Dechert is to lose another two senior lawyers in Asia following the departure of its Hong Kong managing partner Basil Hwang.

Asia litigation head David Chu is moving to New York firm Prosauker Rose to launch a regional disputes practice, leaving Dechert on 23 January, while corporate counsel Peter Wang is taking a partner role at a top Chinese firm also towards the end of the month.

The departures come just a week after it was announced that Hong Kong managing partner Basil Hwang had left for Chinese outfit Zhong Lun, appointed partner in its associated Hong Kong office Boughton Peterson Yang Anderson.

Remaining partners in Dechert's Hong Kong office include M&A partner David Cho, litigation partner William Dodds, life sciences partner Lewis Ho and finance partners Karl Paulson Egbert and Angelyn Lim.

However, the firm has also recently hired Baker & McKenzie litigation partner Kareena Teh, who specialises in corporate and commercial disputes as well as experience in governance and compliance matters.

Including Teh, the firm will have a total of six partners in Hong Kong.

In Beijing, it will be left with one partner, Asia head Jingzhou Tao, who specialises in corporate work and disputes.

Dechert currently has just two Asian offices located in Hong Kong and Beijing, which it opened in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Earlier this year, Hwang said the outfit was also looking to open in Shanghai and Singapore as part of a pan-Asian growth strategy, having already obtained its license to practise in Shanghai some time ago.