Baker Botts has appointed Jun Bautista, former director of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution’s (ICDR) Asian office, to boost the firm’s regional arbitration network and connections.
Bautista helped establish the ICDR’s Asian offices in 2007 and, asdirector, administered international cases and raised the centre’s profile by promoting arbitration in Asian countries. At Baker Botts he will work in the Hong Kong office alongside special counsel Steven Lim, who heads the office’s arbitration and dispute resolution practice. Lim said that Bautista’s connections will help clients in Asian dispute resolution matters. “Jun knows how the ICDR works on the inside and has close relationships with other arbitration institutions which will be helpful to us,” said Lim. “He adds another dimension to our practice.”
The firm’s Hong Kong partner-in-charge, David Powers, said that while Baker Botts is well known for energy & resources, Jun’s appointment is not specifically intended to diversify the practice. “While our practice includes energy & resources, that’s not the whole extent of it,” Powers said. “Our Asia practice, and in particular our disputes practice, is not just about energy & resources – even though they are important to us. This hire is intended to grow our disputes practice in Asia.”
Lim added that other firms are in the region are bolstering their arbitration practices. “There has been a recent trend for firms to add to their disputes practice or start a new practice in Hong Kong or Singapore, and … we established a presence in Asia in January 2008, slightly ahead of the recent influx,” he said. “Our strategy is to bring on board people who know Asian arbitration, and Jun’s appointment is part of that strategy.”
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