DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe are slugging it out to take ownership of the recently-disbanded Coudert Brothers' Asia practice.

Hardly had the ink dried on Orrick's press statement last month that it would be taking the majority of the firm's Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai offices when DLA announced that it had secured the heart of the firm's Beijing office.

Nick Seddon, DLA Asian managing partner, said that Coudert Beijing managing partner Jingzhou Tao would be joining its new Beijing practice and that other lawyers from Coudert's Shanghai office would also be joining DLA.

DLA has applied for a licence to practice in Beijing and has hired a Clifford Chance lawyer, Matt Adler, to spearhead its Beijing entry.

After the demise of Coudert Brothers two months ago the firm's Asian partners have, for the most part, found new homes.

The future of Coudert's Singapore and Jakarta offices is still up in the air. The firm has five partners in its Singapore office and one in Jakarta.

Hong Kong partner and Coudert executive board member Christopher Stephens said that Coudert had been a great pioneer, but not a great settler. "There was a vision to be represented in all the principal cities of the world, but it wasn't backed up by a sound strategic overview or a financially viable business model," he told ALB.

Elsewhere in Asia, the remaining Coudert Bangkok team of Stephen Bennett and Surasak Vajasit - who were previously with Freshfields prior to its evacuation from Thailand last year - have moved to US firm Hunton & Williams.