King & Spalding has hired investigations and white-collar crime expert Richard Sharpe as a partner in Singapore. Sharpe joins from the Hong Kong office of Kirkland & Ellis.

The departure of Sharpe comes during a year of upheaval at Kirkland Hong Kong, during which it lost partners Daniel Dusek, Xing Liyong, and Howie Farn to Goodwin Procter, Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, respectively. The office also saw the arrivals of partners Peng Yu (from Ropes & Gray) and Brian Ho (from the Hong Kong SFC).

With more than 20 years of experience, Sharpe advises governments on business-related criminal matters, including bribery and corruption, money laundering, international sanctions, cyber-crime and other cross-border investigations. He also advises global companies on investment-related international risk and the design and implementation of compliance programs.

In addition, Sharpe acts for clients on civil litigation and arbitrations arising from fraud and other criminal misconduct, as well as obtaining supporting ancillary relief.

Having begun his career as a barrister focusing on prosecution and defence of white-collar crime and civil asset recovery, Sharpe relocated to Hong Kong in 2013 with Clifford Chance. He joined Kirkland in 2018.

With his addition, the number of partners at King & Spalding in Singapore is now 12. In January, it lost arbitration partner Simon Dunbar to local boutique Gateway Law, and in April, it hired Nils Eliasson, formerly head of Shearman & Sterling’s international arbitration practice, from that firm’s Hong Kong office.