Paul Hastings Washington, D.C. offices. (Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM Media)

Paul Hastings and Pinsent Masons are the latest firms to respond to coronavirus fears by cancelling events.

Paul Hastings is postponing its partners' conference. A partner at the firm's London office told Law.com International that the event was due to take place in Florida at the end of the month.

A spokesperson at the firm said in a statement: "Given the risks surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak and the international travel restrictions imposed by various countries where we have offices, it became impossible to hold any firm-wide meetings under the circumstances, resulting in the postponement of our partners' meeting at the end of March.

"We have issued guidance to everyone in our firm regarding the impact of COVID-19 and have formed a task force team to address the questions and concerns of our clients."

The firm currently comprises a total of 318 partners worldwide, according to the firm's website. It has not yet confirmed a new date for the postponed partners' meeting.

Meanwhile, Pinsents has cancelled a technology conference it had planned to host next week in Hong Kong, according to a cancellation notice on LinkedIn.

The post said the event had previously been scheduled for November, but had been postponed until this month due to the Hong Kong protests. It is now cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19, and will return as the 2020 Technology Conference in November.

A spokesperson at the firm said in a statement: "The wellbeing of our people and those attending our offices is of paramount importance. For this reason the firm has decided to postpone its tech conference in Hong Kong. As would be expected, we are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and are working with our colleagues across the network to ensure we are taking appropriate action."

Meanwhile, a partner at Eversheds Sutherland also told Law.com International that American partners at the firm have been told not to book flight tickets for the firm's partners' conference taking place in Paris in June yet. The firm said it was monitoring the situation closely.

The firms are the latest of many firms to take precautions to protect their lawyers and clients from the virus.

Linklaters cancelled its partners' conference meant to take place in Berlin at the end of next month and will replace it with a "virtual conference".

The firm has also since announced that it will be cancelling all large meetings and conferences taking place in March where more than 30 people are anticipated to attend.

Last week, Latham & Watkins also cancelled its global partners' meeting in New York in a bid to limit the risk of exposing its lawyers to the virus.

As of March 5, over 95,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across a total of 85 countries and almost 3,300 people died from the virus worldwide, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization.

With reporting by Simon Lock and Hannah Roberts.