GE law firm news

A summary of deals information received by ALB this week.

Covington & Burling has hired experienced life sciences lawyer Shaoyu Chen to be managing director of the firm’s food and drug practice in China.

2011 promises to be another year of intrigue and transformation for many of Australia and New Zealand’s best-known firms. ALB starts the year by nominating ten firms for whom 2011 will be a particularly critical year. Whether they are law firms primed for growth or ones that are looking to recover from a setback, here are the firms that have a point to prove to the market.

US firm Nixon Peabody has forGEd a formal agreement with ALB Hong Kong Law Awards 2010 Boutique Law Firm of the Year finalist Cheng Wong Lam & Partners this week as part of its push to establish a presence in Hong Kong.

Freshfields Bruckhaus DerinGEr has added three new counsels to its Hong Kong practice: Edward Freeman (corporate), Gwen Wong (corporate), and Richard Bird (IP/IT). Freshfields has promoted 11 lawyers globally, effective from 1 Nov 2010. This round of promotions is in addition to the nine lawyers already promoted in May this year.

A managing partner and lawyer of 29 years has been banned by the Federal Court from sending debt collection letters until further notice.

Leading international dispute resolution centre – the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) – has announced senior counsel Cavinder Bull will be the new deputy chairman of the SIAC board of directors, effective from 1 October 2010.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati will extend its roots in China and launch into Asia from a new office in Hong Kong – to be set up by recent partner hire, Weiheng Chen, in collaboration with current head of China, Carmen Chang.

为扩展中国业务，Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati事务所宣布即将在香港成立其亚洲的第二个办公室，同时任命最近加盟的合伙人陈炜恒为律所中国地区联席主管。

Talks of Australian law firm merGErs may be continuing to simmer,but the real action is happening in the Northern hemisphere

US firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has opened its second office in Asia – in Hong Kong.

美国Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher律师事务所为了进一步扩展国际平台，近日在香港成立了其在亚洲的第二间分所。

Just over a month after losing Rocky Lee to Cadwalader in Beijing, DLA Piper has lost a further two partners from its Hong Kong office : Gigi Cheah and Justin Davidson, former co-heads of the firm’s TMT/IP practice, have defected to Norton Rose.

Dewey & LeBoeuf further cemented its presence in Kazakhstan by taking the lead advisor role for the $700m Ekibastuz power station financing deal in Kazakhstan, which is one of the larGEst coal-fired power stations in the world.

Kartik Ganapathy has been poached from his role as head of investment practice of Asia’s sixth- larGEst firm by Indus Law’s fund and merGErs and acquisition group, joining them as an equity partner.

Indian firm Hemant Sahai Associates (HSA) has elevated two lawyers to its partnership in an effort to rebuild its practice after its short-lived merGEr with fellow Indian firm Paras Kuhad & Associates.

On track to become the financial and commercial centre of South-West China, Chengdu's legal industry is undergoing significant chanGEs. Most are driven by growing demand in the middle and upper market segments. ALB reports

The Shenzhen stock exchanGE has recently seen some stellar debuts by domestic players – Shenzhen Hepalink’s US$868m IPO and Zhejiang Narada Power Source’s US$287m IPO on the Shenzhen Growth Enterprises Market board.

Citi India has appointed former GE Capital (India) GEneral counsel, Sandip Beri, as its new country head of legal.

Outsourcing legal work is not always the best option for legal departments and poses risk, according to various GEneral counsels who responded to ALB’s In-house Survey 2010.