British firm Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW) recently forayed into the Hong Kong market with a new office which it opened in association with local firm Lau, Leong & Co.

The new outpost is WFW’s 13th global office, and its third in Asia after Singapore and Bangkok.

WFW’s Hong Kong branch is headed by partners Loretta Lau, Madeline Leong and Nicholas Hanna, and there are plans to expand the team to nearly 20 lawyers over the next 18 months.

Speaking on the development, WFW managing partner Michael Greville said: “We follow where our clients need us, and as our very strong teams in our Southeast Asian offices have grown – and with the increased economic activity in Asia more generally – it became obvious that WFW required a complementary Hong Kong presence and direct access to mainland China.”

The Hong Kong branch has opened in accordance with Hong Kong Law Society’s regulations which stipulate that foreign firms may practice Hong Kong law in association with a local firm. The latter may adopt the name of the overseas law office after three years.

WFW’s Hong Kong office specialises in energy, shipping, offshore oil and gas, and banking and finance. It also offers advice on equity capital markets, project finance, restructuring, private equity and foreign direct investment into mainland China.

Hong Kong and England qualified Lau is a corporate and capital markets partner who was formerly at Goodwin Procter's Hong Kong office. Leong, an asset, project and structured finance lawyer at WFW, has relocated from the firm’s Singapore office to Hong Kong.  She is accompanied by corporate specialist Hanna, who was at the firm’s Singapore office. ALB

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