Following several rounds of staff cuts and pay freezes over the past few months, international firms have announced a wave of partner promotion and lateral hires in Asia.

Fulbright & Jaworski is one of the latest firms to grow its Asia practice. It has added six lawyers to its Hong Kong office, hiring China practice lawyer Jessica Fei (pictured) as a counsel, transferring international dispute partners Richard Hill and Stefan Ricketts from London to Hong Kong, and adding three new associates - Eric Wong, Fung Lin Leung and Pengfei Fu.

Fei joins Fulbright from the China practice team of WongPartnership, where she was the head of dispute resolution in China. She focuses on international arbitration, litigation and alternative dispute resolution. She will work in the firm's Asia disputes team with Richard Hill, who relocated to Hong Kong from London as part of the firm's continuing expansion in Asia.

Stefan Ricketts, who served as general counsel of a major energy company before joining Fulbright's London office, will work with the energy transactions team in Hong Kong on outbound investment work with two of the three new associates.

"We have seen rapid growth, market liberalisation and the transformation of the Chinese economy during the past decade," said Jeffrey Blount, the head of Fulbright's China and Asia-Pacific practice groups. "As Asian markets have matured, attracted vast amounts of foreign capital and otherwise become more integrated into the global economy, we have seen a predictable increase in complex disputes."

Other international firms to have recently strengthened expertise in key areas include Vinson & Elkins, Freshfields, Herbert Smith, Linklaters and Latham & Watkins.