Three senior Hong Kong-based lawyers have left Baker Botts and Addleshaw Goddard to launch a boutique firm called GPS Legal, which will offer a flex lawyer service to clients.

The three founding partners are Phillip Georgiou, Sonny Payne and Brett Stewien. Georgiou and Payne were arbitration partner and special counsel, respectively, at Baker Botts, while Stewien, a former corporate partner at Addleshaw Goddard, also oversaw the firm’s Hong Kong branch together with office head Nigel Francis.

As part of its flex lawyer service GPS Flex, GPS plans to build a pool of lawyers around Asia who currently work with other firms, but can be utilised by the Hong Kong firm as and when required by clients. GPS currently has a number of part-time consultants on its roster, along with four junior fee-earners.

The firm also has two consultants, Dan Plane and Helen Tang, who are also directors at IP consultancy Simone Intellectual Property Services (SIPS) Asia. Through GPS Legal, Plane and Tang will be able to litigate civil IP matters before the Hong Kong courts.

According to its website, GPS Flex aims to respond to client demands for "hands-on partner support and only appropriately qualified and experienced lawyers and support services working on their matters."

"GPS Flex is at the core of our resourcing model," the website adds. "It is the reason why GPS Legal can provide clients with experienced and capable teams for complex transactions and cases but with high degrees of price certainty."

"Whilst we would be open to placing secondments into clients, this is not the key focus," the firm said in response to a request for comment. "The primary focus of the flex business would be tapping into alternative resources and expertise for our internal teams."