The Transfer Window: Asia is a regular round-up of recent legal moves in Asia Pacific. Please send all announcements to: [email protected]

Ropes & Gray has hired capital markets lawyer Hyo Young Kang in Seoul from Linklaters.

Joining as a partner, Kang, who has spent 28 years practising in Asia, 16 in Seoul, will work alongside Ropes' managing partner for Korea William Kim, corporate partner Jaewoo Lee and IP partner David Chun.

Prior to Linklaters, Kang also did stints at local firm Yulchon and Allen & Overy.

In China, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has recruited Yufeng Ma to join the firm's intellectual property team in Shanghai.

Ma was previously the director of IP for Asia at glass and ceramics company Corning Inc, and before that worked in the US for more than a decade representing American and Chinese companies on IP litigation before the US International Trade Commission and the US federal courts.

He will work alongside Orrick's Asia managing partner and head of the China IP practice Xiang Wang as the firm tries to boost its relations with Chinese technology companies.

Also in Shanghai, Bird & Bird recently appointed DLA Piper of counsel Ying Wang as a partner in its international HR group.

Before DLA Wang was an associate at King & Wood Mallesons, and has more than 13 years of experience advising on a full range of HR matters such as PRC labour and social insurance regulatory issues, mass layoffs, labor disputes, M&A-related issues and cross-border employment. She is also a part-time arbitrator at the Shanghai Labour Dispute Arbitration Committee.

She will head the firm's China employment practice, working closely with Singapore partner Susan de Silva who oversees Bird & Bird's practice for the region.

Ashurst has also ramped up in the country this month with the addition of Chin Chuan Chen, a counsel from Clifford Chance, to join its Asia finance team.

Chen is a specialist in Chinese outbound financing and debt restructuring transactions, with particular expertise acting for Chinese banks and on energy, mining and infrastructure projects.

He joins the team in Beijing as a partner, but will also cover Singapore. His hire comes as Ashurst continues to invest in its regional finance group in order to bring the practice in line with those in Australia and Europe.

The firm is also looking to tap the outbound finance market from China – now a key lender and source of capital for a number projects and borrowers around the world.

In October it also hired regulatory partner Ben Hammond in Hong Kong from Slaughter and May. Specialising in non-contentious regulatory work, Hammond's focus is on advising government, banks and corporates on UK, EU and international regulatory issues.

As for other hires in Hong Kong, managing partner of Edwards Wildman Palmer's city office Martin Lister has moved across to Simmons & Simmons.

Specialising in international insurance, regulatory and corporate matters in Asia, his arrival is expected to strengthen the UK firm's insurance team as it looks to tap increased corporate activity among insurers and a rise in insurance regulation. He joins as a partner.

Herbert Smith Freehills' Hong Kong office has at the same time taken on former SFC counsel John Siu as a senior Consultant.

Siu advises on a range of regulatory, investigatory and compliance matters. He joined the regulator in 2012, and during his time there advised the commission on market misconduct cases, as well as civil and criminal matters arising from the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

Before the SFC he spent almost 10 years at local and international firms in the city, mostly practising as a litigator. He also worked in-house at Hutchison Telecommunications for almost two years.

Earlier HSF also recruited Will Hallatt in the Hong Kong financial services regulatory practice, and globally gave the team a significant boost with the hire of Andrew Procter from Deutsche Bank.

Moving down to Singapore, Russel Low, formerly a senior lawyer at Wikborg Rein and Pan Asia Law in the city-state, has joined Norton Rose Fulbright as a shipping and offshore of counsel.

Low's practice focuses on offshore shipping and construction, including engineering and construction contracts, ship and rig building projects and disputes, and the sale and leaseback of offshore vessels.

He is to work closely with shipping and offshore partners Gervais Green, Ben Rose, Robert Driver and Ian Teare in Singapore as the firm continues to grow its shipping and offshore practice throughout Asia Pacific.

Low's appointment follows that of Jonathan Silver in Hong Kong, who specialises in China shipping work.

Another firm to strengthen its Singapore marine practice is Clyde & Co. The firm this month appointed Gerald Yee from Colin Ng & Partners, where he led the admiralty and shipping group.

As well as working for Clydes, Yee will be a director with Clasis LLC, the Singapore arm of Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore joint law venture.

Yee's practice includes a broad spectrum of contentious and non-contentious matters for clients in the marine industry, both in Singapore and across South East Asia.

In Australia, the head of construction and infrastructure at Allion Legal, Brendan Reilly, has left the firm to join the Perth office of Squire Patton Boggs.

Reilly has over 15 years of experience representing clients on construction and infrastructure projects in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and parts of South East Asia.

He also has in-house experience, working in senior corporate counsel roles at John Holland Group and Hancock Prospecting. He follows former colleagues Denise McLaughlin and Melissa Koo to the firm, both of whom transitioned last month.

Over the last 18 months Squire Patton Boggs has hired a number of lawyers in the Australian construction practice.

Last year, construction partner Avendra Singh moved over from Colin Biggers & Paisley, while project finance specialist Josh Clarke arrived from Watson Farley & Williams and the former head of infrastructure at the Canberra office of Minter Ellison, Fabio Fior, transferred to the firm's project office in Darwin.

In Melbourne, Baker & McKenzie has hired corporate lawyer and a former general counsel of the Daily Mail and General Trust Group, Peter Ickeringill.

Ickeringill concentrates on major mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing, media and financial services sectors, and has previously been based in London, Hong Kong, Beijing.

Baker & McKenzie has also recently recruited in Singapore in its disputes and capital markets practices.

While corporate finance lawyer Chen Yih Pong has moved to Bakers' member firm Wong & Leow from Wong Partnership, arbitrator Nandakumar Ponniya has also moved over from White & Case.

Pong focuses on initial public offerings, share placements, rights issue, and other transactional and advisory matters involving listed companies. 

Ponniya meanwhile works mostly on oil and gas, infrastructure and construction disputes.

He has 18 years' experience and has advised on disputes in Singapore, Indonesia, India, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. He has also handled corporate and commercial matters.

Hogan Lovells has ramped up Singapore as well, recruiting energy partner Alex Cull from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Cull joins the infrastructure, energy, resources and projects group, following the arrivals of partners Alexander Dolgov in Moscow and Joe Kim in Tokyo.

Lastly Chinese firm DeHeng has bolstered its antitrust capabilities to coincide with increasing antitrust enforcement activity and litigation in China.

It recently promoted partner Frank Fine – based in the firm's Brussels office – to head of international antitrust.

He had previously been senior counsel since August 2012, with responsibility for EU antitrust matters.

In his new role, Fine will continue practicing EU competition law, but will also help manage the antitrust needs of DeHeng 's clients around the world, while continuing to support colleagues in China.