HFW has followed up its recent hire of Locke Lord’s Hong Kong managing partner Wing Cheung with the addition of a nine-member corporate finance team from the same firm, including partner Matthew Wong.

Besides Wong, who also specialises in capital markets, company law and securities regulatory compliance issues, the team includes counsel King Hui and Roger Wong and senior associate Carmen Liang.

With the departures of the team, Locke Lord now has a sole partner in Hong Kong - Greg Burch. When contacted by ALB, the firm said: “We have been talking internally with this team and their transition for some time. We look forward to continuing our strong Asia practice as we have – maintaining our Hong Kong law license and with attorneys across key sectors in our Hong Kong office, our U.S. offices and our London office. Greg Burch is our Hong Kong Office Managing Partner, operating with a few others from new office space. We will continue to carefully monitor the Hong Kong market.”

The loss of so many lawyers from Locke Lord comes at a time when the legal market in Greater China has been growing increasingly difficult for U.S. law firms. In the past few years, the likes of Troutman Sanders, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson have substantially withdrawn from the region, while a number of others are reportedly mulling their China presence.

HFW now has 85 lawyers in Greater China, including 22 partners.

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