Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has hired Jeffrey Chen as a partner in its Hong Kong office. Chen, who is widely regarded as one of the region’s leading structured finance and securitization lawyers, joins the firm from fellow U.S. player Mayer Brown JSM where he was also a partner.

Rocky Lee, head of Cadwalader’s Asia practice, said the appointment of Chen will allow the firm to develop the full suite of debt, equity and hybrid capital markets services across the region.

"Jeff is experienced in limited recourse financing structures of all types, including asset-backed loans and asset-backed securities," Lee said. "He has pioneered limited recourse receivables financing in mainland China under existing PRC law.” Chen has advised on many of the headline structured finance transactions in Asia over the past decade, including Huarong AMC NPLs, Samsung Life’s RMBS, HKMC's cross-border Korean securitizations, and more recently a number of complex structured notes and derivatives litigation arising out of the global Lehman bankruptcy proceedings.

Chen’s appointment brings the total number of partners in the firm’s Greater China offices (Hong Kong and Beijing) to three.