Bangkok-based attorneys Stephen Bennett and Surasak Vajasit are on the move again, this time to US firm Hunton & Williams.

The Coudert Brothers partners, who were previously with Freshfields before the magic circle firm pulled out of Thailand last year, have agreed to terms with Hunton & Williams and will join its Bangkok office.

"Besides White & Case and Baker & McKenzie, which have large, local practices, the only credible US firm that has focused on high-value work for clients requiring international expertise and service is Hunton & Williams," said Bennett.

Negotiations are continuing between Hunton & Williams and Coudert's New York headquarters over the future of the remaining staff at the Bangkok office.

In the wake of the collapse of the Coudert Empire, every one of the firm's partners in each of its 28 global offices is now seeking employment elsewhere.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has already picked up Coudert's 40-lawyer Chinese practice, which DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary Asia managing director Nick Seddon described to ALB as "the jewel in the crown".

The west coast firm will take six partners from Coudert's Hong Kong office, one partner from Shanghai and two partners from Beijing, as well as all associates and staff in the three offices. The acquisition gives Orrick - which opened its first China office in Taiwan earlier this year - a significant foothold in the region.

Orrick chairman and CEO Ralph Baxter said: "The combination of Orrick and the legacy of Coudert's China practice in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing presents an extraordinary opportunity for Orrick. [This] platform will enable Orrick to 'hit the ground running' in China as we continue to develop a global resource to provide seamless advice to our clients."

Coudert partners voted on 17 August to disband the 152-year firm following a year of partner departures and office closures. The firm was in merger negotiations with Baker & McKenzie in an attempt to preserve the global network as a whole, but it is believed that Bakers did not want to take the firm as a whole.

One of the first international firms to arrive in China in 1979, Coudert has since followed in the footsteps of Altheimer & Gray, Brobeck Phleger & Harrison and Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault to become the fourth significant US firm to collapse in the past two years.