Squire Patton Boggs has hired the co-head of DLA's India practice and leader of the corporate finance group in Singapore; leaving the UK outfit with just three partners in the city-state.

Biswajit Chatterjee, who is dual-qualified in Indian and US law and whose focus is on M&A and capital markets, is among a string of recent hires by Squire Patton Boggs in Asia as the firm seeks to build its regional capabilities.

However, it means DLA Piper now has just three partners based permanently on the ground in Singapore, namely managing partner and disputes lawyer John Goulios, arbitration global co-chair Yu-jin Tay and restructuring partner Troy Doyle.

DLA's other India co-head, Daniel Sharma, who works from the firm's Brussels and Munich offices, will remain in charge of the practice.

The news follows an announcement earlier this week that DLA's former managing partner for Asia-Pacific Bob Charlton, has also left to head up the Asia offices of Berwin Leighton Paisner.

The hire is significant for Squire Patton Boggs, which has also recruited senior finance lawyer Roy Lee from the Singapore office of South East Asian ouftit DFDL and senior corporate lawyer Sabyasachi Chatterjee from the city office of Japan firm Nishimura & Asahi.

The move is timed shortly after the firm's combination with Tokyo corporate outfit Mamiya Law Offices in July and its alliance with Indonesian law firm Melli Darsa & Co. in Jakarta in November last year.

Ignatius Hwang, managing partner in Singapore, said: "As part of the firm's Asia Pacific strategy it has been our goal to grow the Singapore office and, in particular, our transactional practice.

"Singapore provides a gateway to other rapidly growing economies such as Indonesia and India, and as cross border M&A deal activity in the region increases, we are keen to position ourselves to take advantage of an upturn in demand for corporate legal services.

"We have been looking for some time to find the right person to spearhead our corporate practice in South East Asia."

Other recent appointments by the firm in Asia-Pacific include that of Gide Loyrette Nouel competition partner Li Hua, who joined in Beijing in June, and China outbound corporate specialist Benjamin Kroymann, who moved from Dentons to Squires' Shanghai office with a team of lawyers at the end of last year.

In Australia the firm also took on a corporate group in Perth led by partner Simon Rear from Allion Legal.

Computer says…yes? Is your firm investing in the most up-to-date technology? Tell us for chance to win an iPad Air. Click here