Shearman & Sterling has hired Li Chen as an M&A partner in Beijing from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

An expert in Chinese outbound transactions, Chen represents power, mining and industrial companies as well as private equity firms in China-related public and private acquisitions and dispositions. She assisted the Akin Gump team with Russian oil and gas giant Lukoil on its $1.1 billion sale of its Kazakh oil assets to Sinopec in 2015.

She was an associate at Shearman for eight years before joining Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in 2011 as of counsel. She joined Akin Gump in 2013 as a corporate partner.

“We are pleased that Li is returning to the firm. Her addition highlights the firm’s ongoing strategic investment to strengthen and broaden the reach of our M&A practice in China and across the globe,” said Shearman senior partner Creighton Condon in a statement.

The firm hired China M&A partner Stephanie Tang from Kirkland & Ellis in 2015.