Skip to main content

Kirkland & Ellis has appointed restructuring specialist Kelley Naphtali as partner in its Hong Kong office.

Dual-qualified in Australia and Hong Kong, Naphtali was previously a partner at Lipman Karas, a boutique firm specialising in insolvency and litigation, and Hogan Lovells.

Naphtali will help boost K&E’s litigation capability for its restructuring team, which was launched in September 2014 with fellow ex- Hogan Lovells partners Neil McDonald and Damien Coles. Her work covers cross-border litigation and insolvency as well as pursuing claims arising from corporate collapses.

Some associates are expected to join Naphtali at K&E, which has a restructuring team comprising seven lawyers.  At present, it is advising on four major restructurings in Asia: those involving casino Macau Studio City (financial liabilities of more than $2 billion), Kaisa Holdings ($2.5 billion), Bumi Resources ($1 billion) and Berau Coal ($1 billion).

Recently, K&E has witnessed a flurry of comings and goings, including the hiring of debt finance partner David Irvine from Linklaters. However, it recently lost Beijing co-founding partner Ya-Chiao Chang to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, corporate partner Mengyu Lu to Sidley Austin, and Asia-based government enforcement and investigations practice head Samuel Williamson, who went on to launch Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s Shanghai office.

Related Articles

Indonesia’s AVYA builds construction expertise with new partner

Indonesian law firm AVYA Law has announced the appointment of Ryand Armilis as a new partner to lead its construction and infrastructure practice group.

Singapore: Former Cavenagh Law disputes partner joins Oon & Bazul

Elan Krishna, a former partner at Cavenagh Law, the Singapore Formal Law Alliance (FLA) firm of Clifford Chance, has joined local outfit Oon & Bazul to strengthen its dispute resolution practice.

Malaysia’s Zul Rafique welcomes back real estate pro from in-house role

by Nimitt Dixit |

Malaysian law firm Zul Rafique & Partners has bolstered its real estate capabilities with the addition of Ainal Marlinda Md Said, who joins from her role as legal head of property developer Sime Darby Property.