Ince & Co's Asia head of energy Martin David has left the firm to join Baker & McKenzie as a partner in its Singapore energy practice.

David's exit is the latest in a string of departures from Ince including the firm's Singapore office head Richard Lovell and joint managing director of Incisive Law, Ince & Co's Formal Law Alliance in Singapore, Mohan Subbaraman, both of whom left last week.

David (pictured) left his post at Ince last Friday (30 October) and is set to join Baker & McKenzie once his appointment is approved by the regulator in the city-state.

He specialises in project development and high-value energy transactions. Also qualified as an engineer, he has experience working on both private and public construction and infrastructure projects including major public private partnerships.

martin-david-dla-piperHe has worked on many large energy M&A deals in Asia over the last 15 years including deals in Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

A spokesperson for Ince said: "Martin's practice focuses on projects and project finance particularly in the onshore energy and infrastructure sectors.

"Our firm's energy sector strength, and where we see greatest future growth, lies in the offshore energy arena including projects and project finance work."

He added that the firm was "committed to growing its transactional capability" and had "a number of lateral hires in the pipeline".

In the wake of Lovell and Subbaraman's departure Ince said it was relocating Asia head of admiralty law Harry Hirst from Hong Kong to bolster the firm's Singapore base, while finance lawyer Devandran Karunakaran has been promoted to partner in the city-state.

These moves, taking David's exit into account, will leave the firm with four partners in Singapore.

The Singapore exits are the latest in a series of departures from Ince globally including the departure of global head of shipping Faz Peermohamed, who is leaving to become chief executive of the Norwegian Hull Club at the end of the year, and the departure of six partners in the wake of a restructuring exercise in April.

Last month Legal Week reported that Ince & Co has been discussing merger options with its partnership, asking its lawyers to suggest possible merger targets. However, the firm insists it is yet to approach any rivals about a combination.

Speaking to Legal Week international senior partner, Jan Heuvels said the firm is also exploring other growth options including launching a consultancy service.