HFW has launched a new transactions practice in Shanghai with a new partner hire and relocation of two of its own lawyers.

Daniel Leung joins the firm from Squire Patton Boggs where he was of counsel based in Shanghai. Leung advises on China-related cross-border investment and commercial transactions. He will first join HFW's Hong Kong office and then relocate to Shanghai, pending approval from Chinese regulators.

Leung joined legacy Squire Sanders in 2007 and spent five years at the firm's Hong Kong office before moving to Shanghai in 2012. He arrives with corporate associate Ren Furong, a former senior consultant at Squire Patton Boggs.*

In addition to Leung's hire, HFW will relocate to Shanghai asset finance partner Stephen Marais from Hong Kong and corporate associate Gordon Inkson from Singapore. With the additions, HFW will have 18 fee-earners in Shanghai, including five partners.*

Shanghai office head Nick Poynder said the corporate and transactions expertise will complement the firm's shipping and dispute resolution offerings. "It also demonstrates our continued and longstanding commitment to the Chinese market – we've been in Shanghai for two decades and have ambitious plans for the future," he said in a statement.

HFW opened its Shanghai office in 1999. In 2016, the firm entered a formal association with Chinese shipping specialist firm Wintell & Co in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

The firm said it has added 25 partners globally in the current fiscal year, including 16 lateral hires. Earlier this year, the firm launched an Australian employment practice with an eight-lawyer team led by former Dentons national employment and safety head Mark Sant.

The firm has more than 200 lawyers in seven offices across Asia and Australia. Firm senior partner Richard Crump is based in Singapore.

*Updated March 4: This story has been updated with the hire of associate Ren Furong from Squire Patton Boggs. The third and fourth paragraphs of this story are modified. 

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