UK law firm Mishcon de Reya has hired U.S. tax experts Timothy Burns and Wei Zhang as partners in Hong Kong from Withers. They are set to join Mishcon in the coming months.

Zhang was, until recently, the managing director of Withers’ Hong Kong office. Following the announcement of her impending departure, Withers has named Jocelyn Tsao as the new managing director.

Having opened an office in Hong Kong in 2021 that operates in association with local firm Karas So, Mishcon has been steadily expanding its presence in the city. In January 2022, it hired five lawyers in Hong Kong through Karas from Howse Williams, including Kevin So as a partner, and in November, a disputes team led by partner Jonathan Mok joined Karas.

Burns and Zhang have experience in tax and wealth planning for high-net-worth clients in Asia, including crossborder trust and estate planning involving trusts with U.S. beneficiaries, trusts created by U.S. tax residents and wealth planning structures with U.S. persons as fiduciaries. They also advise on expatriation, pre-immigration to the U.S., investment in U.S. real estate and U.S. federal tax and reporting compliance.

Burns became a partner at Withers in 2014, while Zhang was elevated to the partnership in 2017. In 2022, ALB named her one of Asia’s Top 15 Private Wealth Lawyers.