Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has boosted its asset finance capability in Hong Kong with the hire of Beijing-based partner Nigel Ward from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Ward, who joins this month, will be the fifth partner to join BLP in Hong Kong since it opened in the city in 2011, but the first shipping and aviation finance specialist.

He is also the first finance partner hire announced by the firm since the appointment of a new practice head, Adam Dann.

Before his move to Beijing, Ward was head of Norton Rose's banking department in Paris and was also based with the firm in Bahrain and London.

At BLP he will work closely with partners in London, Singapore and Beijing, and alongside the firm's existing Hong Kong finance partner Victoria Gardner.

Currently his practice is focused on China, but previous and extensive experience in emerging markets is expected to complement BLP's Myanmar and Indonesia strategies.

His hire follows a number of changes in BLP's finance practice globally, including the shock departure of finance head Matthew Kellett and subsequent practice review last November by Jomati consultant Tony Williams.

The firm has since appointed its head of projects and infrastructure Adam Dann as the new departmental managing partner for finance, and is in the process of implementing Williams' recommendations, which include the creation of a new structured finance group and bringing the banking and real estate finance teams together.

However, the firm has seen a string of partner exits in the wake of the announcements.

In Asia, BLP has three offices located in Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong. The Singapore base was the first to open in 2007 followed by Hong Kong in 2011 and Beijing last year. 

Meanwhile Norton Rose will be left with six partners in the Chinese capital, four of which it has hired in the last two years.

In a statement the firm said it had been focusing on the hire of increasingly more local Chinese partners, the latest addition in the city being Li Jinnan, who joined from the banking and finance practice of King & Wood Mallesons.

"We have enlarged the Beijing office over the last two or three years and hired a number of local Chinese partners to reflect market and client demand," said a spokesperson. "We would expect the growth of the last two years to continue.

"The addition of Li Jinnan in particular, has strengthened our offering in banking and finance. Banking partner Fei Kwok is now also spending 50% of her time in Beijing and 50% in Shanghai."

Related: Two more quit BLP's finance team as new boss faces tough job to stem partner exits