US litigation specialist Kobre & Kim has launched a Hong Kong law practice with the hire of Randall Arhur from local outfit Gall.

The firm, which opened in Hong Kong in 2010 with a view to doing international work in Asia, first considered having a local practice last year but only this month received approval from the Law Society.

Bill McGovern, who heads the Asia venture and who recently became Hong Kong qualified, said the move had little to do with increased corruption investigations but would help the judgment enforcement practice, which was now a "a big part of the business" and would now benefit from lawyers having access to Hong Kong's courts.

Arthur, who led the insolvency practice for Gall, specialises in cases related to debtor-creditor matters, fraud and asset tracing, international judgment enforcement and commercial litigation, including financial products and services and shareholder disputes.

He joins Kobre & Kim's office alongside Mayer Brown JSM lawyer Gabrielle Liu, whose focus is on debtor-creditor disputes and government enforcement defence. Another lawyer will be joining the office in the coming month, bringing the total number of lawyers to nine.

The firm's move to a Hong Kong local practice comes just a week after Debevoise & Plimpton launched its own local Hong Kong practice.