Latham hires Kirkland & Ellis securities partner in Hong Kong
Kirkland partner returns to former firm six years after joining as part of an eight-partner team hire
February 13, 2018 at 05:27 AM
3 minute read
Hong Kong securities partner Benjamin Su has left Kirkland & Ellis to rejoin Latham & Watkins after leaving the firm in 2011.
Su, a US securities specialist, advises Chinese companies on listings in Hong Kong and the US. Last year, he acted for Singapore-based e-commerce company Sea on an $885m (£640m) initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. He also regularly advises on the US securities law aspects of debt and equity offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
"Ben's return to Latham…is an exciting development for the practice in Greater China and the wider region," said Latham global corporate vice-chair Michael Sturrock. "His unique experience and track record representing issuers and investment banks on equity and debt deals is well aligned with our practice strengths."
Su left Latham in 2011 as part of a high-profile eight-partner group hire made by Kirkland during the height of Chinese companies' overseas listing activities. He joined Kirkland with former Latham partners David Zhang and John Otoshi, alongside former Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom partners Nicholas Norris, Dominic Tsun and Li-Chien Wong and former Allen & Overy partners Ashley Young and Douglas Murning.
Among the eight, Otoshi retired from Kirkland in 2016; Hong Kong law securities lawyer Tsun left the firm earlier in 2017, and finance specialist Murning moved to DLA Piper late last year. As Legal Week sister title The Asian Lawyer reported last year, many US firms are reassessing their China practices as the market grows increasingly competitive, especially in the corporate and capital markets space.
Latham's US securities law practice in Asia lost senior "China Hands" when Zhang and Su left in 2011; before that, it also lost former partner Julie Gao to Skadden in 2009. Last year, former US securities partner Eugene Lee also left to join Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore associate firm Prolegis.
Meanwhile, Latham's Beijing head Yilong Du has left the firm to become general counsel for international affairs of China's ride-sharing app developer Didi Chuxing, the Chinese version of Uber.
In 2015, Latham hired capital markets partner Du from Goldman Sachs, where he was an executive director and senior in-house counsel. Du joined in Hong Kong and soon moved to head the firm's Beijing office.
But Du has now left the firm to join ride-sharing app developer Didi Chuxing as general counsel for international affairs. In 2016, Didi Chuxing bought out Uber's China business for $7bn (£5bn). The company has received investment from some of the world's biggest tech companies, including Apple, Tencent, and Alibaba, and it is planning to launch operations outside China this year.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Can Labour's New Budget Steady the Ship? Big Moves On UK Tax Reform and Fiscal Stability
5 minute read
Cracking Canada: How International Law Firms Penetrate the Country's Legal Market
6 minute read
Hong Kong IPO Market Shows Signs of Slow but Steady Recovery
Mexico's Judicial Reforms and the Implications for Foreign Investors
5 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
