Squire Sanders, which is gearing up to open in Singapore, has enhanced its Asia presence with three high-profile hires from fellow U.S. firm Bryan Cave, including the managing partners of the latter’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices and another partner from Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong hires are Mao Tong, Bryan Cave’s managing partner there, and partner Peter Chow. Mao, who was a Squire Sanders partner for eight years before joining Bryan Cave, is a corporate transactional specialist who has worked in the energy and mining sectors, private equity transactions and foreign direct investment into China. Mao’s previous employers include Hogan & Hartson, and General Electric, where he was general counsel for Greater China.
Chow, who led Bryan Cave’s international arbitration and dispute resolution practice in Asia, handles disputes related to energy and resources, infrastructure and construction projects, international trade, maritime and general commercial matters. Prior to joining Bryan Cave, he worked with Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong and Mallesons in Hong Kong and Melbourne.
With more than 20 years of international experience as an energy, resources and infrastructure lawyer, Ignatius Hwang, who was formerly the managing partner of Bryan Cave's Singapore office, counts power company CMS Energy – where he was an in-house counsel – and Freehills among his previous employers.
“The business environment in China is changing,” said James Tsang, managing partner of Squire Sanders’ Hong Kong office, in a statement. “Increasingly, the opportunities associated with the Chinese legal market involve outbound investment. International arbitration activity is growing in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Mao Tong, Peter and Ignatius bring considerable international experience to the firm and, with our global platform, Squire Sanders is ideally suited to represent Chinese companies investing elsewhere in the world.”
Squire Sanders currently has about 115 lawyers across its five Asia offices. ALB
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