Clyde & Co has hired Clifford Chance's co-head of Greater China arbitration Patrick Zheng, as the firm continues to ramp up its PRC offering.

Zheng, who joined the magic circle firm in January 2011 from Herbert Smith Freehills, has been appointed Beijing office managing partner at Clydes, to work alongside chief representative and energy and infrastructure partner Lynia Lau and employment partner Iris Duchetsmann.

His appointment comes approximately a year after the firm opened an office in the Chinese capital with a view to growing its portfolio of outbound investment work by state-owned enterprises.

The is the third high profile disputes partner to exit Clifford Chance in the last two years, following the departure of Martin Rogers and his number two James Wadham in December 2012 for US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.

The firm replaced Rogers with one of its top litigators from London Matthew Newick, who relocated to Hong Kong in February last year now runs the disputes practice in Asia Pacific.

Still working for the firm in Greater China is the other co-head of arbitration, partner Cameron Hassall, and IP disputes partner Ling Ho, both of whom are based in Hong Kong. They work alongside arbitration and litigation counsel Yu Bing in Shanghai.

Across CC's three China offices it now has a total of 32 fee earners focusing on disputes, including seven partners and three consultants.

Clyde & Co has taken a number of steps to boost its China practice in recent years, including the opening of an office in Chongqing in the south west of the country through a joint venture with local law firm West Link Partnership.

The firm is so far among a handful of international outfits which has obtained a licence to form a JLV with a PRC firm via its Hong Kong branch and under China and Hong Kong's Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), and in addition to Chongqing, is permitted to apply to open in another two cities.

In March management told Legal Week that the firm is hoping to boost its Asia revenues by between 15 and 20% during 2014 as it continued to expand on the continent.