UK-based law firm Eversheds has launched in Singapore and appointed DLA Piper's Singapore managing director to head the new office.

The office is the firm's 41st worldwide and second in East Asia, and is intended to act as the firm's hub in the region, working closely with the Shanghai office and the soon to be launched Hong Kong office. It will focus on the financial services and technology industries, and will be headed by Desmond Ong, who held the title as DLA Piper's Singapore managing director for eight years.

“The time felt right to move on to a fresh challenge and to find a platform from which to continue to service clients,” said Ong, on the motivation behind his move. “One of the recurring issues for me at DLA in recent times, brought about by its growth, was that of professional and business conflicts, which has led to us having to decline instructions.”

Due to ‘fiduciary obligations’, Ong did not bring any DLA Piper colleagues with him, but indicated that the new Eversheds office will be bolstering its numbers soon. “Once news broke that I was leaving, a number of my former colleagues decided that they wanted to leave DLA as well,” said Ong. “Some of them have ended up with Eversheds while others have moved on elsewhere. We currently have three partners and 15 people in total in the Singapore office. We are still looking to recruit and will do so judiciously in the coming days.”

Ong’s appointment follows a line of similar recruitments for Eversheds, through lateral hires from rival firms. Securing Linklaters’ Peter Corne for its Shanghai launch in 2006, the firm followed with the appointment of former Heller Ehrman Asia managing partner Nick Seddon to head its regional expansion, encompassing the Singapore and Hong Kong launches. Ong and Seddon will be working closely together to build the Asia practice.

Eversheds will join offshore firm Walkers, which has just launched in Singapore.