Latham & Watkins law firm news

Orrick has hired Latham & Watkins' partner William Chun Fai Woo to join its Hong Kong capital markets practice.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is the latest in a long line of elite US firms to undergo localisation following the moves of other Hong Kong-based US firms – most recently Davis Polk and Latham & Watkins which underwent the same process in 2010.

Following an exhaustive research process involving a record number of submissions from law firms and in-house legal departments this year, ALB is proud to announce the finalists for the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2011, the most important event on SE Asia's legal calendar.

A subsidiary of the second largest coal producer of Indonesia, Adaro Energy has inked a US$400m senior loan facility from a syndicate of 12 banks to refinance existing debts and capital expenditures. The loan secured has a maturity period of seven years – the longest tenor of any major financing to date in the Indonesian market.

A deal that is indicative of a turn in tide for the shipping sector, Shearman Sterling, Latham & Watkins and K&L Gates have all play a role in advising one of the biggest shipping-related private equity financing deals to date.

Jeffrey Sun Jie, formerly Shanghai-based counsel with Latham & Watkins, has joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick) as a partner in the China corporate group.

前瑞生顾问孙捷律师(Jeffrey)加盟奥睿，担任其中国业务部合伙人。孙捷将常驻奥睿上海办事处。

Deal highlights from the last week from ALB

Tilleke & Gibbins, Thailand’s largest independent law firm, has appointed veteran legal academic Dr Jakkrit Kuanpoth as of counsel to the firm’s intellectual property protection group.

Al Tamimi, the largest independent law firm in the Middle East, has laterally hired Abu Dhabi’s Jay Fortin from Patton Boggs to lead its office in Doha, Qatar – a key jurisdiction for Al Tamimi. Fortin’s appointment is effective Jan 2011.

UK-based firm Wragge & Co has opened its fifth international office – and its first in the Middle East – in Abu Dhabi last week in the form of a joint venture firm named Wragge & Co Legal Consultants.

Regional firm DFDL Mekong has told ALB that it is expecting to convert its representative office license in Singapore to a fully-fledge foreign law practice (FLP) license this month, pending approval from the Ministry of Law. It plans to launch its Singapore office by early January 2011.

White & Case has inked a tie-up with the Riyadh arm of Gide Loyrette Nouel in a renewed push to strengthen its Saudi practice after losing its Saudi sponsor to Latham & Watkins earlier this year.

Qatar is in the process of launching new and stricter licensing requirements for international law firms looking to establish an outpost in the lucrative GCC state.

The rapidly growing renewable energy market is moving into overdrive as China Suntien Green Energy becomes the fourth Chinese clean-energy company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a little over two weeks.

伴随可再生能源市场的回暖，中国新能源企业再次掀起香港上市热潮。 近日,新天绿色能源在香港上市,共筹得资金3.7亿美元。

The US$1.2bn acquisitional financing of five gas power stations as well as a 54 kilometre gas pipeline for a group of associated companies in Mexico – all subsidiaries of Mitsui & Co and Tokyo Gas – is a sign of a resurgence in the Asia-Pacific project finance market and overseas acquisitions by Japanese utilities and trading companies.

Less than a month after its formation, SNR Denton International law firm has seen its Muscat head of infrastructure and projects, Mary Allan, lured away by US firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (Curtis).

Asia will undergo infrastructure and arbitration booms in the next ten years and the expanding market has room to accommodate more foreign law practices.

WongPartnership has recently received approval to launch its second China representative office, in Beijing.