Hong Kong disputes boutique Gall recently hired two partners: Evelyn Chan and Nick Dealy, from local firm Wilkinson & Grist and Swiss bank UBS, respectively.

Chan, who was previously with Gall as a senior associate until 2011, re-joined the firm in November and focuses on complex civil litigation, with a particular focus in PRC-related matters. "Evelyn Chan’s expertise broadens out our civil litigation further into Greater China; and she will work closely with our established team," said senior partner Nick Gall in a statement. "She is very well thought of in the market and is a strong addition to the practice."

Dealy, who joined earlier this month, focuses on business litigation as well as regulatory and criminal matters. At UBS, where he held various positions during his 18 years there, he was most recently the head of litigation and investigations for Asia Pacific, responsible for managing the litigation teams in charge of handling contentious matters, such as litigation and regulatory investigations, as well as complex internal investigations.

"Nick Dealy provides expertise and insight from the client‘s perspective having been in‐house for many years," said Gall. "His previous role combined strong litigation experience with investigatory and regulatory expertise; and we will be drawing on that in his new role."

While the firm gained two partners, it lost one – Brooke Holden – to Lipman Karas, a boutique litigation firm with offices in Hong Kong, Australia and London, last month. The Hong Kong firm now has six partners.

Three junior lawyers also joined Gall recently: Roy Yu, a registered foreign lawyer focusing on employment and regulatory matters; Catherine Tso, an associate in the family and divorce practice; and Wilson Cheung, a paralegal working across business litigation, employment law and regulatory law, and is due to be admitted as a solicitor in March.

Together with the two new partners, the five appointments "demonstrate the strength of our business as we go into 2018, across all our core practices: disputes and litigation, employment law, regulatory, restructuring and insolvency and family and divorce," said Gall. "Each appointment is important to us, as they are all driven by client need."

Gall was recently named Dispute Resolution Boutique Law Firm of the Year at The Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards 2017.