In another manifestation of a trend started by its US counterparts, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has recently hired Norton Rose’s China corporate finance head Freeman Chan to kick start its Hong Kong law practice.

The appointment comes hot on the heels of Davis Polk’s recent partner laterals (Paul Chow from Linklaters and Antony Dapiran from Freshfields) which were also part of its strategy in building its newly launched Hong Kong practice. In November, Milbank Tweed also announced its plans to hire ten lawyers in Beijing and Hong Kong collectively to boost its Hong Kong law capacity.

Chan, who is also a member of the takeovers and mergers panel of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, has advised on several recent Hong Kong IPOs, including the US$741m debut of Sihuan Pharmaceutical US$741m in October China Modern Dairy’s US$450m IPO of in November.

Cleary Gottlieb, which has more than 40 lawyers Hong Kong and Beijing, will be able to advise its global clients on Hong Kong law (mainly on capital markets, M&A and PE work) from February next year, according to its Hong Kong-based partner Clay Johnson. The capability will also allow it to better serve PE clients doing deals with Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies.

The firm advised on the US$2.2bn Rusal Hong Kong IPO earlier this year. ALB

Related stories:

• Firms advise on first Russian HKSE listing (8 February 2010)
• Davis Polk scores another lateral from Magic Circle firm (23 November 2010)
• Davis Polk launches HK law practice using ABC IPO lawyers (18 August 2010)
• Milbank Tweed all in for Hong Kong and Sino-Brazilian work (29 November 2010)