Legal Industry News & Trends: Oct Week 2

1. Market

China introduced a draft law aimed at boosting the private sector. Measures include promoting fair competition, improving investment opportunities and safeguarding private firms’ rights through ways like addressing protections for private property and limiting criminal investigations.

Takeaway: The law seeks to create a more stable and predictable business environment to restore business confidence and strengthen the private sector’s role in China’s economic modernisation.

2. People Moves

i. SG & MY: Rahmat Lim

Rahmat Lim: Rahmat Lim & Partners hired Desmond Liew Zhi Hong as a partner to enhance the firm’s tax advisory and litigation expertise. Liew was formerly a tax partner at Halim Hong & Quek, where he advised on direct and indirect tax issues and handled complex tax disputes across Malaysian courts. He is also an associate member of the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia.

ii. HK & CN: Ogier, Morgan Lewis, YaoWang and China Commercial

Ogier: Offshore law firm Ogier hired Dennis Li as a partner for its Hong Kong office. Li is experienced in hedge funds, private equity, real estate and cryptocurrency funds. He will focus on investment funds and digital assets, including token issuance, decentralised autonomous organisations, and regulatory compliance in the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands. Li’s prior experience includes roles at CCB International, Huobi Technology, Travers Thorp Alberga, Simmons & Simmons, and Walkers.

Morgan Lewis: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius bolstered its regulatory practice in Beijing and Shanghai by adding White & Case’s Guo Bingna as a partner. Guo has over two decades of experience, of which 19 years were spent at O’Melveny & Myers. She is strong in regulatory, compliance and investigation matters. These include anti-corruption, corporate internal investigations, cross-border litigation, international commercial arbitration and mediation, data privacy and protection, trade compliance, and crisis management. Her addition is set to enhance the firm’s white-collar practice in China.

Zhong Lun: Zhong Lun Law Firm added Li Wei as a partner to its Shenzhen office. Li has over 20 years of expertise in tax and wealth management, particularly in family civil trusts, private wealth protection, inheritance planning, and dispute resolution for divorce and inheritance matters. He previously served at Yingke Law Offices.

YaoWang: YaoWang Law Offices added three senior legal experts to its Shanghai team.

• Melody Yang: Yang is experienced in offering China market entry advisory services for global asset management firms and assisting Chinese asset managers with launching USD funds abroad. She was previously a funds and reg partner at Simmons & Simmons.
• Sherry Si: Si is experienced in establishing asset managers and launching asset management products. She previously served at Han Kun Law Offices.
• Frank Zhuang: Zhuang specialises in advising on cross-border M&As and general corporate and compliance matters. He has close to 20 years of experience working with multinational and Chinese firms and was previously from Fexun Partners.

China Commercial: China Commercial Law Firm added five new partners to its Shanghai office.

• Xu Shanshan: Xu has close to 19 years of experience in handling admiralty and maritime insurance cases. Besides this, she also focuses on ocean engineering, international trade and logistics.
• Zhou Hongbin: Zhou is experienced in investment, financing, M&As and corporate law, designing practical transaction solutions and drafting transaction documents based on commercial and judicial practices.
• Wan Yang: Wan, who has over 20 years of experience in the Netherlands and German markets, focuses on cross-border investments, corporate law, and M&As. She previously served as the Greater China Representative and Asia Representative at Houthoff.
• Xu Lei: Xu focuses on corporate listing, equity structure construction, equity transaction arrangement, corporate pre-reorganisation, corporate tax and administrative litigation practice, and commercial contract dispute litigation and arbitration. He was previously the chairman of a listed company.
• Zhang Wenjia: Zhang focuses on corporate and family offshore structuring and landing services, corporate governance, shareholding structure, and civil and commercial dispute resolution.

iii. KR & JP: Atsumi & Sakai, Lee & Co

Atsumi & Sakai: Atsumi & Sakai added two experienced partners to its team:

• Christopher Marc Hodgens: Hodgens, an Australian-qualified foreign lawyer, has over 30 years of experience and is fluent in Japanese. His expertise lies in hotel management agreements, cross-border corporate and commercial transactions, and M&As, particularly in real estate and hospitality. Hodgens previously served at Baker & McKenzie Tokyo for 25 years, where he played a lead role in key deals. This includes InterContinental Hotels Group’s acquisition of a stake in a joint venture with ANA and APG Asset Management’s investment in OneAsia’s data centre platform.
• Makiko Harada: Harada was formerly with JICA and Dickinson Wright and is experienced in corporate loans, data protection, and project finance.

This move continues Atsumi & Sakai’s recent growth, following the addition of banking and corporate partners and the opening of new offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Brussels.

Lee & Co: Lee & Ko hired Park Eun Young, a veteran in international arbitration, to lead its international disputes group.

• Expertise: His expertise spans various sectors, including energy, finance, insurance, infrastructure, intellectual property and M&As.
• Experience: Park, who has over 30 years of experience, was previously the founding co-chair of Kim & Chang’s international arbitration and cross-border litigation group before establishing his own independent practice, Park Arbitration Chambers, in 2022. He has also been actively involved with prestigious institutions like the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the International Bar Association (IBA) Asia Pacific Arbitration Group.

iv. UAE: Clyde & Co

Clyde & Co: Clyde & Co added a partner to its financial services regulatory practice and lost another from its arbitration and litigation practice.

• New Partner: Tom Bicknell re-joins Clyde & Co after seven years at Pinsent Masons. He specialises in non-contentious financial services work and is experienced in handling regulatory mandates for banks, insurers, intermediaries, fund managers and fintech clients in the Middle East.
• Departure: Nassif BouMalhab, head of arbitration at Clyde & Co, has left for Greenberg Traurig after 15 years at Clyde & Co. BouMalhab has over 20 years of experience in handling complex disputes across sectors such as education, property development, and hospitality. He has served as party counsel in over 50 arbitration cases and was involved in legislative reforms for arbitration laws in the UAE.

2. Business Moves

i. Skadden to Open its First Middle Eastern Office

Skadden, a prominent New York law firm, is opening its first Middle Eastern office in Abu Dhabi. Michael Hilton, formerly a corporate partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and the managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa, has been brought in to lead this new venture. Hilton has a strong track record in corporate law, having advised on deals valued at £30.5 billion. The firm has seen a decline in partner numbers over recent years but maintains a single-tier partnership model where all partners are equity partners.

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