O'Melveny & Myers is set to ramp up its dispute resolution offering in Asia after hiring one of King & Wood Mallesons' (KWM) senior litigation partners in Hong Kong, Denis Brock.

The US firm, which has lost 16 lawyers from its Asia practice this year – five of whom were partners – previously revealed to Legal Week that it remained committed to the region but was prioritising practices such as disputes, M&A and capital markets, and looking to build these in Hong Kong.

It currently has four disputes partners working across Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Former Asia litigation chief for Clifford Chance in Asia, Brock – ranked band 1 by Chambers – will join October 1 and is a significant hire for the firm, with sources saying his practice is largely transportable.

He joined legacy Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Hong Kong in 2010 prior to the merger with China's King & Wood, and after almost 25 years at Clifford Chance where he also ran for the role of global litigation head.

Specialising in commercial and regulatory litigation as well as arbitration, he covers a broad range of contenscious work from shareholder litigation and professional negligence claims, to banking disputes, oil and gas litigation, fraud investigations and PRC matters.

He was also one of the first Hong Kong lawyers to qualify as a solicitor advocate in the city in 2013, alongside Allen & Overy's Matt Gearing and Baker & McKenzie's Gary Seib.

His departure follows the recent exit of corporate heavyweights Larry Kwok and Conrad Chan from KWM in Hong Kong, and leaves KWM's Greater China disputes team with six partners, namely Ronald Arculli, David Bateson, Barbara Chiu, Harry Du, Shirley Kwok and Paul Starr.

It also comes as the Hong Kong branch of KWM prepares to unify remuneration for members of its legacy firms and so end top up arrangements for equity partners, who under the merger terms were guaranteed no disparity in profits between them and their peers in Australia or China for a period of five and three years respectively.

The arrangements are due to end in March 2017 for Australian partners and March 2015 for China partners.

KWM is expected to replace Brock, but did not confirm any plans.

In a statement, it said: "We confirm Denis Brock is retiring from King & Wood Mallesons Hong Kong. Our strategy is to maintain and build the talent and capability in dispute resolution to support our leading brand in the Asia Pacific region. We do not believe that his departure from the firm affects that strategy."