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

DLA Piper has boosted its corporate practice in Bangkok with the hire of O'Melveny & Myers lawyer Tim Tan.

Tan, who was previously a counsel with O'Melveny in Singapore in the firm's corporate finance practice, focuses on banking and leverage finance, corporate debt and restructuring and special situations investment transactions.

His experience includes acquisition finance, project finance, trade finance, commercial lending, corporate debt restructuring and M&A transactions across Asia including Indonesia, PRC, India, Thailand and Philippines.

Also in Thailand, Deacons partner Michael Turnbull has joined Tilleke & Gibbins as of counsel in the insurance group in the firm's Bangkok office.

Turnbull, who focuses on insurance commercial litigation, chiefly advises insurers and re-insurers on claims-related issues arising from critical policy disputes, high-stakes inter-insurance commercial disputes, and mediation of insurance-related disputes.

On the non-contentious side, he has also advised brokers on regulatory matters relating to doing business throughout Asia, and he has assisted international insurers to establish their operations in numerous jurisdictions.

He previously worked at Hong Kong firm Deacons, where he served as a partner for 15 years.

Clyde & Co has meanwhile ramped up its Asia employment team with the hire of Iris Duchetsmann from Eversheds and her team of three associates Lisa Li, Cynthia Zheng and Vivien Xu.

Duchetsmann, who was Eversheds' head of employment for the region, left the firm along with Shanghai office head Jean-Marc Deschandol in December. The firm subsequently made corporate of counsel Jack Cai head of the office.

Focusing on cross-border employment and international human resources issues, Duchetsmann advises on issues such as social security, tax and residency. Before joining Eversheds early 2012 she was of counsel at Salans, which has since merged with Dentons.

In Hong Kong, US law firm Winston & Strawn has added Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Marco Pocci in a bid to enhance its Asia energy practice.

Pocci, who concentrates on cross-border M&A and corporate restructuring, is the first energy-focused partner in the Hong Kong office.

He will be working alongside the firm's corporate and litigation partners, Simon Luk, and David Hall-Jones and Adrian Yip, respectively.

Chinese firm Fangda & Partners has also boosted its Hong Kong office, with the hire of a corporate partner.

Andrew Lui, who was previously with US firm Edwards Wildman Palmer, specialises in capital markets, cross border M&A and private equity.

His arrival comes less than two years after the opening of Fangda's Hong Kong base and fourth office overall, which is headed by former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Peter Yuen.

In the dispute resolution space, local outfit Howse Williams Bowers (HWB) has also increased its capabilities in the city.

The Reed Smith Richards Butler spin-off has hired Andrew Kinnison, previously a partner with Holman Fenwick & Willan in Hong Kong and a partner with Greene & Greene in the UK.

Kinnison specialises in commercial litigation and insolvency including ADR, banking, professional negligence and property litigation.

Herbert Smith Freehills has meanwhile boosted its IP offering in Australia with the appointment of partner Rebekah Gay in its Sydney office and the secondment of UK-based partner Joel Smith to Australia.

Gay, who trained at Freehills earlier in her career, joins HSF from Australian firm Shelston IP, where she worked for seven years, whilst Smith has relocated from London to Sydney on secondment.

The two partners will support the 13-partner global IP group, covering IP disputes, IP corporate and trade marks on cross-border matters.

In Singapore Baker & McKenzie member firm Wong & Leow has recruited transfer pricing practitioner Michael Nixon from Ernst & Young to bolster its tax group.

Previously a transfer pricing consultant at the accounting firm, Nixon also has experience advising on tax effective supply chain management (TESCM) and has worked on projects in Singapore, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.