerning business activities in the region.

In a statement, the firm said: "In recent years, CMS Hasche Sigle has been particularly successful in international arbitration. Accordingly, expansion of its market presence to Hong Kong is a logical step in view of the steadily rising number of arbitration cases with an Asian dimension.

"Our presence in Hong Kong enables us to cement our current relationships and forge new ones to and across the Far East. A particular benefit is that we will be better placed to provide Asian parties with legal advice on their business operations in Europe via a local base in Asia."

CMS Hasche Sigle is a full service German law firm with over 600 lawyers and 12 offices, four of which are international. It currently has no office in Hong Kong but does have a presence in Shanghai led by corporate and Chinese-speaking partner Ulrike Glueck.

Under the rules of the chambers, the firm will only be able to practice arbitration from the new base, and according to Glueck, there are no plans to open an independent office in the city.

The UK arm of the CMS network, CMS Cameron McKenna, has an outpost in Beijing. Camerons previously had a Hong Kong office staffed by three lawyers, which shut in 2007.

Gavin Denton, the founder of Arbitration Chambers Hong Kong, said the addition of CMS Hasche is useful in creating options for Chinese entities engaged in disputes governed by German law. The chambers now has four tenants from the UK, Australia, Germany and Hong Kong, and more than 20 lawyers registered since it was set up in September 2012.

Denton added that he wanted to add Brazilian and Swiss firms to the mix, and was eyeing around six or seven tenants by the end of next year.