史密夫律师事务所已任命其长期合伙人庄智宇(Mark Johnson)担任新的亚洲负责人。庄氏目前是该所亚洲纠纷业务负责人，还是史密夫律所管治委员会成员。他将从二零一一年十月一日日起履新。届时，现任负责人欧达礼(Ashley Alder)将从该所离任，出任香港证券及期货事务监察委员会首席执行官。

庄氏上任后，将担任史密夫律所的亚洲执行长委员会主席，并将在该所亚洲战略的开发和实施方面扮演重要角色。

庄智宇对《亚洲法律杂志》说，他将致力于加强该所在核心业务领域的资源—资本市场，能源和资源以及纠纷解决—同时也将加强与其全球业务的纽带。他说:「我们将继续寻找机遇，扩展我们在亚洲的业务范围，并将更密切地和我们在欧洲的强劲业务相配合。随着亚洲和俄罗斯等地之间的投资流动继续强劲增长，对我们而言，这是未来真正具有潜力的地区。」

据《亚洲法律杂志》报道，史密夫在香港办公室拥有八十六名律师和合伙人，整个亚太业务拥有两百名律师和合伙人。

Herbert Smith has appointed long-time partner, Mark Johnson, as its new head of Asia. Johnson, who is currently the firm’s head of disputes for Asia and a member of Herbert Smith’s governance board, will take up his new position from 1 October 2011 as incumbent Ashley Alder departs the firm to assume the role of CEO of Hong Kong’s securities and futures commission.

As head of Asia, Johnson will chair the firm's Asia Executive Committee (AEC) and play a lead role in the development and implementation of the firm's Asia strategy. 

Johnson told ALB that he will look to bolster the firm’s resources in its core areas of practice—capital markets, energy & resources and dispute resolution— while strengthening ties with its global operations. “We will continue to look at what opportunities exist to expand our footprint in Asia and will also be looking to coordinate more closely with our strong European footprint,” he said. “This is an area of real potential for us in the future with investment flows between Asia and places like Russia continuing to grow very strongly.”

According to the ALB 50 has 86 lawyers and partners in its Hong Kong office and 200 lawyers and partners across its Asia pacific practice.ALB