DLA Piper has hired O'Melveny & Myers partner Mark Fairbairn to head its restructuring group in Asia.

The UK firm, which has undergone a number of changes to its Asia management structure in the last two years, has created a new role of Asia restructuring head in a bid to enhance the scope of work it does in this area.

The Hong Kong group was previously overseen by partner and foreign legal consultant Jonathan Leitch, who will continue to be a partner in the practice.

Fairbairn was based in O'Melveny's Hong Kong office, which he joined in 2008 after five years at White & Case.

Focusing on distressed and alternative investments, financial restructurings and formal insolvency matters, he has acted for a mix of major financial institutions, investment banks, hedge and private equity investors, insolvency practitioners and public corporations in Asia over the last 20 years.

He joins DLA alongside counsel Ashley Bell, who will be based in Singapore, having previously had the same role in the international disputes and restructuring practice of O'Melveny in the island city-state.

The appointments follow the hire of Timothy Tan as a corporate partner in DLA Piper's Bangkok office, who also joined from O'Melveny & Myers this month.

In the restructuring group, the firm now has the two partners in Hong Kong alongside consultant Graham Ridler, in addition to partner Troy Doyle in Singapore.

Speaking about the hire, Gregg Galardi, partner and global co-chair of DLA Piper's restructuring practice, said: "Mark has an impressive skill set and is recognised as one of the leading restructuring lawyers in Asia, particularly in Greater China," said 

"The addition of Mark and Ashley enables us to expand the scope of our activities in the restructuring space to include more work for private equity firms and to enhance our role in major contentious restructurings."

DLA Piper has seen some significant changes in its Asia-Pacific practices and management in recent years, particularly in Hong Kong and Australia.

In January 2013 the firm's UK managing partner Andrew Darwin relocated to Sydney to become head of the Australian arm, whilst the firm later saw the departure of two senior partners Damien McNair, previously head of finance and projects in the region, and Tony Holland, the former Australian chair.

The exits led to the appointments of Melbourne-based partner John Gallagher as the new head of projects and finance in Australia, and Sydney-based partner Onno Bakke as the head of the banking and finance group in Asia Pacific.

Then in December, the firm handed more responsibility for its Asian operations to the US partnership, establishing a three-strong regional advisory committee made up of global co-CEO Terry O'Malley, Australia managing partner Andrew Darwin and global board member and US co-chair, Jay Rains.

Bob Charlton, the firm's former Asia managing partner, was appointed a consulting role as special advisor to the committee.

The aim was to create more synergies between the firm's US and Asia offices to take advantage of increasing dealflow between the regions.

Related: DLA creates new US-led committee for Asian offices.