U.S. law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld said it has added partner Tarun Warriar to its special situations and private credit team in Hong Kong, less than a month after losing its restructuring head in the city to rival DLA Piper.
Warriar was most recently a managing director at global investment firm Varde Partners. Before that, he was a restructuring partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Akin Gump said in a statement.
Warriar is the fifth partner Washington, D.C.-headquartered Akin Gump has added to its global special situations and private credit practice this year, following hires in Boston, New York and London.
The planned expansion of the practice “anticipates the growing needs of our clients,” Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith said in a statement.
Clients are investing “increasing amounts of capital” into special situations strategies in Asia, practice co-leader Ranesh Ramanathan said in a statement.
Akin Gump’s special situations group has seen two partner departures in New York this year to rival law firms Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
The firm also lost Hong Kong restructuring head Naomi Moore to DLA Piper earlier this month.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer hired a partner to its Hong Kong restructuring practice this month from Ropes & Gray, which said it is shutting down its business restructuring practice in the city after a “review of client needs in the region.”
Sullivan & Cromwell added restructuring partner Jacqueline Tang from Kirkland & Ellis in Hong Kong in May.
Linklaters added a Hong Kong restructuring practice leader from Allen & Overy in October last year.
