Douglas Clark, previously the global head of dispute resolution at IP law firm Rouse, has left the law firm to focus on his eponymous practice.

Douglas Clark LLP was established in Hong Kong in July last year and currently has two partners, with other partner being Jennifer Wu-Scharsig, formerly an attorney at Hong Kong-based accounting and audit company Andrew Hung & Co.

The firm will focus on intellectual property litigation and arbitration, but also handle general litigation and corporate and commercial matters. Clark said he was considering opening an office in Japan or forming an alliance with a Japanese partner, as the North Asian country has seen an uptick in cross-border cases.

With more than 25 years of experience mainly in contentious IP, Clark has experience in obtaining civil search and seizure orders and freezing injunctions, multi-jurisdictional patent litigation and arbitration, and more. He also advises on non-contentious cases including data security and privacy, technology transfer, and patent and other intellectual property audits.

Clark began his career in Hong Kong in 1993 at the erstwhile Lovell White Durrant (now Hogan Lovells). In 2000, he moved to Shanghai, initially on secondment from Lovells to a local firm, and in 2003 established and became the managing partner of Lovells’ Shanghai office. He worked at Lovells for nearly 18 years in total. After leaving the firm in 2011, he worked in independent practice for more than eight years before joining Rouse in late 2019.