Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong. Photo: Lee Yiu Tung/Shutterstock

Longtime Paul Hastings partner Bretton King in Hong Kong has left the firm and relocated to Miami to move in-house – the latest in a string of partner departures in Hong Kong and China.

King joins Nexwell, a Miami-based investment firm that focuses on solar power and other decarbonising projects, as chief legal officer and managing director. Nexwell was launched earlier this year by Andreas Mustad and Pablo Pulido, the former chief executive officer and global business development head, respectively, of European solar power producer and J.P. Morgan subsidiary Sonnedix Group – a client of King's.

At Paul Hastings, King's practice focused on general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, and banking and finance. In 2014, King represented Sonnedix in the establishment of a joint venture with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The asset manager eventually acquired the solar power producer in 2016, with Paul Hastings also representing Sonnedix on that deal.

More recently, King and former Hong Kong partner Douglas Freeman advised Ping An ZQ China Growth Opportunity Ltd., an investment firm backed by Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., on a $210 million investment in Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., a skincare product-maker based in Utah, in 2016.

King leaves Paul Hastings after more than 13 years with the firm. He joined Paul Hastings in 2006 as a partner from Milbank, where he was an associate in Hong Kong for almost six years. Previously, he was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for two years.

"We appreciate Brett's contributions to the firm and wish him well as he relocates to Florida to join with long-time clients in a growing alternative energy business enterprise," said Hong Kong office chair Neil Torpey in a statement.

Several partners have left Paul Hastings' Hong Kong office in recent years. Bonnie Yung left in April to join Big Four accounting firm EY's affiliated Hong Kong law firm, LC Lawyers, and Steven Winegar, Paul Hastings' former Hong Kong office chair, joined Ping An Insurance as international general counsel last fall. Both Yung and Winegar focused on initial public offerings in Hong Kong – an area former Paul Hastings lawyers told The Asian Lawyer earlier this year that the firm wanted to pull back from and focus on more lucrative work, such as M&A. In 2017, Freeman and fellow private equity partner Victor Chen left Paul Hastings to join Goodwin Procter.

Paul Hastings replenished its Hong Kong partnership by promoting M&A lawyer Bonnie Kong and capital markets specialist Zhenya Wang this year. The firm also recruited capital markets partners Samuel Ng and Jason Kuo last year from Morrison & Foerster and Troutman Sanders, respectively. Late last year, the firm relocated Torpey, a corporate partner, from New York to fill the Hong Kong office chair role after Winegar's departure. The Hong Kong office has about 30 lawyers, including 13 partners.

The firm also lost partners in China. In April, Shanghai office chief representative and litigation partner Haiyan Tang left to join CBC Group, a Chinese private equity firm focused on the healthcare sector, as chief legal and compliance officer and a managing director; and Beijing office chief representative and capital markets partner Nan Li joined Chinese firm Tian Yuan Law Firm in Hong Kong.

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