HSF adds five counsel in Asia as part of global promotions round

The law firm has highlighted private capital, energy transition, ESG, tech and cyber risk, as strategic focus areas.

May 02, 2023

UK-headquartered Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has ascended five lawyers in Asia to counsel, as part of a wider promotions round that has also seen seven changes in Australia, 13 in Emea and 11 at its British base.

The new appointments are the result of HSF’s annual promotions cycle for both partners and counsel, which is timed for May 1, a spokesperson for HSF explained to FinanceAsia.

Singapore-based Francis Greenway and Jessica Loy have been promoted to counsel within the firm’s Disputes (International Arbitration and Commercial Litigation) and Finance (Core Finance) practices, respectively.

In Tokyo, Elisa Hayashi has become counsel in the Corporate (Cross-border M&A and Joint Ventures) practice, while Joel Rheuben has been promoted in the Competition, Regulation and Trade (Cross-border Competition Law) practice.

Finally, in Hong Kong, Simone Hui is now counsel for the Financial Services Regulatory practice.

The appointments will allow the law firm to strengthen its capabilities in core practice areas, and its strategic focus on private capital, energy transition and ESG, tech, and cyber risk, the announcement explained.

A week earlier, HSF announced the promotion of 32 lawyers to partner, including two private capital partners in Singapore.

“Our investment in talent – through these promotions and through 12 partner lateral hires in the past 18 months – reflects our ongoing Asia expansion,” the spokesperson added.

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As of May 1, HSF counted 58 partners and 15 counsel in Asia, and 171 partners and 60 counsel in Australia. The spokesperson explained that these include four partners and one counsel seconded to its Indonesian associate firm, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung. Indonesian law requires foreign firms to partner with a local teams in order to practice in the domestic market.

In February, the firm said it would shut its Korea office, citing the “exclusively international nature of our work” as meaning that client interests would be “best served by a new approach”.

The announcement shared the firm’s plans to relocate its two Seoul-based partners to London and Singapore.

“While we’re winding down our physical presence in Seoul, we have a respected roster of Korean clients and will continue to work with them internationally,” the spokesperson said.

In response to where HSF might shift its focus, she said the current market opportunity in Southeast Asia is “enormous”, particularly in private capital, energy transition and tech.

“But markets for both local and outbound work are stabilising right across our Asia network.”

Elaborating on private capital opportunity, the spokesperson said: “Our team is seeing consistent growth across the range of private capital investors that we cover – which include private equity, sovereign wealth and sector-specific funds – both in firms focussing on the region, and in dealmaking by Asian and international private capital firms.”

Read also: HSF announces new leadership across Asian corporate practice

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