Hong Kong law firm Howse Williams Bowers has boosted its corporate practice with the addition of former Ashurst lawyer Heidi Lee as partner. 

Her experience includes M&As, public takeovers and regulatory and compliance work for Hong Kong-listed companies. She has also advised on equity capital markets transactions (including Hong Kong Main Board and other fund-raising transactions for capital markets) as well as IPOs and secondary offerings in Hong Kong for both state-owned and privately-owned companies in China and overseas. 

Lee's exit from Ashurst comes in the wake of recent departures from the firm, including its Singapore managing partner and former Hong Kong managing partner, and weeks after HWB poached Ashurst’s Hong Kong restructuring and insolvency team.

Ashurst also recently disclosed a 19 percent drop in profit per equity partner of 603,000 pounds ($797,690) in the past financial year, down from 747,000 pounds ($988,183) the year before.