Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has hired magic circle veteran and DLA's former Asia-Pacific chief Bob Charlton, as head of its Asia practice and managing partner of the Hong Kong office.

Charlton, whose career includes stints at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance, joined DLA in 2009 as international group head of finance and projects, before taking the Asia-Pacific leadership role in 2012.

He is joining BLP next month and will initially be based in London, before relocating back to Hong Kong – where he was based with DLA – in January.

Charlton spent 20 years at Clifford Chance as a senior asset finance lawyer, working in Amsterdam, Saudi Arabia, Tokyo, Singapore and Brunei.

He jumped ship to Freshfields in 1999, where he joined as a partner; his decade there including a brief spell as head of the finance practice for the Middle East and a further two years as leader of finance in London.

He stepped down from his Asia management role at DLA in December last year, after the firm appointed a US-led advisory committee to lead the region and forge closer ties with the US offices.

Speaking about Charlton's appointment, BLP managing partner Neville Eisenberg said: "Our Asian business has grown significantly over a relatively short period of time. We have invested in emerging markets such as Myanmar and Indonesia and have increasing assignments involving clients in China, Japan and Korea.

"Bob's appointment underpins the growing importance of the Asia region for the firm, and our commitment to expanding our business there."

BLP's offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore collectively grew revenue by 50% in 2013-14.

The news comes as BLP's head of banking and finance litigation David Hughes joins Dechert's London litigation team, months after he was expected to join King & Spalding.

It is understood that Hughes was in talks with a number of firms, including King & Spalding, but had not committed to joining any of them before joining Dechert.

Hughes mainly focuses on providing litigation and dispute resolution representation to banks and major financial institutions, though his experience also includes asset recovery, security enforcement, money laundering and other regulatory investigations.