Addleshaw Goddard has hired Bob Charlton, the former Asia head and Hong Kong office managing partner of the legacy UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, as its head for the Asia-Pacific region.
Charlton will take over the reins from Nigel Francis, who was Addleshaws’ Asia head for four years. Francis, a disputes expert, will return to focus full-time on his contentious practice in Hong Kong and the broader Asia region.
One of Charlton’s key roles as the APAC head will be to “substantially increase AG’s partner and associate headcount in order to deliver planned growth across the region,” the firm said in a statement. He will also help the UK firm enter new markets and increase work for the corporate and commercial, infrastructure, real estate and funds teams.
In the past six years, AG has grown in Asia from one partner and one paralegal to four partners and more than 30 fee-earners. The firm has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, regional business groups for China, India, Korea and Malaysia, and a formal alliance in Japan with local firm Hashidate Law Office.
“We are making significant progress in relation to the international expansion of our business and Nigel has our thanks for the formative role he has played for us in Hong Kong,” said John Joyce, AG’s managing partner.
“Delivering the next phase of our plan for the Asia Pacific region requires dedicated leadership in the region which will bring even greater connectivity in the market, and we are therefore very happy adding to the leadership team someone with Bob's leadership experience, reputation, board-level relationships, and intimate market knowledge.”
Charlton recently left legacy firm BLP ahead of its merger with legacy U.S. firm Bryan Cave, which ALB first reported last week. During his three and a half years at BLP, he oversaw the UK firm’s steady growth in Asia. In the 2014 edition of ALB’s top 50 largest international law firms in Asia ranking, BLP was ranked No. 44 with 40 lawyers, and in 2017 it was ranked No. 38 with 62 lawyers.
Before BLP, Charlton was DLA Piper’s APAC managing partner. Prior to that, he spent 30 years at Magic Circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance.
